Making the home safe for aging

<p>Linda Hill<NO1><NO> is in her late 50s and stays fit by swimming every morning before work. But she’s a realist.</p><p>“I’m not as agile as I used to be,” she readily admits.</p><p>So when she bought a house in Santa Rosa four years ago that needed updating, she went beyond aesthetic improvements — replacing the green carpet and harvest gold appliances — and installed grab bars in the bathroom and a host of other safety amenities.</p><p>In doing so, she became part of a growing wave of future-thinking homeowners concerned about how best to grow old in the homes they love — working to update and remodel in order to accommodate stiffer joints and less nimble balance.<EL-0.1></p><p>“I’m a baby boomer and getting older. This is going to be my retirement home,” said Hill, a civil engineering technician. Foremost, she had her parents in mind when she added certain features to her three-bedroom house in Hidden Valley.<EL-0.1></p><p>“They’re in their 80s and I don’t want them to trip when they come to visit.”<EL-0.1></p><p>But she also considered the future needs for herself and her friends.</p><p>“I have friends who have arthritis and I thought, well shoot, if I’m redoing this, why not? Sometimes you have to have a little vision.”</p><p>Working with Santa Rosa contractor Pam Miller<NO1><NO>, Hill replaced all the doorknobs in the house with lever handles that are easier to open. In her two bathrooms she installed taller toilets that are two inches higher than the norm and meet ADA (Americans With Disabilities Act) standards. She raised the height on the kitchen counters to also meet ADA requirements.</p><p>She replaced all the water faucets in her bathrooms, kitchen and garage with single-lever, hot-and-cold combo handles. In the shower she added grab bars. “Something to hold onto when you’re reaching for the shampoo or drop the soap.”</p><p>All her safeguards fit in aesthetically, said Hill. “My house looks very normal.”</p><p>Keeping up with the tastes and eventual safety needs of the nation’s 76 million baby boomers is a growing part of the home design industry, said Maureen Pape<NO1><NO> at Sonoma Kitchen and Bath in Santa Rosa.</p><p>“The term people use in the industry is aging-in-place,” Pape said. “How do we help customers age in their place?”</p><p>Amenities that favor bodies that don’t bend and twist like they used to include kitchen sink foot pedals to turn water off, motion sensor faucets and — one of Pape’s favorites — a small vacuum cleaner with a hose that pulls out from under the sink to clean up spills.</p><p>For the bathroom, Pape sees more variety in grab bars — “much sleeker than the institutional looking ones.” Designed to support at least 250 pounds, grab bars come in colors and shapes to match towel bars but with a different texture so you don’t confuse the two. There’s also a towel bar that doubles as a room heater.</p><p>Contractor Miller said she sees an increase in boomer thinking like Hill’s. Especially in today’s housing market, she said, people are holding onto their homes and making improvements for the long haul.</p><p>“They are looking for ways to either anticipate a situation or make the current one more comfortable,” said Miller. “Even if they do expect to sell eventually, they see these upgrades as a good selling point.”</p><p>Local contractor Jim Diangson<NO1><NO> agreed. “People are finding that it’s easier to remodel than relocate. I run into people who are their 50s and 60s and they’re thinking long-term. They say while they’ve got the house opened up and remodeling, why not be prepared for the unexpected? It could eventually allow them to stay in their houses and be independent.</p><p>“Maybe some people are in denial,” he added, “but I’m 47 and I’m very careful when I climb in and out of the shower.”</p><p>(Susan Swartz is a freelance writer and author based in Sonoma County. Contact her at susan@juicytomatoes.com.)</p>