If you’re approaching retirement or know people that are about to, then, chances are, you can appreciate the comfort of living at home and not having to worry about all the things that go along with renting property. Aging, as is inevitable in life, is one of those times we all have to prepare for, not least those of us who own homes that may present challenges to us as we get older.
Preparing one’s home for one’s golden years then is a reality that we should all think about sooner or later. Due to decreasing mobility it’s best that we think about what modifications we can make now in preparation for later and save ourselves the pain and expense of waiting until it’s too late.
Here we discuss the types of modifications you may want to consider.
Bathroom
Adding bars to the toilet and a shower might be a sensible way to go when it comes to making smart changes around the home. In addition to thinking about your shower you might want to rip your current one out and consider stylish walk in showers that offer greater accessibility and prevent you having to raise or lower yourself into a basin in order to wash.
Furthermore it might also be a good idea to lower the height of a bathroom sink so that you can reach underneath it easily. Storage is also key in a bathroom too, make sure you have cupboards and spaces you can reach from a seated position and use rugs in the bathroom so that you avoid the risk of slipping and causing injury.
General
Throughout your house as a whole you might also want to add some level of assisted support, especially if you’re wheelchair bound and need that extra support. Borrow or rent a wheelchair and you’ll exactly what challenges present themselves in your home and then allow yourself to make changes in lieu of that.
You’ll want to add remote control lighting for lamps and lights, saving you the necessity of walking to switches. Elsewhere Capital Construction Contracting Inc recommends maybe replacing doors that need excessive force to close or open, switching them up with easier mechanisms and doing the same for windows too.
Storage space also needs some consideration. Think about your closet and how you might look to access it from a wheelchair or walker. Do your clothes hang on a pole at a reasonable height? If not then perhaps consider lowering it or moving clothes to more accessible solutions in drawers.
Kitchen
A kitchen is another very important area to shed some focus on. Adding a workstation with a chair to help you prepare food or use a computer might prove particularly useful in the advancing years. Elsewhere you might want to look at your sink and stove tops and see if they are at a reasonable height for you to reach and use. Other key appliances like dishwashers and washing machines might also be worth investigating. Are they easy to open and close and add things too? These are the types of questions you should look to be asking yourself when making modifications to your home for the future.