Aging in place in Tanque Verde

We match across Tucson and the surrounding Pima County communities, so the contractor you are introduced to is one whose crews actually work your part of the county.

Permits, utilities and local rules for Aging in Place work in Tanque Verde

Tanque Verde is unincorporated, so the permit for an accessible bathroom, a widened doorway or a ramp comes from Pima County Development Services. Water usually comes from Tucson Water, with Metro Water District's northeast service area - the old Hub system, east of Sabino Canyon Road between Tanque Verde Creek and Snyder Road - serving one pocket inside the valley, so the provider is worth confirming by address. A large share of the properties out here are on septic systems rather than a sewer line, which matters to any project that opens a floor or moves a drain: the contractor needs to know what is under the slab and where the tank and leach field sit before a scope is fixed. The housing is spread out and not uniform. The 1970s and 1980s houses are single storey, often block or framed stucco, with a hall bath behind a 28 to 30 inch door in the earlier ones; the 1990s houses have 32 to 36 inch doors and a garden tub plus a separate shower. Because the lots are large, the accessibility problem here is frequently the route rather than the room: a long gravel or concrete drive, a walkway that crosses a slope, and an entry that sits well above the street.

Municipal reference: Tucson Water

Getting an accessibility contractor out to Tanque Verde

Tanque Verde is reached on Tanque Verde Road, which runs east from Tucson, or on Kolb Road, Houghton Road and Snyder Road, with the Catalina Highway leaving the valley to climb Mount Lemmon; Sabino Canyon Road is the western edge of the area and the creek crossings are the pinch points when the monsoon runs. The drive from central Tucson is short, but the addresses are spread over a large, low-density valley, so two jobs here can be further apart than two jobs in the city would be, and a crew will usually group them. Staging is easier than in town - there is room for a trailer on most of these lots - and harder in one specific way: many drives are long, unpaved and sloped, and a delivery or a concrete truck turning around on gravel is a real part of the plan. The monsoon is the local constraint: the washes that cross this valley rise quickly in July and August, and a low crossing can be impassable for an afternoon, which is worth knowing before a work day is set.

What Tanque Verde's housing stock means for aging in place

Tanque Verde's housing is spread across lots measured in fractions of an acre rather than in feet, and that changes what an accessibility project is. The 1970s and 1980s houses are single storey, block or framed stucco on a slab, with one hall bath behind a 28 to 30 inch door in the earliest ones and a tub-and-shower combination that is the first thing to come out. The 1990s houses were built with 32 to 36 inch doors, a garden tub plus a separate shower and tile throughout, so the work narrows to the shower, the blocking and the floor. Because the lots are large and often on grade, the dominant modification out here is the route in: an unshaded concrete or gravel walk in full summer sun, a step or two at the entry, and a distance from the parking spot to the door that is longer than at any in-town house. Wall construction is mixed, so blocking has to be planned, and tile on a slab is slick when wet in every decade of this stock. The ground under it is caliche and expansive clay, and out here it also carries a monsoon-season wash - the soil moves, the walkways tilt, and a door that no longer closes is usually telling the same story as the crack in the drive.

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Sources

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