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Sunday, April 25, 1999

Accommodating Home
Design emphasizes spaciousness, subtle touches

	Laura Inns/Journal
John Sopkowiak Sr. pops a wheelie in the spacious bathroom of his Rio Rancho home. The house, built by Federico Miranda, was adjusted to make it comfortable and accessible for a wheelchair user.

By Glen Rosales
For the Journal
RIO RANCHO -- John Sopkowiak Sr. had special requirements for a house.

Miranda Construction Co. ESTIMATED MONTHLY PAYMENTS: (includes estimated taxes and insurance) For $189,000 home (2,062 square feet): $1,145.18 Assumptions: 20 percent down; 6.875-percent, 30-year conventional mortgage Source: Mace Kochenderfer, Norwest Mortgage, West Side office FEATURES: Oversized roll-in shower with hand rails Thermostatic water temperature control Garden tub Arched doorways Covered porches in front and back Three-sided gas-burning fireplace Three-bay, wheelchair-accessible oversized garage Skylights Ceiling fans Viking vinyl insulated windows HEATING/COOLING: Three-zoned, in-slab radiant heating; evaporative cooling INSULATION VALUES: R-38 ceiling; R-19 walls

His legs were amputated below his knees, so he uses a wheelchair. He looked at the option of retrofitting an existing house with the necessary changes, but that process was too time-consuming and expensive.
Then Sopkowiak and his wife, LaNor, came across Richard Dudding at Prudential Preferred Properties and builder Federico Miranda. Dudding, a former builder himself, is now the listing agent for Miranda Construction Co.
Miranda and Dudding agreed to tinker with a set of existing plans to come up with a house that met the specifications of the Americans With Disabilities Act, as well as guidelines from the Department of Veterans Affairs, which was providing a $40,000 grant toward the cost of the house.
Situated on a half-acre with the Sandia range framed magnificently from the back yard, the home is 2,062 square feet with three bedrooms and two baths. It sold for $189,000.
The changes inside and out are subtle, but they make a big difference in lifestyle for Sopkowiak, a vice president of Automated Detailing Services.
For instance, in the house the family lived in near Minneapolis, Minn., before Automated moved to Rio Rancho, Sopkowiak was forced to sit on the floor while taking a shower. This new home has an oversized shower in the master bath. The shower head is on a snake, and hand rails allow Sopkowiak to pull himself in and out of his wheelchair. There are two sinks, one at the end without a cabinet or drawers underneath so Sopkowiak can roll under it.
What Dudding did was take the floor plan of a four-bedroom house and eliminate the fourth bedroom, using the extra space to make hallways wider and to add a third bay to the garage.
And bringing the specifications in line with VA requirements wasn't always the easiest task, he said.
"We'd do something, take it down there, and they'd say, 'It's wrong,' But they wouldn't say how to fix it," Dudding said. "Sometimes, it was very frustrating."
What it boiled down to, he said, was an unfamiliarity with the procedure, since this was his most extensive wheelchair-accessible project so far.
"Now, I know how to do it," Dudding said. "I've got all the education now."
What's more, there are many avenues of monetary aid for people needing homes with special modifications.
"Maybe more people would take advantage of this if they knew there was help available," Dudding said.
From his end, Miranda said the project didn't really offer any special challenges.
"It doesn't make any difference to me," he said. "I can build it."
Some of the changes are so subtle that most people wouldn't even notice them unless they were pointed out. The light switches are a little lower than in most houses, and the electrical outlets are a little higher off the floor.
In the garage, which required a special variance from the city, there is no lip separating the driveway from the door. The garage is nine feet high -- to fit the eight-foot door required for a wheelchair-accessible van.
All the doorways throughout the house are three feet wide, so Sopkowiak can easily wheel through. A sidewalk surrounds the house, so he can get out in the back and wheel around to the front in case of an emergency.
"While we had to make it comply with all the regulations, we also had to be sensitive to the fact that his wife doesn't need any special requirements," Dudding said.
The ceiling soars to more than 12 feet, and a three-sided, gas-burning fireplace dominates the living room. A built-in entertainment center was constructed around the large-screen television. Nichos and shelves are cut into the wall above the television.
The living room merges with the dining area, which blends into the walk-through kitchen. Because Sopkowiak doesn't do much work in the kitchen, it's built more for LaNor. But it's still roomy enough for him to wheel through comfortably. The telephone desk built into the corner was made so Sopkowiak can get underneath.
A hanging shelf above the kitchen makes a great spot for plants.
"I wanted something with big rooms, and something I could get around easy," Sopkowiak said. "This is a really comfortable house."

	Laura Inns/Journal
The Sopkowiaks' home has a garden tub in the master bathroom, along with a roll-in shower.

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