Remodeling For Retirement

[Larry Caldwell]

My wife and I are both 70. I'm doing fine, but her mobility is starting to suffer. She has already had knee surgery and has a hip going bad. This has limited her exercise enough that she is starting to go downhill pretty fast. With that in mind, we are remodeling one bathroom into a wheelchair accessible room, with a floor level wheel-in shower and horizontal grab bars on each side of a high seat toilet. Our house is a one storey ranch style, and we had an eye toward old age when we bought it. The way the driveway lays out I could install a dead level wheelchair ramp from the driveway to the front door. We have to put an addition on the back of the house to accommodate the larger bathroom, so this is going to be an expensive project.

The logic behind it is staying in the home rather than having to move somewhere with assisted living and elevators. Those old folks facilities cost an arm and a leg. One more year in the home will more than pay for any conceivable bathroom remodel.

I'm looking for more ideas of remodels to make life easier for a couple of old folks who are losing some of their physical capabilities. I'm doing fine at 70. By the time I hit 85, I don't know.

 

[jeff9366]

I am 70. My wife is 68. We built our retirement home eight years ago.

All LED lights. Never climb a ladder to replace a bulb.

LED lighted switches, indicating lights on in other rooms and closets.

Automatic on LED night lights in master bedroom on path to master bath.

Sunscreen fabric screens on south and west facing windows. Reduces AC need 15%.

All tile. No no carpets, no fabric. Most seniors develop dust/mould/pollen allergies with time.
Our blinds are between two panes of high-E glass. Never need cleaning. Never damaged.

One light in each large room on a motion timer, so when you walk around at night you avoid a fall.

Security lights outside, all around house, below roofline. One switch in kitchen, one switch in master bedroom.

Pressure hot water circulation which includes a timer. Always have hot water instantly at distant taps. ($200)

Grab bars in master bathroom AND master bedroom closet. Seniors experience many falls dressing.

Zumba for my wife, three times per week. Yoga in a Yoga studio for me twice per week, 6-8 mile bicycle ride once or twice per week, tractor 3-4 half days per week. Use it or lose it.

 

[RNeumann]

Is the house on a slab or raised wood floor? The curbless shower can be done in both but it will be some work in a remodel situation. Schluter makes a waterproof product that is thin and you can tile right over it. However, you will still need to remove the subfloor or concrete to get fall into the drain.

Other general tips that will make life easier. Remove the clutter. I know this is basic but we see far too many homes with little tables in the hall and lamps etc that seem to fill every spot. Moving in a house like that is a chore. Another thing that cause issues is the area rugs over the regular rug- major trip hazard!

When building new a good architect can design a home that is wheelchair friendly without it looking bad. 3' wide doors everywhere, curbless entry points etc.

 

[tcreeley]

Get her one of those armchairs that lift her electrically to her feet - take the strain off of her hips. Have a walker, canes handy for stability. Dry floors, no scatter rugs that can slide. no sills to step over. Chairs that don't require her to lower herself into them. Comfortable office chairs with high seat work well. Solid edges that she can guide her self along (counters.tables,chairs). A hospital type bed that folds to accommodate different sleeping angles will help ensure that she gets her rest. Design things so that a compact mobility scooter can get around. - Independence and if the wheels are large enough. can handle lawn and gravel drives. A folding one is great for car transportation.
I like this one! -
EV Rider Stand-N-Ride Mobility Electric Powered Scooter - 2017 Model

 

[newbury]

Change lights over to "smart" LED fixtures that can be run from your phone. Like those discussed at this link.
Get a good whole house generator that self starts, tests, etc.
Consider a "walk in" tub, some people just have to take tub baths. I shower frequently but have not taken a tub bath in many years.
Go to Harbor Freight frequently and pick up their free LED flashlights and scatter them around the house so there is always one handy. Or buy a box of them from China.
If you haven't done it already search out the best tradesmen in your area for plumbing, a/c, electricity etc. and get on their good side. Last year I put an "addition" on a house I own that me son, his wife, and two children are living in. We worked closely with the contractor and got to choose and know some of the tradesmen. Last Sunday, as our area started into the first week of real summer heat our 10 yr old a/c compressor died at dark. Monday morning I called the a/c guy we had used at the other house, he was over in a couple of hours and the unit got replaced. He told me he had many new customers calling that he wouldn't get to for days. Don't be the new guy in an emergency.

 

[oosik]

We built our current house in '82 with the idea of retirement. Single level, wide hallways, wide doorways, extreme insulation( no air conditioning required & minimal heat required in the winter). I can get anywhere on the property with my ATV if required and can maintain the driveway with the tractor both summer and winter.

