DESIGNED FOR AGE

Nobody should have to leave their home just because they’re old or disabled, Terry Jones of Compass Builders of Florida says.
“We’re designing things into our houses people don’t need today, but they’ll need 20 years from now if they keep their houses,” Jones told The Log. “We’ve been working up to this aspect for probably three to four years ... It’s something we’ve been doing and want to do.”
The aspect of homebuilding Jones talks about is variously called “aging in place” or “universal design” — creating a home that can be used by someone of any age or level of physical ability.
The alternative, Jones said, is for homeowners to find their homes increasingly unusable as they age for example because wheelchairs and walkers can’t get through the doors. The solution is to provide three-foot wide doorways when the house is built.
Staircases can be another challenge for seniors, Jones said: A house he’ll begin building next year will have an elevator shaft in it that serves as a storage area, so if a homeowner becomes unable to climb stairs, he or she has only to remove the upper floor from the shaft and bring in the elevator.
“In bathrooms, you put plywood behind sheetrock in the tubs and the toilets, so if they want to add a grab bar down the line, they can do that,” Jones said.
The National Aging in Place Council says on its Web site that homes designed for aging allow seniors to live longer on their own, instead of having to move in with family, or into an assisted-living apartment. Among the suggestions there and on other Web sites:
•Include ramps, rather than steps at the entrances.
•Make sure there’s space under the bathroom sink for someone sitting in a wheelchair to use it.
•Put storage in walk-in closets at different heights, so that wheelchair users or people who find bending down difficult can still use them.
•Use “rocker” switches that take less effort to turn on or off.
•Vary the height of countertops.
•Make sure hallways and rooms are wide enough for wheelchairs to negotiate.
•Install handles and knobs that can be worked without much physical effort.
Jones said that using universal design isn’t expensive: “To go from a 2 foot 8 inch to a 3 foot door, you’re talking about pennies ... Putting plywood behind the sheetrock is not a huge price, it couldn’t cost you over $400 to $500.
“It’s a whole lot cheaper than remodeling: You don’t have to have someone come in and tear out your jambs to put in a wider door because you can’t get into it.”
Jones said that with universal design younger homeowners who suffered injuries or disability could stay in their house without having to completely remodel it.
“You never plan for bad things,” Jones said, “but sometimes bad things happen anyway.”
Jones said his interest in universal design was sparked by the same desire to help that led him to get Compass Builders licensed as a green builder: “We’re trying to do what we can for our environment. Aging in place and universal design is the future of the green movement ... If you don’t do the aging in place, you have to tear things out, and that’s not really green. We’re taking this a couple of steps further to make sure it accommodates the whole concept.”