How to Build a Home with Accessibility In Mind
What elements should you take into consideration in order to make your home accessible?
When building a custom home, it’s important to think through whether there will be family members or visitors who are differently-abled and adapt the home accordingly. Of course, there’s a wide variety of reasons someone might get around differently, from blindness or deafness to wheelchair use. Especially in households with aging family members, making a few tweaks to floorplans is vital to ensure that everyone can live and visit with ease and safety.
Floor Plan and Stairs
To accommodate those with limited mobility, choosing a single-level floor plan goes a long way. If that’s not in the cards due to lot size or other factors, there are still adaptations to incorporate that will help keep your home accessible. For smaller changes in level, where you’d normally build just a few stairs, ramps are a great alternative.
For full flights of stairs, incorporating a stair lift or even an elevator is the best way to keep the home accessible to all. If incorporating one of those options into your custom home plan isn’t possible, keeping main-level living possible is the next best solution. Ensure that there are bedrooms, accessible bathrooms, kitchen and dining space on the main floor so that using the staircase isn’t necessary.
Appliances
Integrating smart technology wherever possible makes a home instantly more accessible. Voice-activated technology like Alexa, Echo, and Google Home products simplify home controls. Internet-connected systems like Ring doorbells and Nest thermostats reduce the necessity for physical trips around the house for tasks like adjusting the temperature or checking who’s at the door.
Other considerations like smart lighting and outlets can change the safety of your home drastically. Keeping rooms well-lit reduces risk of accidents and falls, and having control over lighting settings can make living areas more comfortable throughout the day by reducing sensory overload.
Kitchen appliances are fortunately growing increasingly more internet-connected as well. In addition to adapting height requirements of kitchen appliances to accommodate those in wheelchairs, installing smart features like app-connected cameras in refrigerators and voice-controlled faucets increases ease of use and opens the kitchen space to chefs of all abilities!
Bathrooms
Step-in tubs and toilets with railings help make bathroom areas accessible for aging visitors, young children, and anyone whose vision is impaired. If you expect that anyone using a wheelchair will be using that bathroom, also consider how much space there is for turning around and accessing each area of the room. Accessible bathrooms often require a few extra square feet, since standard floor plans include hallway-like bathrooms that are too narrow.
Doorways
The rise of the open floor plan certainly helps in this aspect, but any remaining doorways might need a few tweaks from the standard plans in order to meet accessibility requirements. First, make doorways wider than standard; ADA requirements call for 32 inches wide. That way, those using wheelchairs can still easily breeze through!
Also consider door handles and knobs. Simple push handles provide more ease of use than overly precise turning knobs. Making these changes in your original build will save you time, stress, and money down the line.
Flooring
Those with limited mobility and people using wheelchairs need stable flooring in order to get around safely. Thick plush or fuzzy carpets make tripping all too easy, and slick floors like tile pose a risk as well. Low, even carpeting or rugs with non-slip mats underneath are the safest solution, and easy-grip mats in showers and bathroom spaces are a must.
Just like people have endless varieties of differing needs for comfort and safety, the options are endless when you build a custom home. Build your space to be exactly as your family prefers, and never worry about having to re-do or adapt unsafe features in an existing home.
Ready to build a home tailored to your needs and dreams? The process has never been smoother! Get started on your Atmos home today.