This past winter inadvertently tested the "system". Because of wildly rare circumstances I was "house bound" from Dec 27, 2016 thru March 16, 2017. The only affect was a bit of cabin fever. Man, was I ever glad when I could clear the driveway and get one of my vehicles out. This situation was not health related - it was vehicle related and because the tractor could not be serviced.

Anyhow, enough of that. Things we did to make life easier in this house - - quarry tile on all floors except carpeting in the living room(ease of maintenance), we purposefully aligned the house so maximum sunshine enters thru the windows in the winter and the summer sun shines on the side of the house with no windows. Two bathrooms - as one ages, the ability to stem the tides of natures callings greatly decrease(two people - two bathrooms). In the master bedroom a "small davenport" to sit on or hold on to while dressing. I don't remember what the wife calls it but its pretty handy to prevent falls when your foot catches on your jeans and you end up dancing around the bedroom like a funky monkey.

And then the final decision for happy times - we put large windows on the side of the house that looks out over our lake. I can sit in my easy chair and watch all the activities going on out on the lake - year-round.

 

[EddieWalker]

I build zero lip ADA showers for a living. With concrete slab foundations, I remove the concrete and dig down into the dirt, install a new drain line, pour new concrete below the liner, install the liner and work up from there. I like to make my openings between 32 to 36 inches wide and I've found the ideal depth for as shower to be 42 inches. For pier and beam foundations, I remove the sub floor so I can see the floor joists. I build a new sub floor between the floor joists so I have as much depth as possible. Then I use the full half inch Hardie backer board on the bathroom floor under the tile. Bathroom I'm doing right now also has radiant floor heating, which goes on after the Hardie, before the tile. With the subfloor removed from the shower area, I have over an inch of drop from the top of the bathroom floor tile to the top of the drain tile in the shower.

I'm not a big fan of some of the newer, plastic, Styrofoam and fiberglass materials out there that have been on the TV shows. For me, I like Hardie backer board for the walls, Oatly rubber floor liners with the proper drain and sealing the Hardie with Redguard waterproofing membrane painted onto all the seams and screw heads.

 

[Paddy]

Can you look into buying a home already outfitted? Houses do get these upgrades but eventually folks do move out to assisted living sites. Kinda like motor-homes in Florida

 

[teejk]

I build zero lip ADA showers for a living. With concrete slab foundations, I remove the concrete and dig down into the dirt, install a new drain line, pour new concrete below the liner, install the liner and work up from there. I like to make my openings between 32 to 36 inches wide and I've found the ideal depth for as shower to be 42 inches. For pier and beam foundations, I remove the sub floor so I can see the floor joists. I build a new sub floor between the floor joists so I have as much depth as possible. Then I use the full half inch Hardie backer board on the bathroom floor under the tile. Bathroom I'm doing right now also has radiant floor heating, which goes on after the Hardie, before the tile. With the subfloor removed from the shower area, I have over an inch of drop from the top of the bathroom floor tile to the top of the drain tile in the shower.

I'm not a big fan of some of the newer, plastic, Styrofoam and fiberglass materials out there that have been on the TV shows. For me, I like Hardie backer board for the walls, Oatly rubber floor liners with the proper drain and sealing the Hardie with Redguard waterproofing membrane painted onto all the seams and screw heads.

I have built 2 showers using the Schluter systems and have had no problems.

 

[teejk]

My wife and I are both 70. I'm doing fine, but her mobility is starting to suffer. She has already had knee surgery and has a hip going bad. This has limited her exercise enough that she is starting to go downhill pretty fast. With that in mind, we are remodeling one bathroom into a wheelchair accessible room, with a floor level wheel-in shower and horizontal grab bars on each side of a high seat toilet. Our house is a one storey ranch style, and we had an eye toward old age when we bought it. The way the driveway lays out I could install a dead level wheelchair ramp from the driveway to the front door. We have to put an addition on the back of the house to accommodate the larger bathroom, so this is going to be an expensive project.

The logic behind it is staying in the home rather than having to move somewhere with assisted living and elevators. Those old folks facilities cost an arm and a leg. One more year in the home will more than pay for any conceivable bathroom remodel.

I'm looking for more ideas of remodels to make life easier for a couple of old folks who are losing some of their physical capabilities. I'm doing fine at 70. By the time I hit 85, I don't know.

I wonder if your county or state has people that advise on ADA issues...things like light switches, countertops etc.

 

[EddieWalker]

I have built 2 showers using the Schluter systems and have had no problems.

Most people never will. Im not saying its a bad product, i just dont know how long plastic, fiberglass and styrofoam will last. Ive tore out dozens of fiberglass shower pans that failed after 20 years. Ive been offered to go to their training class, all expenses paid, twice. I have also noticed that when their products fail, its always the installers fault. I just question how good it is when there are so many instalation issues?

