Creating a Retirement-Friendly Home: Essential Features and Considerations

Do you want to retire gracefully? Making important design choices today will allow you to live comfortably at home for decades. 

Making your home retirement friendly doesn’t mean that you need to sacrifice aesthetics. In fact, just adding small, simple touches can make a significant difference in helping you find the right options in terms of function and style in your golden years. 

In this post, we’ll walk you through some of the essential features and considerations in a retirement-friendly home: 

1. An open floor plan

Removing walls in living, dining rooms, family rooms, kitchens, and hallways, allows easy maneuvering and accessibility.

Open floor plans also make your space look bigger, more comfortable, and easy to navigate. It also opens up more space for natural light, making it easy for family members to watch over older adults.

2. Single-level living

Walking up and down the stairs can be challenging as the person ages. In the same way, walking up and down a walker or cane is difficult and almost impossible with wheelchairs. If you must design a multi-story home, adding an elevator is ideal. 

Another alternative is combining essential rooms on the first floor. You may want to stay in your two-story home. So, to ensure that your place is easy to navigate, you might want to consider placing the master bedroom downstairs. Opt for open spaces instead of smaller rooms or narrow hallways as much as you can. 

3. Accessibility modifications

Getting in and out of a shower or bathtub can be challenging as one ages. Many replace their bathtub with walk-in showers, as it provides safer, easier access. 

Falls are also common with bathrooms, but you can prevent them from happening. Consider installing grab bars or railings that provide someone with mobility issues with additional support to move around safely. 

We recommend installing grab bars near the toilet, shower, or bathtub since these surfaces can be slippery. Ensure shower curtains aren’t held by a tension rod since grabbing these for support can also lead to falls. 

If properly secured, grab bars remove the pressure on your knees when rising from the toilet, offering support. The best thing about it is that you can install them anywhere in your home. Just ensure these bars can hold up to 250 pounds, and install them while screwing them into wall studs. 

4. Non-slip flooring

Older people are prone to significant fall hazards. To prevent falls, ensure that glass doors go all the way to the floor and that there are no curbs to step over. 

Make sure that you level your bathroom floors and use surfaces that are slip resistant. The space in your bathroom should also be wide enough for movement or wheelchair access. 

Uncarpeted stairs also tend to be slippery and challenging to navigate, making them a serious fall hazard. Thus, applying non-slip tapes allows better traction, preventing falls. Stairways should also have railings on every side. 

5. Lever-style door handles and faucets

Adding lever handles in your exterior and interior doors allows older people to easily open and close doors.

They’re also much easier to hold into and manipulate when carrying laundry, groceries, or simply having unstable hands. 

Level-styled Faucets have also become the norm for kitchens and showers because of their aesthetic, and they’re relatively more manageable to work with than knobs. 

6. Ample lighting

Adding bright, functional lighting in a space will help seniors adjust and avoid falls, injuries, and trips. It’s best to ensure that there’s always bright light available; lighting up entrances and hallways also reduces the risk of possible trips or bumps. 

Placing easy switches and illumination controls will also create uniform lighting throughout. Opt for LED bulbs since they’re more energy efficient. 

7. Multi-level counters and pull-out and pull-down shelves

Your kitchen countertops should have a height that allows people to work comfortably. Ideally, counters should be at the standard height or around 36 inches. Others should be at least at a table height (30 inches) and have enough knee space for sitting. Doing so offers more options for prepping and cooking, whether sitting or standing, without requiring one to bend over. 

In the same way, deep shelves are more challenging for older adults to use. Pull-out cabinet inserts make it easy for anyone to retrieve items from storage. These cabinets should also be lower so that someone needs to step on a stool to access them. 

8. Higher Electrical Outlets, Lower Electrical Switches

Usually, outlets are installed about 12 to 8 inches off the floor. This isn’t ideal for the elderly since it often requires bending or kneeling before they can plug in appliances.

To avoid hurting the back and the knees, ensure that outplaces are at least 24 inches from the floor since it provides easier access. Electric switches should be at the ideal height for adults to reach. 

9. Bathroom safety features

Adding a shower or a bathtub safety seat will offer stability for someone who has difficulty standing for extended periods. Fortunately, they’re easy to find these days and affordable. Another great idea is adding a wheelchair shower platform for people using mobility aids, making it easier to get in and out of the bathtub. 

Installing a handheld shower head is also more convenient since it can be used alongside a shower chair, making it easy for people with limited mobility to bathe when sitting down. 

Raising your toilet seat height will also alleviate any pain, making it easy to use the bathroom independently and helpful for people recovering from injury or with limited mobility. 

Over to You

So there you have it. These are the essential features and considerations when building a retirement-friendly home. Making these modifications is one of the many steps you can take to ensure that you’ll age successfully in a comfortable home. Applying these essential home modifications is relatively easy to do and makes all the difference regarding your convenience and safety and those around you.

Creating a Safe and Accessible Home Environment for Senior Care

When you have an elderly loved one, it’s natural to worry about them and wonder how to keep them safe, especially when they already have memory or medical problems that make them more susceptible to falls and other accidents. Fortunately, there are simple things you can do to increase the odds that your loved one will be safe day after day, and it doesn’t take a lot of time or money to get most of them done.

The bottom line is, most people cannot spend 24 hours a day with their loved ones simply because they have other responsibilities in their lives, which is why so many of them hire a caregiver to help out at least on a part-time basis. Indeed, there are lots of things that can happen to an elderly loved one when you’re not around, including falls, becoming immobile, and not being able to get enough food to sustain them.

Fortunately, there are things you can do to help protect your loved ones and keep them safe when you’re away, and most of them are neither difficult nor expensive to do. Below are five of those things.

1. Don’t Let Them Maintain the Home Themselves

Senior citizens shouldn’t have to worry about maintaining their homes because there is too much potential for injuries and accidents. Get together with other family members and get an outside company to handle things such as lawn care, house-cleaning services, and basic repairs. The less your elderly loved ones have to do to keep up their home, the less likely they’ll find themselves in a situation where harm may come to them.

2. Pay Special Attention to the Bathroom

Unfortunately, a lot of accidents happen in the bathroom, so you may want to consider installing grab bars near the toilet and in the shower, non-skid rugs, shower seats, and even a walk-in tub if you can afford it. In other words, create a bathroom where accidents and falls are much less likely to occur. It shouldn’t cost much – except for maybe the walk-in tub – but it’s all worth it in the end.

3. Utilize a Grocery Delivery Company

Many times, elderly people are unable to find groceries to cook or won’t feel like cooking and therefore, they simply skip meals. Depending on their medical conditions, this could become life-threatening for them, but it doesn’t have to be this way. There are numerous types of meal and grocery delivery companies out there, so choose one and have either their groceries or their meals delivered regularly so they get the nutrition they need.

4. Make Sure They Have Some Type of Emergency Response Tool

Most of us have seen commercials for various types of emergency response tools, especially the devices they can wear around their neck or on their wrist and call for help any time of the day or night. The assistance is available 24/7, and all they have to do if they fall or they’re in a dangerous situation is simply press a button, and the rest is simple. These systems leave family members with great peace of mind at all times, and their cost is usually very reasonable.

5. Eliminate Items That Might Make Them Fall at Some Point

When you think about it, there are items in your loved one’s home that are much more likely to cause a fall at some point. This includes clutter or debris, small pillows, toys, or even loose area rugs that might be found in the areas where the elderly person goes a lot, such as the bathroom, kitchen, and bedroom. The more of these items you remove, the less likely a dangerous fall will occur. This tip is especially important if they use a cane or walker regularly.

You can also encourage your loved one to have a social network of friends who check on one another daily, install carbon monoxide and fire detectors, make sure none of the lightbulbs are out so the room can be nice and bright once they turn on the light, and make sure all of the appliances in the home are in good condition and are not safety hazards. Anything you can do to make your loved one’s home safer will be a good thing.

Conclusion

Falls are a major concern when it comes to an elderly loved one, and they need to know this as well. Fortunately, there are simple things you can do to greatly reduce the odds of them being alone and possibly injuring or harming themselves, starting with the tips mentioned earlier. Fortunately, thanks to technologically advanced tools such as the Internet and smartphones, connecting with your loved one is easier than it’s ever been.

Checking on your loved one regularly is simple, but if you take precautions ahead of time, you’ll worry a lot less in the end. In short, you should use whatever it takes to improve the safety of your loved one’s environment because for most of us, we simply cannot be around them 24/7. Hiring a part-time caregiver is a great idea, but you also need to do things to help a loved one whenever you’re away.

Age in Place Effortlessly: An Essential Guide to Creating Your Forever Home

We partnered with a Elevator company for this post. The opinions in the post are honest. All reviews and opinions expressed in this post are based on our personal views. We are excited because we know you will love it.

Are you considering selling the home you love and moving away from the community you want to live in simply because of accessibility issues?
You’re not alone. According to recent studies from the Urban Institute, the number of households headed by people 65 and older is expected to increase from 34 million to 48 million within the next 20 years. Of those polled, a whopping 71 percent said their house has accessibility issues that would limit their ability to remain in their home.

People value their independence. They want to age independently and stay within the comfort of their own home. According to the AARP “2021 Home and Community Preferences Survey,” 77 percent of adults 50 and older want to remain in their home for the long term. Unfortunately, most houses haven’t been designed for aging adults or people with disabilities.

As we age, multi-level homes may become more difficult or even impossible to access due to the increased challenge that stairs present. Indira Venkat, Vice President of Consumer Insights at AARP, states, “Unfortunately, most houses weren't built to support the needs of people across the many stages of life. The best way to continue living in the home you love is to plan ahead and make changes that will accommodate your needs today and in the future.”

The good news is that for those adults with mobility issues, numerous solutions exist that will allow you to age in place and remain in your treasured home. The home modification of an elevator or lift will facilitate the accessibility and safety of your entire house.

Residential Elevators are on the Rise

Older homeowners, people planning for their retirement and those considering multigenerational households with aging parents are searching for solutions for aging in place.
In fact, the number of Americans living in multigenerational households has quadrupled since 1971, according to a March 24, 2022, Pew Research Center Report. As of March 2021, 59.7 million U.S. residents live in multigenerational family households (compared with 58.4 million in 2019).
This is one reason why the demand for residential elevators, lifts and dumbwaiters has increased exponentially over the past several years.

With the cost of land going up, houses are going vertical. Homebuilders are considering the positive impact that residential elevators have on a homeowner’s ability to age in place. There is a growing trend to include elevators or the adaptable design technique of stacked closets for the future addition of an elevator in new construction homes.

Investing in a home elevator has many benefits. Elevators and lifts can help you stay in your home and age in place by making all floors safely accessible. Home modifications can prevent injuries from falling and reduce the costs associated with falls.
The value of your home can also increase by 10 percent or more by adding a residential elevator, according to Retirement Living. Additionally, houses with elevators have greater curb appeal and improve your home’s uniqueness in a competitive market.
Tim Fischer, CEO of Southeast Elevator, has observed that, “Retrofitting a home with an elevator or lift is becoming part of the retirement planning process for many people, and it is allowing people to stay in their forever home as they age in place.”

Measuring the Cost Effectiveness of Aging in Place

Aging in place is one of the most cost-effective choices older homeowners can make. Living in the home you already own can help to avoid costly stays in an assisted living facility or nursing home.
According to the Genworth Financial 2021 Cost of Care statistics, the average cost of assisted living in the United States is $4,500 per month and a shared room in a nursing home can be more than $7,900 per month. The addition of an elevator or lift could easily save you tens of thousands of dollars every year that you are able to remain in your own home.

Many people have the outdated notion that an elevator is something that only luxury homeowners can acquire. This is no longer true, as residential elevators are becoming attainable for many more people.
When you compare the time, cost and inconvenience of selling your home, purchasing a new one, renting or moving into an assisted living facility with the cost of a new elevator, there’s simply no comparison in terms of price and quality of life for those who want to remain in their own home.

Proactively Plan for the Changes That Occur in Life as You Grow Older

There are many conveyance options for existing homeowners who want to consider age in place remodeling, as well as people building their new homes with future accessibility and safety in mind:

1. Traditional elevators, whether hydraulic, overhead winding drum or pitless, require an enclosed cab and a shaft. They’re typically used to access two or more floors inside a home and can carry more weight than a lift. An indoor elevator requires more site preparation than a lift.
2. Pneumatic (PVE) vacuum elevators use air pressure to raise and lower the cab and require no shaft, pit or machine room.

