Aging in place — the ability to remain in your own home comfortably and safely as you get older — starts with the right planning during renovation. The bathroom is the most critical room in this regard: it’s where most household falls occur, and it’s where physical limitations first make themselves known in daily life. Planning for it now, while you’re doing a renovation anyway, costs far less than retrofitting later.
A curbless walk-in shower is the single most important aging-in-place modification you can make to a bathroom. Eliminating the step eliminates the most common bathroom fall trigger. It also makes the shower usable for anyone using a mobility aid. Design it large enough to accommodate a shower bench — even if you don’t need one now.
Install blocking — reinforced backing in the walls — wherever grab bars might eventually be needed: inside the shower, beside the toilet, and at the tub edge if there is one. Blocking costs very little to add during a renovation and means grab bars can be installed at any height anywhere in those areas, at any time in the future, without opening the tile.
A comfort-height toilet (16 to 18 inches to the seat) is easier for older adults to use. Lever-style faucet handles are easier to operate with limited grip strength or arthritis than round knobs. Both are standard features in many current products and add no premium cost.
A 32 to 36-inch bathroom door opening accommodates a wheelchair or walker. If you’re changing the layout or framing during a renovation, adding a few inches to the door opening is the time to do it.
Choose bathroom and shower floor surfaces with appropriate wet slip resistance ratings. This is especially important for aging-in-place design — the slip rating should be confirmed with your tile supplier before purchase.
Talk to our team at Vanity Mart about aging-in-place bathroom planning. We’re at 1-90 Frobisher Drive, Waterloo. Call 519-886-3240.
