If you’ve personally been recently disabled or have a family member who’s undergone this, then you’re probably looking into renovating your home. There are some changes that you’ll need to make to get your home up to speed and prepared for the changes that have come. These changes could have come due to a personal injury case or something hereditary. According to NOLO, in a personal injury case, the Statute of Limitations is three (3) years calculated from the date of the accident in most states. Below are some things you can do to make your home more accessible.
Shift Steps to Ramps
One of the first changes that’s made in these home improvement projects is to change the steps on the outside of your home to ramps. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, approximately 40% of U.S. employers offer long-term disability policies to their employees, and these can be used for this home improvement. Whether your disabled person needs a wheelchair, walker, or cane, they need an easy way to get in and out of the home. Most steps are pretty steep, and they can be difficult to get up and down, discouraging you or your loved one from getting out of the house. Ramps give you back your freedom and flexibility to live your life.
Add A Stair Lift
If you have a multi-story home, you need to be able to get your disabled family member, or yourself, up and down these stairs. With a stair lift, you can get to all the different floors in your home so that you can continue doing the work and getting around the home. This gives you back independence and freedom to move around the home. Being stuck in one area of the home due to a disability can be disheartening and cause depression for some.
Have Bathrooms On All Floors
When you’re looking into home improvement, check the layout of your home and see where the bathrooms are. If you don’t have a bathroom on every floor, you need to have your home renovated to have this done. This is especially important for the first floor and the primary floor where the bedroom is for those disabled in the home. Even with stair lifts through the house, this process could take some time to do and you’ll need to be able to get to the bathroom when you need it.
Add Handrails
Anywhere that you need to stand in your home should have handrails and grips so that you can brace yourself when you’re standing out of a wheelchair, or letting go of a walker. Doors that need to be opened should have push-pull bars also so that you can get them opened as you need them. Showers and toilets need to have these handrails nearby also since the water can be slippery and cause accidents without them.
Expand the Doors and Halls
If you need to get a wheelchair through the house into different rooms, then you need to make the doors in these rooms wider, and even expand the hallways. This is a longer home improvement project, but it should be done one floor at a time. You will also need to do this for the existing doors at the front and back of the home.
Is Your Home Ready?
If you have a newly disabled person in your home, then these home improvement options will make sure they have what they need to get through the house. According to Today’s Homeowner, 55% of homeowners reported renovating a part of their home in the past year. These improvement options will also improve their quality of life over time. Make sure you have at least one floor renovated at a time so they always have access to what they need during this process.
