You CAN Stay In Your Home Longer with an Aging in Place Remodel
Best Rate Remodel / November 1st, 2013Fall In Love With Your Home All Over Again With An Aging-In-Place Remodel
Still making the most out of life? Then make sure your home keeps up!
If you are like many older San Diegans, you spent a large portion of your life working hard and saving for your dream home. Now you are in the beautiful and spacious home you always wanted…but you worry about how long you will be able to stay.
Maybe you are finding it harder to step over the tub in the bathroom or to stand up from the bed in the middle of the night. If you now use a wheelchair or a walker, you may find it difficult to move down the hallway or maneuver through doorways. Maybe your adult children have even mentioned the possibility of a nursing home!
Many of the seniors that I talk with want to stay in their home as long as possible. It can be done. The key is to try and adapt the home so that older residents can be comfortable and safe living on their own. There are many ways that a knowledgeable remodeling team can do this. In fact, there is a term for this specific type of remodel, called “Aging In Place”.
There are many different Aging-In-Place home remodeling techniques. The specific parameters of your Aging-In-Place remodel will depend on your special needs and on the existing structure of your home. Some of the most common Aging-In-Place upgrades we make are:
- Adding grab bars near the bed and toilet to help your rise
- Installing a walk-in tub
- Installing a bench in the tub or shower
- Installing grab bars in the shower
- Applying no-slip finish to tile floors in the bathroom, kitchen and other slick surfaces to prevent falls
- Widening door frames to accommodate wheelchairs and walkers
- Expanding certain rooms, especially the kitchen and bathroom, to accommodate wheelchairs and walkers
- Creating a downstairs bathroom so residents with mobility issues do not need to go upstairs
- Creating ramps inside the home in the case of a sunken living room
- Creating ramps into the home for residents with mobility issues
There are many other techniques that could be added to this list.
If you have recently found that living in your home feels difficult, uncomfortable or unsafe, it may be time to call a remodeling expert to see if your home is due for an Aging-In-Place upgrade. If you have an aging parent, sibling or loved one who is struggling on their own, consider suggesting an Aging-In-Place remodeling assessment. We have also made Aging-In-Place adjustments to homes where an elderly parent or sibling has recently moved in. For example, if you worry that your mother can no longer safely live by herself, you may decide to bring her into your home. If you don’t have any bathrooms on the lower floor, or if you have a front porch with many steps, these things can prove to be big challenges for Mom. You may need to consider an Aging-In-Place remodel for your own home.
At Best-Rate remodel, we are very knowledgeable about Aging-In-Place techniques and performing Aging-In-Place remodels in the San Diego community. Give us a call at (619) 229-0116, and our remodeling experts would be happy to meet with you, listen to your current challenges, and provide you with a recommendation for turning your house back into your dream home.
Is It Cheaper To Move Or Remodel Your Existing Home?
Best Rate Remodel / November 1st, 2013
Do you really need to move, or is your dream home right under your nose?
Now that home prices are finally starting to rise, you may be considering selling your house and upgrading to a new one with a little more space. Maybe you’ve welcomed a new bundle of joy in the world and need a nursery, are craving a home office, or have been dreaming of a spacious, luxury kitchen forever.
Before you start cleaning up the garage and hammering a “For Sale” sign into the front lawn, consider if a simple remodel could turn your existing home into your dream home.
If the main reason you want to move is to add more space or upgrade the amenities of your home, then you may not need to move at all. It could be substantially cheaper and more efficient to have a remodeling company come in and make the changes you want to your existing home.
You might be surprised at just how much a good remodeling company can accomplish. A remodeling company can completely reconfigure your kitchen or even build out your kitchen so that it is larger. They can create a luxury master bathroom, build on a room addition and make any number of structural changes to your home.
Moving can be incredibly costly, even in today’s market. Moving into a larger house probably means a bigger mortgage. You’ll also have to pay big closing costs and give a chunk of your selling cost to your realtor. Don’t forget that you’ll have to get your new home inspected and probably pay a moving company to transfer all of your belongings to the new house.
Besides just the cost, you’ll also have to worry about the hassle of moving. You’ll likely want to try and time things just perfectly so that you can sell your old house and move right into your new house. If you play it safe and sell your old house first, you may find yourself living in a motel or other temporary housing until you can move into a new house. The alternative is moving first and then selling your old house, which could put you on the hook for two mortgage payments a month with no guarantee of when the house will sell. There’s there the packing and unpacking, meeting all the new neighbors, replanting your garden, etc…
A remodel will also be a little disruptive to your life, but not nearly to the degree of moving into a whole new home. You also won’t have to worry about packing and unpacking everything, saying goodbye to your neighbors and getting used to living in a new location.
Turn your existing home into the home you’ve always dreamed of and save loads of money in the process. At Best-Rate Remodel, we want to hear about your dream home. Tell us your vision, and we can assess your existing home and tell you what we can reasonably accomplish. You might be surprised at how affordable it is.
We provide home remodels in San Diego County, Orange County and Riverside County.