Accessible Tiny Home: What to Check Before You Build
Long before Tiffany McDeavitt began helping people design an accessible tiny home, she saw firsthand how much the design of a home can affect someone’s independence. After her great-grandmother had a stroke, she watched as more and more of her home became difficult to use. First it was the stairs. A stairlift helped for a while, but once she began using a wheelchair, the narrow hallways and small bathroom created new problems.
McDeavitt was in high school at the time and helped care for her. What stuck with her most was how much her great-grandmother valued her privacy and independence, especially when it came to personal care. The home simply wasn’t designed to let her keep doing those things on her own.
Today, McDeavitt is a doctor of occupational therapy, a certified aging in place specialist, and the founder of Accessible Housing Solutions. On Let’s Talk Tiny, she walked Cindy through an accessible tiny home and pointed out the things she looks for professionally. Many of them are surprisingly simple to include during the building process, but much harder and more expensive to change later.
Three Words That Get Used Interchangeably and Should Not Be
Aging in place is the goal. Staying safe, comfortable and independent in your home as your needs change.
Accessibility is removing one specific barrier. A step at the door becomes a zero-threshold entry. A narrow door becomes a wide one.
Universal design is the umbrella over both, and it is the one worth aiming at.
"In universal design you're trying to create a space that is going to work well for everybody regardless of their size, shape, ability, regardless of any of that, and it shouldn't require special adaptation. It's already built into the design. It should be intuitive and easier to use."
She is honest that the industry is not there yet. She sees 36 inch doors more often now, but usually only the front door, not the bathroom or the closets.
Start at the Car, Not the Front Door
Her assessment does not begin inside. It begins where you park.
How easy is it to get in and out of the car, and is that spot sheltered from weather? How far is it to the door, and what are you crossing to get there, smooth paving or gravel? How many steps are waiting at the end of it?
Then, once you are through the door, can a mobility device come through with you, and is there anywhere to put the groceries down?
Inside, she asks people to do something simple and oddly rare. Walk your actual routine.
"If you take an inventory of really how you do your tasks and follow that pathway throughout the home, you can get a really good idea on if that space could work for you or not."
Of everything on her list, the entry comes first.
"If you can't get in and out of your home safely, then that home doesn't work for you, especially in the sense of an emergency."
The Bathroom Is the Room That Matters Most
"Falls happen primarily in the bathroom. So it's a space of high priority when you're considering aging in place."
What she looks for there is specific. A barrier-free or low-threshold shower rather than a tub you step over. Grab bars, and if there are none, blocking in the walls so they can be added.
That last point carries a warning worth repeating.
"If they're not mounted into the studs, then the grab bar is not very safe at all either and it won't be able to support someone's weight."
She also asks a question most buyers never think of. If someone has to help you one day, is there room for two people in there?
And here is a detail that catches people out in small bathrooms. A stationary shower chair is roughly two feet wide. If the shower pan will not take one, you cannot shower seated, and that limit is built in from the day the home is delivered.
(ADD PHOTO: a barrier-free or low-threshold shower in a tiny home bathroom) ALT: Barrier-free shower with a low threshold in a tiny home bathroom
Reach, Grip and the Kitchen
In the kitchen she is thinking about reach, and about whether you could do the work sitting down. Not only from a wheelchair. Someone using a rollator, or short of breath, or simply tired, benefits from a stool at the prep counter.
Pull-down fittings in the upper cabinets and pull-outs in the lower ones remove most of the bending, twisting and high reaching. Outlets placed low or far back make you lean across a hot surface to use them. An over-the-range microwave means bringing hot dishes down from above your head.
Grip is the other half of it, and it is the cheapest thing on the whole list to fix. Round doorknobs and knob-style cabinet hardware are hard work with arthritis. Lever handles can be opened with a forearm or an elbow. D-shaped pulls can be hooked with the side of a hand that cannot close.
Lofts, Stairs and the Ramp You Have Not Thought About
She is not against a loft, with one condition.
"I want your main floor to have your bedroom, bathroom, all of your main living abilities. If you're going to have the loft, you know, we are limited to space with that 3 to 5 ft typically."
If you are keeping the stairs, she wants them wide and shallow rather than tall and steep, with a handrail and lights on them.
The thing almost nobody plans for is the ramp. A tiny home on wheels sits higher off the ground than a home on a foundation, and the ramp that height would need has to go somewhere. A safe slope is one foot of ramp run for every inch of rise, so a two foot entry height needs twenty four feet of ramp. She has seen plenty that are far steeper than that and unusable as a result.
Her advice is not to build the ramp. It is to leave room for one.
Build the deck so a ramp can be attached later, and when you are choosing a lot in a community, look at whether a ramp could ever physically fit. Cindy's neighbor could not add one after hip surgery, because her home sits too close to the street.
Making It Not Look Like a Hospital
This is the objection McDeavitt hears most, and she takes it seriously rather than dismissing it.
A roll-in shower reads as high-end, not clinical. Grab bars now come in black, nickel and other finishes that match the rest of your hardware. Pull-out cabinet fittings are hidden by definition. Lever handles and D pulls look like any other good hardware.
Her one caution is about flooring. Keep patterns calm, because a busy floor is a visual distraction against the horizon line you are walking along.
"You can build a lot of accessibility into the scenes and it almost looks invisible at that point."
Three Things to Do Before You Commit to an Accessible Tiny Home
Walk your own daily routine through the floor plan, room by room, in the order you actually do things.
Ask what happens if your strength, balance, vision or mobility changes. Can the space adapt, or does it stop working?
If you are buying new, ask about the bones. Is there blocking in the walls for grab bars later? Is the main path of travel wide enough? Those are the things that are hard to change once the home is built, and everything else can be added when you need it.
McDeavitt reviews floor plans remotely for people anywhere, which is worth knowing if you are looking at a plan now and want a professional read on it.
This is general guidance from an occupational therapist, not an assessment of any particular home. Needs vary, and an OT can evaluate your situation and the plan in front of you.
FAQ
What makes a tiny home accessible?
Occupational therapist Tiffany McDeavitt puts a step-free or reduced-step entry first, because if you cannot get in and out safely the rest does not matter, particularly in an emergency. After that she looks for grab bars mounted into studs, good task lighting, electrical outlets within easy reach, a barrier-free shower, and doorways and hallways at 36 inches.
What is the difference between aging in place and universal design?
Aging in place is the goal of staying safe and independent in your home as your needs change. Accessibility is removing one specific barrier, like adding a step-free entry or a wider door. Universal design is the umbrella term, meaning a space built from the start to work for everyone regardless of size, shape or ability, without requiring special adaptation.
How wide should a doorway be in a tiny home?
Tiffany McDeavitt recommends 36 inches for doorways and hallways, which leaves roughly 32 inches of clear usable width once the door and frame are accounted for. That is enough for most mobility devices. In a tiny home the harder problem is often the door swing rather than the width itself.
Are pocket doors a good idea in a tiny home?
They can be, because they free up the space a swinging door needs. The catch is the hardware. Standard pocket door latches sit flush in the door and have to be picked out with your fingertips, which is difficult with arthritis or a weak grip. A D-shaped handle that stands proud of the door, or an automatic slide opener, solves it.
Tiffany McDeavitt, OTD, is a certified aging in place specialist and the founder of Accessible Housing Solutions.
Tiffany McDeavitt was a guest on Let's Talk Tiny with Cindy, live every Thursday at 4:00 PM Central. The full episode is linked above.
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