3. Vertical platform lifts most commonly have an open cab but are also available with an enclosure. They can be installed both indoors and outdoors and have a maximum travel distance of 14’. Lifts are ideal for wheelchair users who need to travel up to a porch or deck. They save a lot of space! A lift’s small footprint occupies considerably less space than a wheelchair ramp.

4. Outdoor elevators and lifts are a great solution and something to consider when improving your home’s accessibility if you can’t or don’t want to sacrifice space inside your home.

5. Stairlifts attach to the wall or banister of a staircase and carry a seated passenger comfortably up the stairs.

How Do You Know What Option to Choose?

The best elevator for your home is the one that suits your specific needs, site conditions, budget and floor plan. Finding the right residential elevator company will help you discover the most effective solutions to ensure you remain in your forever home and age in place.

3 Ways to Prepare Before an Aging Loved One Moves in With You

As your loved ones age, they may find it more difficult to maintain a high standard of living in their own home. Rather than arrange for them to enter a nursing facility, you can have them join your family home. 

This is an increasingly common arrangement. More older parents are moving in with adult children, with 31.9% of the adult population of the U.S. living in a shared household of two or more adults. Yet, it isn’t a step that should be taken lightly. Having a parent or other loved one move in with you requires careful and considerate planning. 

Let’s take a moment to explore three ways you can prepare before an aging loved one moves in with you.

Set Boundaries

Having your aging loved ones move in with you can be an enriching experience for everyone involved. That isn’t to say it will be entirely stress-free, though. There’s a lot of emotional and practical baggage surrounding parents or grandparents sharing space with their adult relatives. One of the ways to mitigate conflicts is to set clear boundaries.

Get together before the moving process begins and discuss this issue openly. Be honest about what your individual concerns are about the arrangement and aspects you each feel will be difficult. Establish where you believe you should draw lines in the shared living arrangements. 

Boundary areas may include:

• Maintaining one another’s privacy

• If you have children, asserting your position as the authority figure

• Paying for bills

• Decorating or organizing the home to individual preferences

• Protocols for inviting guests and hosting gatherings

• Acceptable times for noise or disruptive activities

Adjust for Accessibility

Your aging loved ones may have different accessibility needs compared to you and your family. Therefore, the current design of your home and its features may not make for a practical or comfortable environment for older occupants. It’s vital to consider what adjustments need to be made to make the space safe for your relatives and their guests. 

Talk to your loved one about the challenges they tend to face in the home. Discuss whether they require handrails to be installed in bathrooms or for non-slip flooring to be laid. It’s not uncommon for aging loved ones to need wheelchairs or other mobility aids to maintain their independence. You may, therefore, need to widen doorways or install ramps in entryways and over steps.

While there are costs associated with this, many older people get help paying for ramps through Medicare and Medicaid and and Medicaid. This can reduce the financial burden on your family significantly. However, reimbursement generally only applies when ramps are medically necessary. Therefore, it’s wise to collaborate with your loved one in making applications to meet the requirements in your state. You may need to get confirmation from a doctor that home adaptations are medically required.

Consolidate Belongings

Up until now, you and your aging relative will have lived largely independent lives. During that time, you’ll likely each have gathered a collection of personal belongings. Some of these will have sentimental value. Yet, often it’s not practical to fit the entire contents of both of your homes in one space. It’s important to prepare for the move by mindfully consolidating items.

Making decisions about what to keep can tie into many of the other considerations that go into arranging for your parents to move closer to you. Think about their current lifestyle and what elements support their activities. If they have pets, you’ll need to look at items that are not just important to your loved one but also to the animal. You should also discuss the potential stress of the move itself, and how a lot of packing can exacerbate this. But it’s good to think about what will give them comfort once they’ve arrived, too.

Be open to discarding some of your own items. Though, it’s important to remember that you will certainly already be doing your part by providing them with space in your home. Aim to take a balanced and fair approach to your decisions. Indeed, this can be a template for your living arrangements together moving forward. 

Conclusion

If an aging loved one is moving in with you, considerate preparation is a must. Take the time to set clear boundaries to ensure good living conditions for everyone. Review what accessibility adjustments may be necessary for your loved one’s mobility. You’ll each have a lot of belongings, so a considerate purge or consolidation of items may be in order, too. Shared living arrangements between multiple adults aren’t always easy, but your preparations can help you start off on the right foot.