Extension for MS sufferer

[Pretty Mouth]

Hi all, and thanks for adding me to the forum.

My brother in law has progressive MS and now struggles greatly to climb the stairs - in time he won't be able to manage it at all.  We hope to extend to the rear ground floor of their house to create a living space for him.  The budget is limited, so I hope to take on much of the work myself to try to keep costs down.  I'm currently at the design stage, and there are a number of things that I'm not sure about, so the advice of the forum would be greatly appreciated.

 

I work as a S/E handyman and domestic electrician, but have previously worked in construction for a number of years (with a large gap in the middle while I went travelling) and have done a bit of everything.

 

Cheers

[Temp]

Welcome to the Forum. Hope we can help.

 

I don't know if these are still available? Perhaps he's already investigated.

 

https://www.gov.uk/apply-disabled-facilities-grant

 

and

https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/funding-to-adapt-your-home-for-accessibility#dont-forget-to-claim-vat-relief

 

"If you’re disabled, any building work you do to adapt your home might be zero-rated for VAT.

Find out more about VAT exemptions on building work on the GOV.UK website."

 

 

Edited August 6, 2019 by Temp

[Temp]

In some area MS charities offer Hypobaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT). When a relative suffered a head injury he had quite a few sessions in one of their chambers. While there we met several people with MS that said it helped them to a limited degree. I don't think it's available on NHS or even if there is science to back up the claims they make.  Just thought I should mention it in case its not something he's investigated.

[Pretty Mouth]

Thanks for the welcome, Temp, and thanks for the info too - I'll pass it on to him.  Interesting, I just googled HBOT and it's the same kind of treatment you would get if you had decompression sickness AKA the bends!  (I scuba dive so have an interest in these things)

[jack]

Welcome to BuildHub. ?

 

By complete coincidence, I was listening to a podcast with Paul Stamets (mycological legend) today. He's presently undertaking research into combining lion's mane mushroom extract (which stimulates myelin production) with niacin (which stimulates peripheral circulation). His focus isn't MS, but clearly any support your brother can give his myelin system the better. It'll be some time before results are known, but if you're interested in getting ahead of the science in a fairly low risk way, that's one avenue.

 

Another option is a ketogenic diet, which appears to help some sufferers. I only know about this because my own diet is largely ketogenic, and I've seen mention of MS a number of times in articles I've read on the topic.

 

Hopefully I'm not teaching anyone to suck eggs. MS is such a horrible disease, and I hope your brother's progression isn't too steep.

 

 

[TheMitchells]

Welcome to BuildHub - I bet you were only expecting build advice!  its amazing the advice available on this site.  good luck with the build - where will the extension be taking place? in what area?  You never know - we may be able to help if nearby.

[MikeSharp01]

Welcome to the forum. 

[Gone West]

Hi and welcome to the forum. Good luck with the project, I hope it progresses well for you.

[Ferdinand]

Welcome to the forum.

 

I am just doing a whole series of mini-projects to adapt my house for an increasingly frail parent.

 

In your honour I have created a blog article which is a directory of where most of them can be found. I will add more as I remember them or they are newly written.

 

There are now nearly 50 blogs on the site - many project-based, some more eclectic like mine (which is very eclectic).

 

I do not think we have one explicitly related to a project of this type, so if you were able (once you have settled in) to consider something documenting your needs, thinking and decisions it would be a real benefit for other for the future - as well as letting you have a record of your journey.

 

I think various people have considered needs for annexes, grannexes, needs of live-in sons and daugters, multi-generational sites, and for their own later years (and at least one is building a whole new bungalow for his parents). Si there is relevant material around - but you have to dig a little.

 

Discussion threads tend to be where exploration / thinking is done, blog posts are often the recording of what happened, and blog comments are reflections.

 

Anyway - best of luck.

 

Ferdinand

 

Edited August 7, 2019 by Ferdinand

[Jeremy Harris]

Welcome.

 

My father had progressive, non-remitting, MS and we had to make a lot of alterations to our house so that he could remain at home.  We built an extension downstairs, so he had wheelchair access to the bedroom, and converted the downstairs WC to a "drive-in" shower room, so he could be wheeled in for a shower.  Those alterations were relatively straightforward, and the only thing I think would be different if doing it today would be to build in the strong points needed for a ceiling mounted hoist rail.  The wheeled hoists aren't easy to use, and it often took both myself and my mother to wheel the thing across from his chair to the bed, and vice versa.

 

The difficult alterations (which we didn't do) were the internal doorways and provision of wheelchair turning areas.  The house had been built in the 1930's and had fairly narrow internal doors that were a tight fit for a standard wheelchair.  Narrower chairs are available, but unless motorised there is the risk of knuckles hitting door frames (I have a wheelchair using friend who often wears knuckle protectors for just this reason).  Turning areas are mainly a problem with something like a shower chair, which usually needs someone to manoeuvre it into place.  The additional length of the chair plus person pushing/pulling it needs more turning space. 

 

We found that the local visiting occupational therapy department were very helpful in advising on modifications and the placement of handholds, etc.  Probably worth getting advice from them whilst planning the layout of the extension.  Finally, one thing we added to the extension that made life a great deal more enjoyable for my father was a wide access door, with a ramp that led out to the garden.  Often gardens can be a bit inaccessible, and so those with limited mobility may end up being prisoners inside their own house.

[SteamyTea]

Welcome.

A few years back now I had a lodger who had a stroke. While she could walk reasonably well, the foot dragging was a problem, she could easily trip up. So any door thresholds need to be eliminated.

She had no real use of her right arm, and limited use of the left one. This caused problems with things like taps and controls on things like cookers. Also made door locking difficult.

For a laugh one day, I tried to do everything just using my left hand. Gave up after 20 minutes as I could not roll a fag.

Oh, and depending on which side is more able, if there is a difference, then the bog roll holder position can make a huge difference.

Try and design everything so it can be accessed easily from both sides.

And doors that can slide both ways are much better than normal fixed hinges doors, eventhough they are horribly noisy.

Edited August 7, 2019 by SteamyTea

[Pretty Mouth]

Wow, what a welcome!  Thanks so much for all your ideas and suggestions, there's a lot I hadn't even considered.  I'll be honest, I'm still at the "can this extension be done at all?" stage of the design!

The Mitchells - I'm based in Warwick, but the extension will be in Coventry where my sister and her fella live.

Ferdinand - thanks for the blog link, that's my evening reading sorted then!  I will try to document the build here as it progresses.

 

JS Harris, sorry to hear your father had MS too, it's a terrible disease.  My sister's house is 1930s too, so I expect the same problems you found will apply here too.