The Citizen, 2019-10-17, Page 2PAGE 2. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2019.
Sawchuk publishes book on accessible building
After going through the process
with her family to build an
accessible, barrier-free home,
Blyth’s Julie Sawchuk has written a
book in the hope that it will be easier
for those who come after her.
Build Your Space: How to Create
an Accessible Home for You, Your
Family and Your Future should be
available in print later this month
and Sawchuk is hosting a special
open house at her family’s home on
Blyth Road east of Blyth to launch it.
The open house, set for Saturday,
Nov. 16, will not only serve as a
launch event for the book, but also a
chance for locals to see the
Sawchuks’ new home, built by
Blyth’s Casey Boven with a
completely barrier-free design.
Sawchuk chose to self-publish the
book, which will be available on
amazon.ca later this month, working
with the same team she did to
contribute a chapter to Shine:
Inspirational Stories of Choosing
Success over Adversity. Ahead of
writing Build Your Space, however,
Sawchuk employed the services
of a writing coach for the first
time.
With the help of that coach,
Sawchuk was able to formulate an
outline of what she hoped to cover in
her book and once that was in place,
she said the ideas flowed very easily.
She wrote the book in chunks,
tackling a chapter at a time, which
she says helped to keep her on track.
After Sawchuk was struck while
cycling a number of years ago,
paralyzing her from the chest down,
the process to get her home again
began shortly after her rehabilitation
stay in London. Living in a 110-
year-old, two-storey farmhouse,
however, there was plenty of work to
do and the family soon realized a
new house would have to be built.
It was then that she was surprised
at the lack of resources out there for
those looking to build a barrier-free
home. The resources she did find
were all American and many of them
handled the basics like ramps and
grab bars. To truly build an
accessible, barrier-free home from
the ground up, however, demands a
number of additional decisions to
create a house no different than most
suburban homes that is just
accessible for all.
For example, working with Cindy
Kerr of iDesign Kitchen Studio, they
built a kitchen with four different
levels of countertops for a variety of
uses by a number of different users.
She also discussed the importance
of in-floor heating for an accessible
design and how it can make all the
difference.
The biggest factor, however, is that
building a new house or designing an
accessible condominium or mobile
home is that everyone’s needs are
different.
Even from person to person with
spinal cord injuries, Sawchuk says
the needs of another person with a
spinal cord injury can differ from her
needs, so it’s really about feeling out
what an accessible living space
would be and working with your
team to achieve it.
The longest step, she said, was to
get the plans on paper and ensure
they made sense. Once that was
completed, the rest of the work went
smoothly.
As construction continued,
however, Sawchuk realized how
important measurements could be.
Trying to build a barrier-free house
as flat as possible to ensure easy
transportation from one end to the
other, but ensuring there was enough
slope for water to flow away from
the home was crucial. During these
periods, Sawchuk said there were
differences of as little as a half-inch
that were debated at length. That
type of precision and expertise, she
said, is crucial to an accessible home
build.
With such a big job, getting it right
was essential, Sawchuk said. Having
said that, her book does include a
chapter listing things she learned
along the way and would maybe
change about the house now that she
knows better. She loves the house
though and is eager to show it off at
the open house next month.
With her book, she hopes to have
gathered everything needed to build
a great accessible home and put it all
in one place. That was another thing
Sawchuk felt was sincerely lacking
when she was conducting her own
research. To have everything you
need in one resource could be a
game changer for those looking to
build barrier-free homes, as well as
for drafters, architects and
contractors.
The open house and book
launch will be held at the
Sawchuk house at 40861 Blyth Road
on Saturday, Nov. 16 from 10 a.m. to
2 p.m.
STEVEN NIXON
Broker
WILFRED MCINTEE & CO. L IMITED
Bus: 519-357-2222
Cell: 519-531-0252
Fax: 519-357-4482
Email: nixon@execulink.com
Web: www.stevennixon.com
249 Josephine St.,
WINGHAM, ON N0G 2W0
Serving the area
since 1999
91 Mary St., Wingham $629,900.
MLS# 30764527
Amazing country views on this beautiful
private 14-acre property, large master
bedroom with patio, 3 plus bedrooms,
1 1/2 baths, gas furnace & central air, field
stone fireplace, family room with bar, partly
insulated shop 64 ft x 32 ft, 9 acres workable
land. Call Steve Nixon 519.357.2222
#27
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The Citizen
Nicole F.
Steplock
F.E. Madill
Secondary School
Grade 12 Graduate
June 2019
It fills me with pride that my daughter will be
attending Fanshawe College in January 2020 to
achieve her Child and Youth Worker Diploma
Dream BIG Dreams
As you graduate, here’s wishing you
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Gathering information
Julie Sawchuk of the Blyth area found a lack of barrier-free construction information when she
and her family were building their new home. Seeing that void, she opted to fill it with a book
of her own, which should be available later this month. Sawchuk is seen here in the living room
of her new home, which will be the site of the Nov. 16 book launch. (Shawn Loughlin photo) Green with envy
Julie Sawchuk couldn’t be happier with her family’s new
house, which is entirely accessible and barrier-free, thanks
to extensive research and a team of professionals who
were open-minded and willing to learn. (Shawn Loughlin photo)
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen