Although we are all superhuman and will never "grow up," a bathroom remodel or design during new construction at any point in your life is a good time to start thinking about how you will age in your current space. Bathrooms are one of the most dangerous areas of a home no matter how old you are and taking extra precautions to make yours safer is easy to do.
Here are some tips for aging-in-place designs in a bathroom:
1. Grab bars - You might not need grab bars right now, but they're pretty practical down the road. Grab bars require extra blocking in walls for the tug-of-war they will encounter. Blocking can easily be added to the walls during a project and the grab bars can be added now or later on down the road.
2. Shower benches and handheld shower heads - A small shower bench is an easy addition to a shower design and is practical for anyone to use. Adding a hand-held shower head eases the difficulties of cleaning a large shower.
3. Slip resistant flooring - Water + slippery surfaces = really nasty injuries (trust me, I have experienced this!). Using a small tile mosaic on a shower floor and selecting floor tile with some texture to it is easy, quick, inexpensive and can add a lot to your aesthetic. Try using a polished version of a material on your walls and the honed or matte version of the same material on your floors, the result can be really beautiful.
4. Kohler's Elevance Rising Wall Tub - Instead of a walk-in tub, this is a sit-in and relax tub. The elevated height of the tub makes it much easier to slide and and then step out. The outside wall is set on a track, locks into place when the tub is full of water and slides down easily when you're all finished.
5. Heated floors - Although we don't have many issues with cold weather here in Houston, heated floors are great for relieving arthritic pain.
If you have any questions about aging-in-place design, feel free to contact me!
Posted on
Wed, February 16, 2011
by Cindy Aplanalp
filed under