When someone buys a house, they don’t think they will have to make it wheelchair accessible in the future, but it can happen. There may be an injury or illness that causes a person to be confined to a wheelchair, a parent may become disabled and have to be moved, or as the homeowner ages, he may find himself in a wheelchair.
Here are some of the ways you can remodel your home to make the home wheelchair accessible.
• At each entrance to the house you should build a ramp for wheelchairs. Some homes have enough room to make a ramp, but if not, you can hire a professional home remodeling contractor to install a vertical lift at each driveway. It is a good idea to include a cover over the ramp, a non-slip surface, and handrails.
• For stairs, you must install a stair lift. This is a great alternative if you live in a two-story home because it is cheaper to install the elevator than to move. When installing a stairlift, you need to make sure that it rotates to make it easier to get in and out. There are stairlifts on the market that will even work when you lose power in your home.
• Make sure thresholds and floors are easy to get over with a wheelchair. The main problem homeowners see when they have a person in a wheelchair in their home is thick carpet. If possible, your entire home should have hardwood or tile floors throughout the home. You can also choose to replace your carpet with low-pile rugs. If thresholds are the problem, you can install short rubber ramps. If there are exposed wires on the floor, you will need to remove them.
• Another home remodeling job that will need to be done is widening narrow doors. By doing this, the person in a wheelchair will be able to move freely in any area or room of the house. Doing this could involve removing the doors, reversing the way the door opens in some cases, and removing the door frames. All doorknobs should be lowered so they are easy to reach. You can also install an automatic door opener. These must be done by a professional home remodeling contractor.
• You will also need to make sure that both your kitchen and bathroom are accessible. In the bathroom, you may consider a bathtub or in the shower, you may have to lower the shower head. In the kitchen, you need to make sure that appliances and sinks are accessible and the counter may have to be lowered.
