Modification Tips to Prepare Your Home for Aging Parents

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Taking care of elderly parents becomes a priority at some part of everyone’s lives. If you’ve come to the decision of taking care of your parents or another senior family member into your home, you need to make sure to accommodate them and cater to all of their needs. Not only do you need to think about their dedicated space and how they will get around, but also about their safety in every room of the house. Here are some pointers that need to be on your to-do list when you’re preparing your home for aging parents.

Think of these 4 aspects of the friendly senior living: independent, mobile, safe and comfortable. Any adjustments you make to your home have to fulfill at least one of these purposes, or else they might put your family members at risk.

General repairs and maintenance are first in order – make sure everything is functional and working long before your senior family member arrives.

• Extra-wide doorways that allow room to pass through with a wheelchair, if need be.
• Think of the layout of your home. Which room is dedicated to your aging family member? If you have a single story home, then good for you! But if you don’t, make sure the room you will give to your elderly member stays on the ground level so you can avoid making them take the stairs all the time.
• Try converting a dining room or an office into an elderly room. If it’s impossible to have a ground-level bedroom, then a ramp or stair-lift is your next big investment.
• If you are all in for making your family member as comfortable as possible, you can even build them a special home called Granny flat near you, which has everything they need. Try with Rescon Builders, and make sure your senior family member stays comfortable and safe for a long time.
• Make sure that walking is safe in all parts of the house. Steps and thresholds can make it more difficult to move and could be a potential hazard to senior people who easily trip over non-flat surfaces.
• Make sure the house gets a lot of natural light and also add brighter lighting. Many senior injuries that occur, happen for the reason that elderly didn’t see what they were stepping on. They are very frail and even uncertainty can shake up their ability to walk. Night lights are a must in the hallways, for obligatory night visits to the bathrooms. There are many economic lights that work with sensors, so you will save a ton of money on the electricity bill, too.

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• Bathtubs are a nightmare for older people, so if you can, try to install a walk-in shower with all the necessary grab bars, a built-in seat, and a non-slip mat. Most senior accidents happen in the slippery bathroom the most, so take extra care into making that room safer.
• All drawers and handles need to be replaced if they’re ball-shaped. Ball-shaped handles are too hard to get a good grip on, especially when you’re older and your joints aren’t the same as they used to be – it can even be painful to deal with those things.
• If your senior family member has trouble cooking, don’t let them near the stove. Buy a microwave if you didn’t have one and make sure they use it well. Many older people sometimes forget they left the stove on which can be a potential hazard to them and the whole house.
• For senior members that are hard of hearing there are special things: phones with extra loud noises, or flashing lights (whenever someone calls or the doorbell rings).
• Get rid of any throw rugs to prevent slipping. If you’re really fond of them, then add anti-slip mats underneath them.
• Make sure the staircase has handrails on both sides that are easy to grasp with both fingers and knuckles on railings.

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• Get rid of all cords and cables that are sticking out somewhere, they can be a tripping hazard.
• Kitchen counters can sometimes be too difficult to work on. Make sure that your elderly have the option to sit when they want to and continue their work.
• Make sure that bookshelves, and other higher places are easily accessible. A step stool with handles could be of great help, but try to move all the necessary items on lower places instead.

These are some of the basic things to take care of when preparing your home for the arrival of your senior family member. Many people do this too, so make it an option – by selling both your and your elderly’s home, you can buy a bigger and better one for your whole family that might just be suited better for your parent or other family members, too. In any way, the most important thing is to keep them safe and make their life easier for a long, long time.