Future proof your home? Or is it too depressing?

There was a thread recently in the carers forum, I think, which lead to some cautionary tales.
My own mum being stuck on the toilet for 19 hours. (Refused to have a handle fitted, so she could pull herself up)
Someone else's mum unable to get out of the bath, and so on.
It really is worth thinking about having alterations done whilst you still have a choice.

My parents moved to a bungalow in their late 60s and whilst my father was in hospital someone came to check for safety and accessibility and all that needed to be done was to fit a handle by the back door where there was a bit of a step down. Otherwise, they had prepared themselves well.

Not so my DH, who will probably be like the husbands described above - and not consider making alterations to accommodate us in our dotage, let alone move to a bungalow or a flat.

When we moved to our present house in 2015 there was no downstairs loo. The first thing we did was convert the integral garage to a small bedroom with an ensuite shower room. Saves visitors traipsing upstairs to the bathroom and it is there when we can't manage the stairs and IMO it is simply prudent planning. I was so glad we had done it when I injured my knee last November and it took 8 weeks for it to recover.
If you wait until you cannot manage the stairs then you are looking at 6-8 weeks for planning/ building control , then a few weeks to get a builder and then longer to do the work. Far better get it sorted in plenty of time.

Oh I do agree when I was a District Nurse I saw so many people who had painted themselves into a corner by not allowing alterations to be done and by insisting on staying in a house that was far bigger than their needs and their pocket, that badly needed repairs and adaptations and they were thoroughly miserable.

Also, if you're fairly frail, physically, at some point, it means all of your energy is taken up doing things the hard way. It was so, so, difficult for my mum in the end, just to be able to move around her own home. Such a terrible pity I think, and it impacted on me, my daughter, and grandchildren too.

I guess that future proofing your home, whilst you can put up with the builders, is far less depressing than the alternative.

Yes it is something we think about as there will come a time when this house is too big to manage or we'll be unable to get up the stairs. We will probably need to move to a bungalow - we've thought of moving so many times over the last 20 years and really have nothing holding us here any more - no family or work. It's finding an area we want to go to that's the issue!

Certainly food for thought. I would like to have a small extension downstairs so we could use one room as a bedroom and still have living space. Not sure how we would finance that.
I do think some forward planning is a good idea.
Must set up LPAs

We have a downstairs loo and shower that we had installed when we moved in. It's not large enough to accommodate a wheelchair though should one be needed in the future but it is very useful now. DH also put grabber rails around the bath which again is useful. We would require TWO stairlifts as our stairs dog leg and there is a bedroom door halfway up. However there is the possibility of making our coat / junk cupboard into a lift if the tank in the airing cupboard above could be moved and a home found for all the towels and clobber. So yes, we are thinking about it and have taken some actions already but really I'd like to move into a smaller place.

We already have a downstairs bedroom with ensuite shower room .We have a wood burner which we can use to warm soup etc if we can't afford the electricity. And DD has a large wood where we can gather sticks to keep us warm So that's us sorted

They say that wood burners keep you warm twice, once when you gather and cut the wood and once when you light it! I must say though that I hadn’t thought of not having enough money to warm some soup.
But we do have an open fire, so we can toast some stale bread and we still have a milkman if we can’t get to the shops!

I found an excellent company which delivered ready meals, and also shopping. Their meals had more pasta based ingredients, so were nicer than the Wilshire ones, and they would also phone the person to remind them to order.

My H is currently in hospital, 12 days now, waiting for a care package to be put in place.
We had a large coat cupboard and downstairs loo converted into a shower room some years ago and while he has been in we have turned the dining room into a bedroom, it is quite roomy and comfortable with tv and reclining chair.
I had raised toilet seats with rails delivered yesterday as well as a door at to help him get up and down in his bed.
I realise I am lucky to have the room but also the foresight and my H can come home when he is ready.

For door read doofah.

That's good news, Ann. hope you're looking after yourself. X

Yes, we have planned ahead although we are very early 60's. We live in a bungalow, built on a new bathroom with walk in shower, spent a lot of money on insulation and efficient heating so that we can afford to keep warm!. Shop, bus route, pharmacist etc. It always astounds me when I see people of my age, or older, on Escape to the Country, looking for a cottage in the middle of nowhere, with acres of garden. As a point of interest, some local authorities will pay for work to be done such as installing grab rails, walk in showers, etc to enable people to live at home for as long as possible. I think they put a charge on the house to be repaid when the owner dies, moves, or goes into full time care. Gets around the problem of property rich & cash poor elderly and gets people out of hospital. I know neighbours of ours had such work done about 15 years ago, and it was a great help to them ( and their long suffering daughter) for many years. Budget cuts may have halted it now though.

Good thinking Annesixty, we have just been told that MIL is being sent home next week, although she badly fractured her pelvis only 3 weeks ago, she is thrilled to bits.
The hospital have an emergency care team who will go into her 4 times a day until a proper care package is sorted.
I think the thrill of being home will quickly fade when she has to stay in bed until someone arrives to get her up and then has to stay in one place until somebody else arrives to move her.
Maybe we can persuade her to get the shower installed downstairs and turn the dining room into a small bedroom.
In the meantime the family are going round today to shift furniture and move food and cups etc, to bottom cupboards.

Somehow it seems easier to make all the changes when you move into a house when they are obvious but harder once established in a home when it is easier not to think about it.

We are hoping to move this year but the place we want to move to has very few bungalows in the roads we like. I am hoping we can find a smaller house with a straight up and down staircase so that, when the time comes. we can get a stairlift which should cover all the issues.

DS's next door neighbour lived in a 4 bedroomed detached house on her own until she died, aged 94. She had a stairlift and great neighbours. Another friend's mother lives in such a house on her own, aged 87 and she still drives. Getting older is not necessarily going to make us all infirm.

We future-proofed our last house. Had a downstairs bedroom extension with views and door to garden, with a ledge walk-in shower room cum toilet, etc.. It was great for guests, but then we moved! ???

I have had a large walk-in cupboard in the main bedroom converted to a shower in the ‘new’ house so far.

Large walk in shower

Nonnie, it would be great to think that we will be ok in our 80s and 90s, I guess we all hope for that.
Stair lifts are now available that go on a curved or dog leg staircase.
MIL has to have carers as they say that her stair lift is, at the moment, more of a hazard to her than a help.
Everything downstairs is the way to go, I think.

I don't think its too bad to think about future proofing your home. Our recent move to a bungalow was fuelled by some sensible choices. Stairs are already difficult for me, we didn't need a huge garden etc.

Here we have started to make the changes which should allow us to stay in our home . A new shower room , we never had a bath anyway. A new orangery to make sitting out pleasant . When the garden is done it will be low maintenance with paths to allow us to access it even if our mobility gets worse.

I think its just common sense to do the work while you can and then hopefully enjoy it for years to come.

We all hope that we will not be infirm in later years, but it is sensible to make your home as future proof as possible, plans made at leisure are better than last minute panic arrangements to enable people to be discharged from hospital. Just something as elementary as a downstairs cloakroom is essential I think, and if it can be extended to include a shower cubicle as well even better. A dining room, with a door to the garden, can be adapted to become a bedroom, but the fashion in the 70s and 80's to 'knock through' and have a living/diner makes this more difficult, although there are companies that make great sliding doors and room dividers which can get around this.

No room in our house to put in a downstairs bathroom so unless we win the lottery and build an extension bedroom/shower/toilet at the side of the house we'll have to manage with a stairlift when the time comes. I do worry about it we could move to a bungalow but as we live in London it would have to be a long way out and away from family it's catch 22.