Creative in-home changes

As adults grow older, their mobility and self-sufficiency often is compromised. Increasingly, rather than moving into facilities that can accommodate newly acquired wheelchairs or walkers, aging boomers and their children are having their homes modified so that they can “age in place.”

Harry Poehlmann, owner of Poehlmann Construction Co. in Fort Collins, typically remodels or builds custom homes that range from $1 million to $7 million, but said physical ailments are the same no matter the economic level.

“I’ve noticed that older people are healthier than they used to be,” Poehlmann said, “but they’ll make modification changes as a just-in-case scenario.”

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One out of four of Poehlmann’s homes have an elevator or dumbwaiter to haul heavy things such as books. Main entries and garages have clean thresholds to avoid stumbling when entering and leaving. Hard wood floors are commonly installed instead of carpet.

“Walkers can get stuck in that,” Poehlmann said.

Poehlmann often installs higher countertops to prevent excess bending. He also puts faucet fixtures behind the oven that fill pots with water on the stove.

“That can save at least one trip to the sink,” Poehlmann said.

Aging adults want most things on the main floor, close together to minimize carrying, such as placing the laundry room near the bedroom. They also prefer to build ranch-style houses or designate basements for visiting family members’ stays.

One new trend Poehlmann sees is use of a hearth room or sitting room near the kitchen.

“People are getting rid of the formal study and the grand living room,” Poehlmann said. “A small room off of the kitchen allows the husband to watch the game while the wife is cooking, so they can be near each other and talk to each other.”

Design and character come into play when implementing in-home aging modifications, Poehlmann said.

“People don’t want their houses to look handicapped,” he said. “We can replace the standard stainless-steel grab bar with a nice wood bar that doesn’t look so intrusive.”

“Baby boomers have a fair amount of money,” Poehlmann said. “Sometimes aging-in-place remodeling is kind of overused.”

Louie Delaware, owner of Safe Home Modifications in Louisville, is an aging-in-place specialist when it comes to home modifications. He cited some statistics that he finds helpful when planning modifications with seniors:

• According to an AARP housing survey, 83 percent of older Americans want to stay in their current homes for the rest of their lives.

• Nearly 70 percent f seniors spend the rest of their lives in the place where they celebrated their 65th birthday.

• Falls in a home are the leading reason that the elderly require hospitalization.

Changes in the home often are done in phases, Delaware said. Grab bars on walls are installed, then some sort of stair assistance might be next. Wheelchair ramps often follow. Replacing doorknobs with levers that can be pushed is also an option for those struggling with arthritis, or weak upper body strength.

“There are so many things that can be done to make mobility easier and safer,” Delaware said.

In the bathroom, for instance, an opening side panel installed in the bathtub provides easy access without having to climb over the side, preventing slips and falls. Raised toilets are another common bathroom modification. The higher seat makes it easier to get up and down or move to and from a wheelchair.

Another modification useful for wheelchair-bound folks is a motorized countertop in the kitchen. It can rise up and down or rotate for easier task management.

With all the options and variations in home remodeling for the aging adult, the price tag can vary significantly. Grab bars can cost $75 to $130. A motorized kitchen counter might have a price tag of $1,200.

“Attractive finishes or variations of textures and surfaces can drive the cost around, too,” Delaware said.

Some insurance plans cover some of these modifications, but not much. Delaware said some people in their 50s are building new homes and advised them to consider including some of these features in the initial design as a cost-saving technique.

“It’s more expensive to make the changes down the road,” he said.

Delaware also is an Advanced Certified Professional Childproofer. Some of the same alterations can be applied to homes with adult Alzheimer’s and dementia residents.

“We can set up precautions and boundaries for adults with memory issues,” Delaware said. “A digital timer on the stove can be set for cooking time and then shut off automatically if someone walks away from it, forgetting they were cooking.”

Medication dispensers connected to a family member or an outside caregiver can be useful for people with memory dysfunction. If the medication isn’t dispensed at a certain time, or if too much is dispensed, someone outside the home can be alerted.

Motion sensors for light and heat switches can be installed. Securing doors with codes can prevent a person from leaving the house unattended. Key boxes can be installed outside the home that only can be accessed by the fire department and emergency personnel – to prevent having to break down a door in case of an emergency.

For those who are hard of hearing, smoke detectors, phone lines and doorbells can be installed with a strobe light or lower sound frequency. A vibrating disk in the bed is another way to alert the hearing-impaired.

“The goal is to help these people stay in their homes as long as possible,” Delaware said. “It’s a familiar place to them. They have memories there. Moving can be very disruptive in older age.”