Home modifications

Kibbee

I am thinking of making some modifications to my house, to better accommodate DH's increasing problems with mobility.   My goal is to keep DH home and safe for as long as possible.  Since mobility is our biggest challenge I'm thinking of adding an attached garage with a wheelchair lift inside.  (A wheelchair ramp will not work. Our house is older with a high foundation so a ramp would have to be extremely long to handle the height transition.)  Right now when I need to take DH somewhere he has to navigate up / down 4 exterior steps and then walk 12' of sidewalk to the car, and then get him in and out of the car outside.  We have cold and icy winters here...not safe walking conditions for someone who is already compromised re coordination, balance and strength.

I've gotten some cost estimates and as expected this is a pricey endeavor, although on the upside attached garage additions have a decent ROI and will make the house more attractive to a larger pool of  buyers when it is time to sell.  My question is - what have any of you done regarding home modifications to accommodate your LO's changing needs?  What worked well?  Was it worth it?

Stuck in the middle

You will love that attached garage in winter.  No windshield scraping, etc.

We had our house built with a "Roman" shower that has no doors or steps.  With grab bars, of course.  I can roll a wheelchair right into it.

We have ice storms here, and were without electricity for two weeks the winter before we built our house. We had a generator built in, to power pretty much the whole house automatically when the power fails.  Including the garage door opener.

ninalu

Hi Kibbee,

My goal for my mom was the same as yours for your husband: home safely for as long as possible.

We modified my mother's house to include a live-in apartment where I could reside. We did this without changing the exterior footprint, by combining 2 existing rooms into a small, private, and full living quarters (like an apartment.) This allowed Mom to stay in her home for 2+ additional years before entering skilled nursing. The renovation itself was stressful at times; lots of details to figure out, loud noises, new people, etc. Mostly, however, even the noise and mess of construction was tolerable for her because she understood the big picture of what was happening. It meant that "her daughter was coming home" and it felt like an adventure to her. She was at the stage where she no longer felt safe alone and where she needed more companionship, but didn't want to hire companions.   

Another thing that went incredibly well was to re-landscape an outdoor space where she could sit and read. We built a rose garden and she spent 2 full summers enjoying it. She loved sitting there and for the first time in her life I think she fully enjoyed the pleasure of her own garden, her own home. 

Probably you can tell this - both projects were 100% worth the effort and money involved. They added to the value of the house (resale) but even better, they hugely improved her quality of life: she felt safe, loved, and "home." Also, it gave us time together.... that meant a lot to me. 

I'd do it again in a heartbeat. 

loveskitties

Given winter is already here, getting a garage done much before spring is doubtful.

You might want to look into an outdoor wheelchair lift and see if it can be converted to indoor when the garage is done.

Of course with an outdoor lift you have the bad weather to contend with, but might be safer than trying to navigate stairs.

If you have a second door to outside which has less height, you might also consider a ramp there and some sort of access to the drive...we put in a wooden plank walk way as a temp measure for my sister.  The advantage here is that all could be done in the cold weather...as long a no snow or ice.

If you have any long hallways you might want to consider installing a hand rail on one side.  There would be enough studs to attach to to make it sturdy and could easily be removed when no longer needed.  Of course you want to make sure you have enough room for wheelchair if needed.

UnusedScreenName

So far, I've been able to get away with inexpensive modifications.  I made the smart initial decision to move my husband's sewing room upstairs (he's a tailor and an artist) when Dad moved in, and give Dad a downstairs bedroom, with ceramic tile floors instead of laminate, and with a separate bathroom from the one my husband and I use. 

 I added grab bars to Dad's bathroom -- one inside the shower, one just outside the shower, and one replacing the towel bar on the wall between the sink and the door.  I made my own custom grab bar out of black steel gas pipe and fittings, to go around the over-the-toilet shelving unit that Dad was always reaching for, and that wouldn't have been able to support him if he started to fall.  Dad has a portable shower bench that resides in the tub, and I installed a hand-held shower with a long enough hose to reach the only spot where the shower bench fits.

 Whoever did the front landscaping on this house has an interesting sense of humor.  The walkway from the front porch to the sidewalk next to the street is moderately sloped, but in addition has two small steps about 8 feet apart.  Normal, able-bodied people don't notice the steps going up to the house, but more than one of them has tripped on those steps leaving the house in the evening.  One of them even skinned his knee on the exposed-aggregate concrete walkway.  So, that was an obvious hazard for Dad, and one of the first things I addressed.  I got some 30" tall x 8-10' long sections of steel fencing that is flat on top, repainted them and set them on the grass adjacent to the retaining wall that borders the walkway, sandwiched betwen the retaining wall and two large, heavy wrought iron planters.  Then I wired them together and to the planters.  They aren't going anywhere.  I also got some no-dig fence posts from Lowes and put them at the ends of the fencing, so there is something at eye level for Dad to reach for as he approaches this makeshift hand rail.  A few months ago, I extended the fence to cover as much as I could of the level portions of the path from front door to the car, as his ability to navigate independently has deteriorated further.

One good thing is our house is full of stuff, and with few exceptions nearly everywhere Dad might want to go in our house, there is something to hold onto or lean on for balance.  The trick is getting him to hold onto/lean on the stable things, and not the flimsy ones.

Rebeccah

Kibbee

Thank you for your thoughts and input on modifying an existing home to make it work for a PWD with some mobility issues.  I am pretty certain that I am going to proceed with adding an attached garage, and have been meeting with a design / build firm for that purpose.  I will have the garage designed so that it could accommodate any future mobility need, whether it is a wheelchair ramp, ascending / descending stairway seat lift, or a Vertical Platform Lift (true wheelchair lift). 

Feedback from my sisters was interesting.  One understood why I am making this decision and supports me 100%.   The other is hell bent on convincing me to build a brand new custom home.  Hah!  My house has been paid off for years, I have a lovely piece of property on a river surrounded by woods, I have kind and helpful neighbors, and I can afford the cost of adding a garage.  Why would I trade that to take on the debt of a more expensive building project?  Plus, new house lots around here are costly ... $100K will get you a .40 acre flat piece of farmed-out cornfield, with not a tree in sight and neighboring houses a few yards away - just no!   And of course, she has not exactly offered any help, like coming to stay with DH so I can run all over the place viewing model homes, interviewing builders, selecting fixtures and finishes, and doing all the leg work connected with building a new house.  She also has not offered to come here to help me to pack up all my house, deal with movers, and etc, etc.  I know she means well, but her cluelessness kind of makes me laugh!