4 Tips For Renovating Your House For Senior Living
As we age, physical limitations start to creep up on us. Which makes doing simple things more difficult and impacts quality of life. Even the everyday things we do at home suddenly become something that gets the best of us.
Since the home is supposed to be our most comfortable place and a little oasis, we need to make sure that we are able to live our best while there. In other words, we have to adapt the house to the current reality of mobility and health issues to make sure that we can enjoy our lives.
Renovating a home for your elderly years is the best way to make sure that your home is safe for you and also provides joy in your daily routine. In this article, I will go over several ways that we should make changes to our home design to adapt it to work with our limitations. In this article you will find several tips for renovating your house for senior living.
1. Improve the lighting
One of the first things to go as we age is our eyesight. Which makes lighting very important. A well lit house is essential for anybody whose vision is starting to fade.
It isn’t just to be able to read better when you have bright lights, but also for safety. For instance, lighting can help cut down on trip and fall injuries. A well lit area will allow you to see any obstacles on the floor that could cause you to fall.
Since stairs are tricky to navigate, and stairway lights are usually inadequate, led strip lights placed along the handrails are a great way to help keep you steady.
Even lights placed under your cabinets in your kitchen can help prevent injuries. Cutting food on your countertop carries less risk when you can properly see what you’re doing.
2. Make the bathroom safer
No matter what your age, the bathroom is likely the most dangerous spot in your house. Mix wet and smooth tiles with unsure footing and you have a recipe for injury.
Renovating your house for senior living should always start from the idea of creating a more secure space and one of the most secured spaces is the bathroom.
The first thing to do is install a floor made of slip resistant material. Vinyl flooring for your bathroom is ideal as it provides a non slip surface and is very easy to maintain. It lasts a long time and can also look really nice. It even provides some sock resistance so if you do fall, it will have a sort of padded effect to reduce the pain from the fall.
Then, get a bathtub that you can step into and has a built-in, non-slip seat. The kind that has a door that opens so you don’t have to swing your legs over. They should also have some non-slip surface material on the floor of the tub so you can maintain a steady footing.
Lastly, have plenty of grab bars around. Not just inside the bathtub or shower, but also around the bathroom itself. Next to the toilet is a good place to have one to aid you in sitting down and pulling yourself up from a seated position.
3. Make it wheelchair friendly
You may not be in a wheelchair yet, and maybe will never need one, but chances are that you will need some type of mobility device. In which case having a wheelchair friendly home will make your life much easier.
For instance, doors should be widened not only to accommodate a wheelchair or scooter, but even a walker. Walkers, also called Zimmer frames, can make it difficult to get through a narrow doorway.
Redesigning a kitchen to allow for easy passage of a wheelchair also has benefits for those that aren’t yet using one as it is easy to navigate the more open spaces.
Even a wheelchair ramp leading into the house can make it easier to get in with any kind of mobility device and is much safer than walking up some steps.
4. Aid your hearing
Hearing is also an issue as you get older, so you should be able to hear important alerts.
Change your doorbell for one that rings in various rooms around the home so you can always hear if somebody is at the door. And alarms should not only be really loud, but have lights that blink to alert you visually if there is a problem.
Even having new appliances will help with your hearing as they are quieter so they don’t drown out important sounds or even just your television.
