Making You Home Wheelchair Accessible
At the moment, it’s a buyer’s market with regard to homes, so locating your dream home is a snap, right? What changes, though, if your dream home needs to be Electric Wheel Chair accessible? Finding an existing home that is also wheelchair accessible it not easy to do. It’s more practical to work with the home you currently own and, if you can, customize your home to be wheelchair accessible. An easier course of action, though not really cheaper, is to build your own house. Whichever of these options you choose; what follows are some universal bits of advice to think about.
Obviously, a two-story home is almost never regarded as wheelchair accessible. Staircases can be barriers, and even motorized lifts must have a lot more room than the staircases have been engineered to take up. If you can avoid upper floors or finished basements in a home; do it. Ramps are useful for accessing the deck, but substantial changes in floor level can create more puzzles than they fix. So you really have to be careful.
If you currently are using a basement room, it’s worth determining if a small elevator is possible. Once your floors are arranged, though, you need to figure out floor coverings. Throw rugs won’t be a good idea, as they are famous for being tangled in wheels. Carpets might be safe, assuming they will be wall-to-wall carpets or they incorporate a chambered trim edge made to be attached to the floor. It is really easier than it sounds.
If you’ve used a wheelchair for even a month or two, you realize that entryways and counter heights are incredibly important. A wheelchair accessible doorway ought to be more than 32’ wide, and any work counters for the Mobility Chair user should be approximately 34” tall. A wheelchair bound person is going to have difficulty accessing anything over 48” off the ground, so overhead cupboards or shelving should not hold anything important. This is something that is often overlooked.
A bathroom should be an oasis of relaxation in today’s nerve-racking world, as a result, your bathroom is not an area where you ought to be constantly encountering your physical condition. If you add nothing else, a 3 x 4 ½ foot roll-in shower stall ought to be in the bathroom. Most regular toilets could be usable by installing grab bars and maybe a seat riser, but any intentions to tweaking a regular bath surround will only mitigate the degree of aggravation rather than fixing the problem.
As a result of the aging population of the United States, there is a greater demand for wheelchair accessible buildings. Therefore, there is a growing selection of current home plans and also specific appliances to assist homeowners with inadequate mobility. Relying on a Transport Wheelchair is not pleasant, although our time may be the best time so far to have that daily aggravation in your life. So, learn about your possible plans, find a carpenter and turn your house into your home. Happy building!
Tags: disability, health, medical, mobility