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Pull-out table from Passport accessible cabinet series makes food preparation and snacks comfortable for the older resident or wheelchair user. Photo courtesy of KraftMaid Cabinetry.
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Here is a room-by-room checklist of steps you can take if someone in your family is impacted by a lasting injury, disability or age-related physical challenges. Many of these improvements will also make your home safer and more comfortable for able-bodied residents and guests alike as well as potentially increasing its resale value.
The suggestions listed below in the category “Immediate/Affordable” are simple to implement by a do-it-yourselfer, a handyman or in a single trip by a contractor, electrician or plumber. The ideas noted in the category called “Long-Term/Costlier” are intended to address serious, ongoing conditions and involve more planning, permitting and a range of professionals to make large-scale or structural changes to your home.
Entryways/ Stairs
Immediate/Affordable
• Be sure that there’s ample lighting at all the home’s entry doors. A motion sensor light can be ideal for this purpose.
Home Care® by Moen®’s new SecureMount™ Installation system makes installing grab bars an easy, DIY project. Used with permission: Home Care® by Moen® © 2008.
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• Remove any trip hazards, like stray water cans or cracked pavers, from walkways.
• Add a bench or shelf near the door as a resting place for visitors and packages.
• Add a handrail on the inside stair wall to supplement the outside hand rail.
• Add non-skid treads or a secured-in-place runner to eliminate a trip hazard on uncarpeted stairs.
• Replace standard switches with easier-to-use rocker switches at entryways and throughout the home.
Long-Term/Costlier
• Speak to a qualified remodeler—especially one with a Certified Aging in Place Specialization (CAPS)—about creating a zero-step entry, adding a ramp to your home and widening doors and hallways to accommodate a wheelchair user.
• Add a three-way switch at the top and bottom of staircases for safe footing in both directions.
Textured floors, rolling storage, barrier-free shower access, slide-bar shower head and grab bars all contribute to this bathroom’s accessibility. Used with Permission: © Kohler Co.
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Sleeping and Living Areas
Immediate/Affordable
• Move someone in a wheelchair, using a walker or lacking good balance to a first-floor bedroom. If you don’t a readily available space, consider adapting any private first-level room with a smoke detector and window to bedroom use.
• Allow room near the bed for a walker or wheelchair as well as for any Change a step-in shower threshold to roll-in access.
• Change an older, pre-code shower valve to a pressure-balanced, anti-scald model.
• Consider installing two showerheads for two users so that one will always be in a seated user position.
• Consider one of the newer medicine cabinets with cooling capacity for medications requiring refrigeration. Robern offers one through its M Series line.
• Change at least one vanity to a lower-height, roll-under model for a wheelchair user.
• Round the corners on all countertops to minimize impact injuries.
• Maximize the color contrast between vanity cabinet and countertops.
Kitchens
Roll-under cook top and sink, raised dishwasher, high toe kicks and other features make this Kraftmaid Passport kitchen accessible for the wheelchair user. Photo courtesy of KraftMaid Cabinetry.
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Immediate/Affordable
• Add roll-out shelves to pantries and base cabinets for easier access and visibility.
• Replace knob style cabinet hardware and faucets with lever-style handles.
• Add a lazy susan or swing-out shelf to hard-to-reach base corner cabinets.
• If the kitchen is large enough to accommodate a table, add one to allow a wheelchair or walker user to help with meal preparation.
Long-Term/Costlier
• Working with a CAPS-designated contractor and designer (as well as the homeowner’s own qualified medical team), remodel the kitchen with wider work aisles for wheelchair or scooter transit, lowered prep areas, accessible storage and optimal appliance positioning.
• Replace existing appliances with those that are more accessible and safer to use than traditional versions. Examples include side-opening wall ovens, induction cook tops, ventilation hoods with re-locatable control panels, drawer dishwashers, microwave drawers and double-drawer refrigerators.
• For wheelchair users, consider cabinets with higher toe kicks, like KraftMaid’s Passport Series or customizable lines; table-height, roll-under cook top and sink cabinets; and drawer/peg-system storage for dishes and glassware rather than wall-mounted cabinets.
For additional information, see
"New Products and Trends in Universal Design."
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Text by Jamie Goldberg, AKBD, CAPS
© 2008 BobVila.com
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