It’s important to make your home comfortable and accessible, whether for an aging parent or someone with a disability. This will make it easier for them to retain their self-reliance and an important sense of dignity. The following are five remodeling ideas that will help you do this, so have a look at them and implement the ones you need to.
Install Safe Flooring
Both an aging parent and a disabled person will be more likely than others to slip and fall, so to reduce the likelihood of such accidents, it’s a good idea to upgrade your flooring to safer options. Thick carpets and rugs are a tripping hazard for practically everyone, while floors with a polished stone or glossy tiles will be a bit hard to walk on without slipping. If installing a hardwood floor over your existing floor is an expensive option, consider temporary fixes like adhesive non-skid strips. With 35% of home remodeling projects involving the whole house, it’s safe to call a floor upgrade a whole home renovation.
Add Bedside Lighting and Nightlights
Bedside lights will make it easy for someone to immediately get light when they need it for one reason or another. Someone who has recently moved into your home, like an aging parent, may be disoriented when they wake up in the dark, and having a bedside light will help reduce this as well as the risk of tripping and falling as they walk around trying to find a light. Nightlights that illuminate the paths from the bedroom to the bathroom will also be helpful as they remove the need to turn on the bright regular lights when they need to use the bathroom at night.
Change the Doorknobs
Your doorknobs may give people trouble getting them open. For instance, arthritic people have a hard time turning round doorknobs to open doors, so change them to those with handles to make it easier to open by pushing down on them rather than having to grip and turn. This is an upgrade that will make your home more accessible to an adult with arthritis, a chronic condition that four out of five adults battle. Other conditions include osteoporosis and heart disorders, and a whopping half of adults battle at least two chronic conditions.
Renovate the Bathrooms
The bathrooms are spaces that especially need renovation to make them more accessible due to their challenging nature. The combination of water and slippery surfaces and fittings is one that calls for additional safety measures. Find flooring that retains its grip even when wet and consider installing a curbless shower to remove the necessity of stepping up and into the shower. A showerhead whose height can be adjusted easily will also be helpful, as will toilets with higher seats for people who have difficulty standing up from a seated position.
Install a Modern HVAC System
Heating and cooling are important for maintaining a comfortable temperature for everyone in the house. Besides saving energy when you install a modern HVAC system, you will also make it easier to control, as it can be regulated automatically or with a remote control. With less than 50% of the people who own homes in America getting the assistance of professional HVAC technicians to service and maintain their units, you may get a professional at this point to make sure everything is just right.
These five remodelling ideas can make your home a lot more accessible to both an aging loved one as well as someone with a disability. Making your home accessible will help all its occupants to feel extra valued and know that their presence in the house is appreciated. Spare the time to make the improvements outlined above, therefore, and give everyone in your house a reason to smile!
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