Time For Your Parents To Move In? How To Adjust Your Home For Them

If your parents are no longer able to care for themselves, but they're not quite ready to move into a residential care facility, you'll need to update your home to accommodate their changing physical limitations. Making specific updates to your home can make it easier for your parents to remain self-sufficient for as long as possible. Here are four of the most important updates you can make to your home.

Make the Upper Floor Accessible

If you live in a multi-story home, you don't want your parents to be confined to the bottom floor. You want them to be able to travel throughout the house unimpeded. You can give your parents full access to the house by installing stair-lifts on the staircases in your home. The stair-lifts will allow your parents to travel the stairs from a seated position.

Switch From Knobs to Levers

If your parents have arthritis, simple things such as turning knobs can become impossibly painful. Unfortunately, that pain can virtually lock your parents out of their own lives. You can make life easier for your parents by switching the knobs in your home to levers. First, begin by switching door knobs to levers. Levers can be opened without grasping the knob, which will allow your parents to open doors using the open hand, arm, or elbow. Next, you'll want to switch the knobs on your sinks to levers. This will allow your parents to turn the water on without fighting with the knobs.

Texture Your Floors

If your parents have ambulatory issues, ceramic tile, and hardwood floors, can be particularly troublesome. This is primarily because these types of floors become slippery when wet. Unfortunately, carpeting can be just as troublesome, especially when the fibers begin to shred. Their feet can get caught up in the fibers, leading to trip and fall accidents. To protect your parents, you should switch to textured flooring, such as natural stone, which will prevent trip and fall, or slip and fall accidents.

Fix the Sidewalks

When it comes to ambulatory issues, your sidewalks can create hazards for your parents as well, especially if they're riddled with cracks and chips. Before your parents move into your home, you'll need to repair your sidewalks. Remove all the chips and cracks that could cause potential trip and fall accidents. Be sure to walk your entire property, looking for damaged concrete that will need to be repaired.

 

 

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