ᐅ To what extent do you take aging in place into account when building a home?
Created on: 12 Aug 2016 21:10
M
MizitPreliminary remark: we are currently going through a phase where we seriously question all our previous plans. 🙂 I hope this phase is normal.
At the moment, I am concerned about to what extent one should consider living arrangements for old age when planning the floor plan. With the layouts we have favored so far, living in old age with the perhaps typical difficulties would not be easy.
We are currently planning a guest bathroom with a shower on the ground floor, but it will be somewhere between 3.5–5 square meters (38–54 square feet), and a large, barrier-free shower would probably not be possible there, nor would there be enough space to enter the bathroom with a walker, for example. Generally, I have always considered having a bedroom on the ground floor as a practical option for later, but it seems to me that especially these "catalog floor plans" for series-built houses do not provide for a sufficiently large bedroom on the ground floor, nor a sufficiently large bathroom.
It’s not that we only just became aware that we might hopefully live to be 90 and perhaps won’t be able to manage stairs anymore. We simply haven’t prioritized the question of living in the house in old age. Basically, we still see a lot of value in the idea that we might give the single-family home to one of our children in 30 years or rent it out in order to move back to the city ourselves, and so on.
But maybe in 20 years we will see things very differently. Maybe we will be very attached to this place, this house, and perhaps we cannot imagine selling the family home of our children, and so on.
In that case, it wouldn’t be unwise to plan so that it would be possible to live entirely on the ground floor at some point, possibly separate the upper floors as a separate apartment and rent them out. But then it might be necessary to plan some things differently now...
How important has this aspect been for you?
At the moment, I am concerned about to what extent one should consider living arrangements for old age when planning the floor plan. With the layouts we have favored so far, living in old age with the perhaps typical difficulties would not be easy.
We are currently planning a guest bathroom with a shower on the ground floor, but it will be somewhere between 3.5–5 square meters (38–54 square feet), and a large, barrier-free shower would probably not be possible there, nor would there be enough space to enter the bathroom with a walker, for example. Generally, I have always considered having a bedroom on the ground floor as a practical option for later, but it seems to me that especially these "catalog floor plans" for series-built houses do not provide for a sufficiently large bedroom on the ground floor, nor a sufficiently large bathroom.
It’s not that we only just became aware that we might hopefully live to be 90 and perhaps won’t be able to manage stairs anymore. We simply haven’t prioritized the question of living in the house in old age. Basically, we still see a lot of value in the idea that we might give the single-family home to one of our children in 30 years or rent it out in order to move back to the city ourselves, and so on.
But maybe in 20 years we will see things very differently. Maybe we will be very attached to this place, this house, and perhaps we cannot imagine selling the family home of our children, and so on.
In that case, it wouldn’t be unwise to plan so that it would be possible to live entirely on the ground floor at some point, possibly separate the upper floors as a separate apartment and rent them out. But then it might be necessary to plan some things differently now...
How important has this aspect been for you?
I definitely think this is worth considering!
You never know what might happen—an accident, an illness—and life can change in ways you never expected (I’m sensitive to this because my father developed Parkinson’s, and I now understand what it means when the body no longer cooperates).
We don’t have enough space to live only on the ground floor (well, technically possible, but it wouldn’t be comfortable). For me, the solution is to design the staircase from the start so that a stairlift could possibly be installed later, with both living levels being fully accessible (no door thresholds), as well as the shower being large enough to use with a walker if necessary, including a seat inside the shower, and so on.
This is really important to me.
You never know what might happen—an accident, an illness—and life can change in ways you never expected (I’m sensitive to this because my father developed Parkinson’s, and I now understand what it means when the body no longer cooperates).
We don’t have enough space to live only on the ground floor (well, technically possible, but it wouldn’t be comfortable). For me, the solution is to design the staircase from the start so that a stairlift could possibly be installed later, with both living levels being fully accessible (no door thresholds), as well as the shower being large enough to use with a walker if necessary, including a seat inside the shower, and so on.
This is really important to me.
T
toxicmolotof12 Aug 2016 22:20Hello Mizit,
We haven’t studied this topic in depth, but we have considered it. For example, our house is modularly designed so that the ground floor (GF) has enough rooms to live on in old age (kitchen, living room, bathroom with space for a washer/dryer, bedroom) and is arranged so that the staircase can be separated from the rest of the living area. Basically, just adding a new door is enough.
The upper floor (two children’s bedrooms and a bathroom) is designed so that a separate apartment door can be installed with minimal effort, and one of the bedrooms is positioned so that water supply and drainage for a kitchen area can be routed easily from the bathroom. There is also space for a washer/dryer in the bathroom. This way, we can live on one level in old age and rent out the “spare” rooms, for example, to students.
However, we did not install extra-wide doors or specifically plan for full accessibility. Although, in principle, everything would be wheelchair accessible.
We haven’t studied this topic in depth, but we have considered it. For example, our house is modularly designed so that the ground floor (GF) has enough rooms to live on in old age (kitchen, living room, bathroom with space for a washer/dryer, bedroom) and is arranged so that the staircase can be separated from the rest of the living area. Basically, just adding a new door is enough.
The upper floor (two children’s bedrooms and a bathroom) is designed so that a separate apartment door can be installed with minimal effort, and one of the bedrooms is positioned so that water supply and drainage for a kitchen area can be routed easily from the bathroom. There is also space for a washer/dryer in the bathroom. This way, we can live on one level in old age and rent out the “spare” rooms, for example, to students.
However, we did not install extra-wide doors or specifically plan for full accessibility. Although, in principle, everything would be wheelchair accessible.
The ground floor will be fully accessible, including the front door and patio doors. Turning circles for wheelchairs and walkers have been taken into account.
My father has limited mobility, a very good friend has MS—on good days she can walk, on bad days she needs a wheelchair, and a friend had a stroke. After years, he no longer requires a fully accessible environment, but he still uses grab bars near the toilet and appreciates every threshold that is eliminated.
All doors on the ground and upper floors will be wider, and the bedroom will be planned large enough to accommodate a walker and nursing care. The bathroom will have a walk-in shower, etc.
The staircase will be designed so that a stairlift can be installed.
Whether it will be useful, hopefully we won’t have to test that too soon.
My father has limited mobility, a very good friend has MS—on good days she can walk, on bad days she needs a wheelchair, and a friend had a stroke. After years, he no longer requires a fully accessible environment, but he still uses grab bars near the toilet and appreciates every threshold that is eliminated.
All doors on the ground and upper floors will be wider, and the bedroom will be planned large enough to accommodate a walker and nursing care. The bathroom will have a walk-in shower, etc.
The staircase will be designed so that a stairlift can be installed.
Whether it will be useful, hopefully we won’t have to test that too soon.
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