Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Second floor accessibility in common house

[Joani Blank (jeblank]

Three proposals for dealing with this problem: Check and see if there is
anything you can do in the nature of a "loft" or "storage loft" that your
building dept. would permit other than a full fledged second floor. Second,
you can build the second floor after the building inspectors go away.
Third (and the best policy because it allows access to any current or
future residents who have mobility problems)--design a straight stairway to
the second floor and install a chair lift. I believe they are relatively
inexpensive. One of our households at Old Oakland CoHousing will be doing
this in their own residence, and we are considering having one in our
two-story common house in case the elevator breaks down. We have to have an
elevator since all of our homes and the main floor of our common house are
on the second level. 

Joani Blank
Old Oakland/ Swan's Market CoHousing--demolition starts next week! (We
celebrated by signing up our 20th and last household last week. Yes, we
have a waiting list. And at Doyle Street, my unit will be for sale in about
a year as I prepare to move to Swan's. Interested parties, please get in
touch:jeblank [at] ic.org.