How Do You Adapt a House for an Older or Disabled Person at a Low Cost?

Selling a house with termite history might be hard, but adapting it for someone who has mobility issues is much harder, particularly if you are on a tight budget. If you are in a situation where you need to do just that, you do not need to worry! There are a number of ways to go about doing it quickly and affordably.

If you want to learn more about how to make your house accessible, check out the rest of this article! Here, you will find a few useful tips for adapting your house for an older or disabled person at a low cost.

Install Grab Rails

Installing grab rails in your house is one of the first things that you can do to make it more accessible. Grab rails are essential for people who have mobility issues. It is something that such a person can hold on to while moving from place to place.

Ideally, you should install the grab rails a minimum of thirty-four inches and a maximum of thirty-eight inches from the floor. In addition to that, pay attention to where you are installing the rails. You should do it in places where your loved one is likely to need help most, such as close to the toilet, around the bathtub, and on the side of the bed.

Install an Outdoor Wheelchair Ramp

If you have a front porch, installing an outdoor ramp is one of the most affordable things that you can do to adapt your house to the needs of an older or disabled person. In addition to that, it will make your house more accessible for pets and children!

What is important is that the ramp needs to be sturdy enough to be able to support the weight of your loved one. You can achieve that effect by choosing durable building materials, such as concrete and wood.

Adjust the Tabletops

What about adjusting the tabletops? If your loved one has difficulties reaching the tables in the house, you can take each tabletop and adjust it to the height of your loved one’s legs by shortening the table’s legs.

However, it is important that you do not make the tables in your house unstable. If you do not have basic woodworking skills and tools and are afraid that you are not the right fit for the job, you can always hire a skilled carpenter to take care of it for you!

Install Auxiliary Door Handles

If your house has quite a few doors that are hard to open, you can install a push and pull handle on the inside of each door. This way, it will be easier for your loved one to open it without your help! If you want to take it a step further, you can look into installing one-touch door handles. Both options are great and will prevent your loved one from having to struggle to open doors.

Put a Seat in the Shower

Many people who have mobility issues prefer to take showers while sitting down. If you want your loved one to be able to wash properly, you might want to put a seat in the shower! You can go for a regular plastic chair, but remodeling the entirety of the shower and adding a built-in bench is an option, too!

Install Alert Devices

Have you thought about installing medical alert devices around the house? It might not make the house more accessible, but it is guaranteed to make it safer for an older or disabled person. With this kind of device, your loved one will be able to call for help whenever they need it.

The most popular alert devices are personal emergency response systems. Such systems consist of a small device that is worn around the wrist or the neck that can send alerts in the event of an emergency. If you want your loved one to be safe, purchasing such a device is definitely worth looking into.

Use Cork Flooring

If your loved one has mobility issues, you should make the floors in the house skid-resistant, and installing cork flooring is going to help you to do just that! Cork flooring is waterproof and easy to clean. It is quite cheap, too, meaning that you will not need to worry about breaking the bank by installing it!

In addition to that, cork flooring is incredibly skid-resistant and has shock absorption properties, which will help protect your loved one from slipping and lessen the impact of a fall if your loved one does happen to fall down.

Install a Stair Lift

If your house has multiple floors, you can make it more accessible by installing a stairlift! Stairlifts are great for people who have mobility issues, as they allow for movement between floors without climbing stairs.

It is important to note that not all stairlifts are created equally. If you want to be certain that your loved one will be safe, you should invest in the sturdiest stairlift that you can find. It is likely that it will cost you quite a bit, but it is definitely worth it.

In Conclusion

To sum up, making a house more accessible does not have to be expensive. In fact, a number of changes that you can make are cost-effective and easy to implement. If you need to adapt your home for an older or disabled person, do not hesitate and do it as soon as possible!

If you feel like you will need assistance, contact a professional house renovation company! Ideally, you should contact a company that has already had a chance to help adapt houses for people with mobility issues. This way, you will be confident that every house adaptation that you want to carry out will be taken care of the right way!