 

[scdeerslayer]

Do you have a bedroom that you could convert to a bathroom instead of having to build an addition?

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Do you have a bedroom that you could convert to a bathroom instead of having to build an addition?

No, the master bath is a freaking closet. The expense of an addition is not that big a deal, plus we are expanding the master bedroom while we are at it and adding another closet, turning it into a master suite. Part of our remodel plans are dictated by trying to find a decent place to invest savings. At some point we will probably have to sell out and move to town. The bathroom upgrade is one of those things that really needs to be done to make the house marketable. We don't have kids, and are far enough out that getting senior services out here is going to be a problem. The floor framing is post and beam, so we won't have any trouble building a floor level shower. Crawl space access is excellent.

The advice about trip hazards is appreciated. My wife just had orthopedic surgery on her wrist two weeks ago to bolt it back together. She lost her balance and fell, resulting in a badly broken wrist. We have already replaced most of the floors in the house with hard surfaces and have started installing grab bars in strategic spots, but I haven't done a survey for obstructions yet.

 

[newbury]

<snip>
The advice about trip hazards is appreciated. My wife just had orthopedic surgery on her wrist two weeks ago to bolt it back together. She lost her balance and fell, resulting in a badly broken wrist. We have already replaced most of the floors in the house with hard surfaces and have started installing grab bars in strategic spots, but I haven't done a survey for obstructions yet.

Yes, falling and aging bodies can be serious setbacks.

My wife has small feet, and subscribes to theory that if there is a path to walk through it is ok. Since we bought our "Mississippi retirement farm" in 2011 our house in Virginia has been a mess. It's been 6 years that we've been in "moving mode" of 33 years and 4 children worth of "stuff". So we are constantly walking between rearranged moving boxes. Unfortunately for me my size 13 boots take up a lot more room than her size 5(?) sandals. Consequently I'm almost tripping a lot.
That's why I advocated keeping lots of flashlights around. I twisted my ankles in January getting around stuff and was "Lazy Boy" bound and on crutches until almost March (they swelled up like grapefruits). Before that I had been walking about 2.5 miles per day.

My goal is to keep our "Mississippi retirement farm" roomba and walker/wheel chair friendly. Most of the rooms on the first floor have wide doorways. And I've 5,500 sq feet of "shed" to help store the "clutter" in on pallet racking.





If I put on the addition I want to in Mississippi it will have doorways I can drive a small tractor through. Makes bringing in groceries and taking out trash so much easier

 

[teejk]

Most people never will. Im not saying its a bad product, i just dont know how long plastic, fiberglass and styrofoam will last. Ive tore out dozens of fiberglass shower pans that failed after 20 years. Ive been offered to go to their training class, all expenses paid, twice. I have also noticed that when their products fail, its always the installers fault. I just question how good it is when there are so many instalation issues?

Installation issues would seem to be the same with any method wouldn't they? Guessing first and foremost the lack of a stable floor (and in many retro-fits water damage might be the reason to call in somebody like you). We built our house back in 2010. I did a lot of research on the Schluter system and concluded it would work for my 5x5 shower (lived in the UK for a few years and knew showering in something akin to a phone booth was not in my plans...too many bruises from the soap dish). My wife and I followed the instructions to the letter. Upsides...1) the waterproof membrane fabric goes up like wall-paper and can be installed over ordinary sheet rock. 2) The "pan" and "curb" can be cut with basic tools (need to maintain "symmetry" of course because the integral drain needs to be in the center unless you ordered the front drain system) 3) the "pan" weighs nothing Downsides...1) it is a "system" that is applied with thin-set mortar and comes with a lot of corner pieces and rolls of corner banding. 2) For it to work you need smaller tiles on the base (like 2x2's)

We built in 2010. My MIL bought a house not far from here in 2015 after my FIL died and wanted to be closer to my wife. She was 87 at the time...first thing I did was to gut her downstairs bathroom...got rid of the cast-iron tub surrounded by "crap" that was probably a breeding ground for who knows what. Had a lot of water damage to deal with and the floor was out of level by about 3/4" in a 6' span (no obvious flaws and could only conclude that the original builder had a bad level). I made it work and installed another Schluter system there.

 

[scdeerslayer]

No, the master bath is a freaking closet. The expense of an addition is not that big a deal, plus we are expanding the master bedroom while we are at it and adding another closet, turning it into a master suite. Part of our remodel plans are dictated by trying to find a decent place to invest savings. At some point we will probably have to sell out and move to town. The bathroom upgrade is one of those things that really needs to be done to make the house marketable. We don't have kids, and are far enough out that getting senior services out here is going to be a problem. The floor framing is post and beam, so we won't have any trouble building a floor level shower. Crawl space access is excellent.

