Our 2000 Ford E350 Wheelchair Truck's Door Hinges are now replaced!

(Flashback to some windstorm in the past)

Well as it happens with these Ford Vans, I go to open the door and a gust of wind grabs the door and swings it open so hard and fast that it bends the jamb and shoves the door in behind the fender so that it forever "clunks" when you open and close it as these two pieces of sheet metal somehow make it past each other.

(back to the present time)

Well yesterday I took the truck out to Jerry's Body Shop in Metropolis, IL here and they proceed to tear the door apart and straighten the jamb and weld in reinforcements inside the door and installed 2 brand new hinges. I've never felt the door work so smoothly before in my life. Now I don't have to do a lifting slam of the door to get it to close, just a gentle push and it closes perfectly every time.

What projects have you been putting off on your wheelchair vehicles? Please look back at some of my older posts for pictures of our rig, we are proud of it I just didn't get my camera out today to document the new hinges.

Moving to Orlando Florida handicapped housing

We have been planning on moving to Orlando, FL for some time and we will need to build the cheapest most structurally sound, environmental friendly house possible ( this means low energy costs, highly insulated).  So we are looking at steel prefabbed housing.  I say we need to build as we need wheelchair accesible and not just afterthought wheelchair access it needs to be designed in to start with! We currently live in a retrofitted house now and it is nice but doesn't suit our purposes.  I have 4 doorways in my current house I couldn't widen to 36" (have you ever seen the destruction and markings done on a daily basis to walls from a power chair you need all the width you can get!). I don't have a roll in shower it has a threshold it's unsuited.

Our needed space is not high we only require a large bedroom and a roll in shower and mostly open floor space. I want to build a house on slab for wheelchair purposes.  I just want a stained concrete floor.  Can you put foam board insulation against the soil in central florida?  What's the best way to insulate a slab in Central Florida?  I have a rough design which I've been working on:



I've tried to keep the dimensions narrow and long thinking this is a cheaper design?  Personally I'd love to have a garage big enough to put my 30' travel trailer in maybe someone can help me out with this design.

So we are looking for information, cost analysis, is it cheaper to live around orlando then in it? can we build a metal home in Orlando, FL? Would it be cheaper to do a larger detached garage maybe a quonset style building? Do you have to have flood insurance/hurricane insurance in Orlando? Does Orlando have good healthcare?

Please leave me some comments on this rough design in the comments below you do not need to login you can post anonymously!