Rear Building Apartment Over Garages
Viw From the Front
Builder puts his know-how to the test and devises transitional housing for his mother and, ultimately, for himself.
Caring for aging parents is as much a part of contemporary life as fast food and personal computers.
The choices Steve Lusk faced, about how to provide long-term living arrangements for a parent as well as himself and his wife, are typical today and will grow in importance as longevity increases.
A few years ago, Lusk who founded San Diego based LUSK CUSTOM DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION and now in his late 50’s, had to decide how to care for his mother, Mariellen Draise, after she had knee replacement surgery and other health issues had arisen.
At 84, his mother was still very spry and mobile, but back then Lusk was concerned about her living alone in a Point Loma condominium. He wanted her within shouting distance, not driving distance.
And he didn’t want her in a care facility. “I had seen my grandmother rot away in a rest home and I vowed that would never happen to my mother,” Lusk said. “ He wanted Mom just a few steps from his home”.
In 1995, he began making plans to build a residence for his mom that would be just a few steps away from his own home. With that project in mind, he purchased a 57-year old house in Pacific Beach and converted the original garage into a structure that included an apartment for his mother on the second floor with the garage below. The project also included a complete remodel of the original two-bedroom house that he and his wife, Lynn, now occupy.
Separated by a pleasant, low-maintenance courtyard with a spa, both structures feature universal design. “The goal of universal design is to make a house usable by people with a wide range of abilities, yet have the appearance of a ‘normal’ house. Lusk said of features like wide doorways and lowered light switches.
Lusk included similar elements in his own home, he said, because his aging mother’s needs had made him think about his own journey into the golden years.
“I wanted to create a transitional space where my wife and I also could live for a long time,” Lusk said.
Mom’s Place
Security, privacy, accessibility, proximity and a pleasant ambience were key considerations in design of the companion residences.
Mom’s second-floor apartment above the garage can be accessed from an elevator in the garage or by a staircase that ascends from the courtyard. The garage elevator, which cost about $20,000, provides not only access but security. “Older people tend to associate living on the second floor with safety. But my mother has had knee replacement surgery, so walking up stairs was not an option for her”, he said.“With the elevator, she can enjoy the sense of security of living on the second floor without walking up stairs. She drives her car into the garage, closes the automatic door behind her, steps into the elevator and goes up to her apartment without ever having to go outside”.
Mom’s guests enter through a gate in the enclosed courtyard while the Lusks’ guests enter their home through the front door facing the street. The arrangement give both households a sense of privacy and independence.
The apartment has two suite-style bedrooms with adjoining bathrooms, a living room with fireplace and a balcony. The complete kitchen is separated from the living room by a peninsula bar where Mom said she like to have breakfast while reading the paper or sharing a cup of coffee with her son.
Lusk said he designed the 1,200 square foot apartment with two bedroom suites in case his mother needed a live-in caregiver in the future. The bedroom suites are separated by the living room to provide privacy.
“Having a private suite for a caregiver makes it easier to find quality care,” Lusk said.
Mom currently uses the the second bedroom as a home office with a desk for her computer, a sewing room, space for craftmaking, which is one of her hobbies, and a guest room when her grandchildren or other overnight guests visit.
“I’ve always liked to sew. I made clothes for my children when they were growing up and now I make clothes for my five grandchildren” Mom said.
The bathroom feature showers with wide doors, a built-in seat, grab bars and a hand-held shower.“The showers were designed to reduce the hazard of falling and to permit wheelchair access.” Lusk said.Doorways in the bath and throughout the apartment are 30 inches wide to permit access for a wheelchair or walker. In the kitchen, there also is enough open space for a wheelchair or walker.Bathroom vanities and kitchen counter tops are 36 inches high instead of the 32 inches, to reduce the need to bend over while preparing meals or doing clean-up.
Kitchen cabinetry features roll-out shelving, a slide-out pantry below the peninsula counter, a microwave oven built in at eye level, a built-in oven at waist level, a water-saver Bosch dishwasher and cook-top.The unit is oriented to provide maximum sunlight through windows and also includes a skylight that opens for ventilation. Having noticed that older people tend to keep their windows closed, Lusk installed a special HVAC system to circulate air. The apartment also has a water filtration system to keep the glass doors and cultured marble surfaces of the showers spot free without any elbow grease.
The interior is straightforward but with some classy touches such as granite on the kitchen counter tops and fireplace hearth. The décor that Mom chose is similarly unfussy. The living room is furnished with an easy chair and sofa and there are a few cherished pictures on the walls.
The three-car garage houses Lusk’s vehicles and his mother’s car, as well as the laundry facility shared by both households.
When she’s not enjoying her home and easy proximity to her son, Mom said she like to play bridge and go out for lunch with friends, and travel to visit her three other children and five grandchildren who live in Memphis, Tenn., and Houston. “I feel safe, secure and loved,” she said.
PLANNING AHEAD
The same universal design concepts Lusk built into his mother’s apartment were incorporated in the remodel of his own one story, cottage-style house.
Features of universal design include doorways that are wide enough to permit wheelchair access, showers with low curbs for easy access, open space under counter tops to make sinks and work areas wheelchair accessible, lever handles on faucets, light switches low enough to be reached from a wheelchair but not so low that they’re inconvenient for others, an open kitchen plan without an island and appliances that are at a convenient height.
Lusk’s knowledge about how to fill the shelter needs of physical challenged persons has been gleaned from books and periodicals and through experience. “I modified a house for my stepfather, who was in a wheelchair about 10 years ago,” he said.Most of the products Lusk used in his remodel are factory made but with some modifications. The kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanity, for example, are stock items but Lusk modified the units to make the counter tops higher. The built-in shower seats are custom built.But Lusk said, universal design adaptations add to project costs “only marginally. It all comes down to planning, design and product choices,” Lusk added.The remodel, essentially on the footprint of the original house was from the foundation up, Lusk said. “We wanted to replace the original 1942 house but we wanted the new house to be consistent with the community. It’s important for remodel to fit in with the feel of the neighborhood,” Lusk said.
He came up with a Cape Cod cottage-style design with dormers and a peaked roof that fits in the area, but with a twist. Looking ahead to his own future when routine exterior maintenance such as painting might be problematic, Lusk tapped into his experience as a builder-remodeler to find materials that are weather resistant and low maintenance.
Instead of wood siding, he used Hardi-Plank synthetic siding, which is made of wood fiber and cement but is indistinguishable from wood siding. The white shutters are constructed of plastic-foam material that also mimics wood. Window frames and panes are aluminum-clad wood. Beneath the siding, the house is wrapped in Tyvec, a material designed to reduce termite infestation. The roof is covered with asphalt shingles for fire safety and durability.
The project took more than five years from conception to completion. A drawn-out permit process gave him plenty of time to plan and think about the features he wanted in both units. Actual building too a year and was accomplished in two phases-first the apartment and then the house remodel. “Planning for the future is the key,” he said. Lusk sank considerable money into the project and he is convinced that transitional housing concepts built into his own home and his mother’s apartment will add extra value to the property “when its us changes” and if he decides to sell it.
Looking ahead, Lusk said he envisioned a time, hopefully far in the future, when he and his wife might live in the apartment now occupied by his mother.
“There may come a time when we don’t want or need a bighouse. We lived in the apartment while our own house was under construction and my wife loves it. We could live comfortably in the apartment and rent or leas the main house,” he said.
As for the current daily contact and affection that the project has made possible, Lusk said “It’s priceless.”
By Pat Stein, free-lance writer
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