The advice about trip hazards is appreciated. My wife just had orthopedic surgery on her wrist two weeks ago to bolt it back together. She lost her balance and fell, resulting in a badly broken wrist. We have already replaced most of the floors in the house with hard surfaces and have started installing grab bars in strategic spots, but I haven't done a survey for obstructions yet.

Yeah, if you think you'll sell one day you don't want to give up a bedroom.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

The wife just had an ultrasound guided cortisone injection in her left hip in an attempt to ease her pain. If it doesn't work, the next step is a hip replacement. I'm just worried because she's not active enough to maintain any level of fitness. She thinks she is, but her day is spent moving from the bed to a recliner to the bed.

 

[boggen]

might suggest, a few shower heads.

bathtub/shower combo i have, i have the the generic shower head, with extra shower head on a hose. over the years, it would have been nice to have a shower head on a hose on both sides. so i could leave the shower curtain open, and then prop myself against wall, and use one shower head, and then turn around and use other shower head, without getting tangled up in the hose and reaching extra length for the shower head on a hose.

==========
instead of building an actual stall. perhaps turn to more of a "large shower area" that includes toilet, sink, and a various handle bars. so you can physically shower while seating on toilet if need be, and just let the water from shower head go directly down onto the floor. and drain down a couple different drains. 1 primary drain for general shower area, but another centralized drain further out.

if one of you needs to help other shower, being able to seat them out in the open, were you can physically walk around them yourself. without slipping and falling and squeezing into odd positions trying to get around them to wash them.

and yes the sink is included in the above. so you physically reach over to a sink of warm water, and use a cup or bowl and grab water to rinse someone off. vs using shower head or what not. having it all incorporated so were ever water falls it will go down a drain vs flooding your home.

how many times have you washed your face / shaved or what not. and used a wet rag to wipe off. vs perhaps wanting to use a cup of water to rinse off but could not type of thing. ya it be messy due to no drain. but ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

=========
there are different types of connections that can be made between "liner" and drain lines / water lines coming up through the floor to make them water tight.

google
pipe boot site:koiphen.com
might bring back a few options.

there is also various types of flanges that can be used to help create a water tight seal. including just running 1.5" to 2" shower drain right through the liner, and then running your cold/hot water lines through the shower drain. nothing actually connected to the shower drain, just using the physical fitting for a water tight seal.

===========
a shower liner, can be epdm pond liner, to flat roof liner. to other. there are better "folds" for in the corners.

tile and groat it all up. (floor and walls)

 

[teejk]

might suggest, a few shower heads.

bathtub/shower combo i have, i have the the generic shower head, with extra shower head on a hose. over the years, it would have been nice to have a shower head on a hose on both sides. so i could leave the shower curtain open, and then prop myself against wall, and use one shower head, and then turn around and use other shower head, without getting tangled up in the hose and reaching extra length for the shower head on a hose.

==========
instead of building an actual stall. perhaps turn to more of a "large shower area" that includes toilet, sink, and a various handle bars. so you can physically shower while seating on toilet if need be, and just let the water from shower head go directly down onto the floor. and drain down a couple different drains. 1 primary drain for general shower area, but another centralized drain further out.

if one of you needs to help other shower, being able to seat them out in the open, were you can physically walk around them yourself. without slipping and falling and squeezing into odd positions trying to get around them to wash them.

and yes the sink is included in the above. so you physically reach over to a sink of warm water, and use a cup or bowl and grab water to rinse someone off. vs using shower head or what not. having it all incorporated so were ever water falls it will go down a drain vs flooding your home.

how many times have you washed your face / shaved or what not. and used a wet rag to wipe off. vs perhaps wanting to use a cup of water to rinse off but could not type of thing. ya it be messy due to no drain. but ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

=========
there are different types of connections that can be made between "liner" and drain lines / water lines coming up through the floor to make them water tight.

google
pipe boot site:koiphen.com
might bring back a few options.

there is also various types of flanges that can be used to help create a water tight seal. including just running 1.5" to 2" shower drain right through the liner, and then running your cold/hot water lines through the shower drain. nothing actually connected to the shower drain, just using the physical fitting for a water tight seal.

===========
a shower liner, can be epdm pond liner, to flat roof liner. to other. there are better "folds" for in the corners.

tile and groat it all up. (floor and walls)

In my former life I traveled a lot...Copenhagen in what I think was at least a 4 star hotel...the shower was the entire bathroom! Right next to the toilet! Took a minute or two to understand it but somehow it all made sense to me.