3 Ways To Make A New Home More Wheelchair Friendly
Moving into your own home can be exciting. However, if you or any of your family members have any special needs, it can be difficult to move into a house that will fit you and meet your needs. If you can, building a custom house can help you get the house that you want and have it meet all your needs. If you or a family member are a wheelchair user, there are going to be some things that a builder can do for you.
Lowered Counters
One thing that you can do is talk to the builder about lowering your counters for you. The standard height for counters is about 36 inches. That height can be difficult for a wheelchair user to use for an extended amount of time. For wheelchair users, the counter should be set at around 34 inches. That two inches difference can make it easier for a person in a wheelchair to use the counter or workspace for a long period of time. It will be less stress on a person's shoulders. Another option is to put in adjustable counters. Those are counters that lift up and down on tracks and then lock at the desired height. That will allow a number of people to use the counter at a height that is comfortable for them.
Elevators
Sometimes it's just not possible to put the house on one floor, however, you don't want to be left out or leave a wheelchair user left out of any activities on the upper floors. One way to do that is to build an elevator into the house. There are some elevators that are very small. They are just big enough for a wheelchair to fit in. Those elevators aren't much larger than a closet would be. The elevators can be run on hydraulics, which would limit the amount of space that they would take up in the house.
Bathrooms
One thing that can be done to make a bathroom more wheelchair user friendly is to have a shower room instead of an enclosed shower. Basically, one of these rooms is an area that is all tiled off and has a drain installed in the floor. A bench or seat can be already built into the area so that the wheelchair user can just transfer out of their chair and onto the bench to take a shower. Since the whole room or area is set for a shower, you don't have to worry about any lip or ridge to have to get a wheelchair up and over.
Moving into your own house is so much better when it is a house that will actually fit for you and your family. Contact a builder, such as Landmark Builders, for more information.
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