There can be plenty of reasons that you need to think about improving the accessibility of your home. It might be that you or someone you live with has been diagnosed with a disability. It could be that you just want to make sure that you have such measures in place for the future, just in case such an incident should occur.
Whatever it is, you should make sure that you are approaching this in the correct manner, so that you don’t overlook anything important. Let’s look at how you can improve the accessibility of your home.
Accessibility Improvements for Your Home
1 – Ramps
One of the first and most important things you will want to look at is the possibility of installing ramps. These are often essential for disabled and handicapped people to get into the home, so it is not something you can overlook if that is what you are trying to achieve. With a handicap ramp at each entrance to your home – or at least, the main entrance – you can be certain that anyone who needs to will be able to enter your home. What’s more, these days this is a highly affordable option.
2 – Wider Doorways
Doorways are often going to cause an issue if you are trying to make your home more accessible. The main way this happens is that a doorway is too narrow to allow for someone in a wheelchair to go through, which obviously limits their ability to move around the home terribly. Widening doorways, and removing the doors in many cases, can be useful solutions – along with changing doorknobs into levers, and ensuring they are at the right level.
3 – Stairlifts
If you are trying to convert a home with stairs into a more accessible space, then it is obviously the stairs that are going to cause you the most trouble. The go-to solution, and still one of the best, is to install a stairlift at the staircase. These are incredibly useful, as it means that the individual in question can get up and down the stairs even if nobody else happens to be home. This is therefore especially important in a home that does not have a lot of people coming and going.
4 – Elevators
The stairlift is not your only option for dealing with the stair trouble, however. You might also want to think about installing an elevator – something that many people now do in their own homes, and which is actually pretty easy to install. Home elevators are an elegant, if slightly more expensive, solution. And installing one might be something that you should absolutely consider if you feel it is necessary in order to improve the accessibility of your home.
5 – Shower Seats
The bathroom is one particularly troublesome spot, and a cause of many slips, trips and falls for the disabled. One of the first and major things you’ll want to do is install a shower seat and safety bar so that anyone can use the shower without having to worry about falling and injuring themselves.
The Takeaway on Home Accessibility
Whether you are fitting your home to accommodate a family member who needs these modifications now or planning to age in-home, these home accessibility features can add ease to your life.
She has a B.S.Ed. in Secondary Education/English and a Spanish Minor. In addition, she holds a Certificates in Natural Health and Herbology from accredited programs. She pursued these natural wellness certifications due to her love for herb gardening.
Despite freelancing to make a living, her love is "all things home."
Deborah grew up in a family that grew a large vegetable garden and a fruit orchard, helping her parents pull weeds and can home-grown foods as part of her childhood. In fact, she had no idea that she could purchase veggies and fruits in pre-packed steel cans until she went to college and made a food run.
Today, she lives in Bertie County, North Carolina, an agricultural rural area with more chickens than people. She lives with her husband and two rescue pets a sweet toy fox terrier and a cat who showed up one day and moved into the house. Together, they enjoy DIY projects, furniture refinishing, gardening, and canning.
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