@kampeck_ink
OK now that you know a little more about the grey wave coming and how to help aging eyes through it. Let’s talk about the other aspects of the home that can be altered to make aging in place an easier transition. (Did you hear there is going to be a remake of The Golden Girls with Tracee Ellis Ross, Regina King, Alfre Woodard, and Sanaa Lathan? Aging is trending.)
According to the National Council on Aging, one in four Americans over the age of 65 falls each year and 80 percent of these falls happen in the bathroom. No joke.
Ergo, it makes sense that if you can only alter one room in your home for aging in place and fall prevention, it should be the bathroom. So from least amount of surgery to most amount of surgery here are some choices to make.
Paint
A nice interior mold free paint from Benjamin Moore or Dunhill Edwards will run you about $50-$75/gallon which also allows you to cover about 400-500 of square footage...this will cover the entire space of most bathrooms. So two things you can do to make life easier is to paint the ceiling a lighter color than the walls and also keep the sheen muted to a flat or matte finish. This will help avoid the glare issue discussed in the last post and allow what light you have to work effectively as it bounces around the room from artificial or daylight sources. This is probably why you see a lot of browns and taupes in senior facilities. But this doesn’t mean that you have to stick to neutrals...mauves, lavenders and rose colors can be just as effective without seeming like the grey wave is literally crashing over your entire room.
Tile
Moving up in cost you have tile.
When retiling a bathing area, the big thing to think about is choosing a tile that has the right slip-resistance factor. This will commonly come with the tech spec sheet but there is no mandated standard for residential showers. Most manufacturers will simply let you know if the tile is impervious to water and leave it at that.
What this means is that you should not pick a tile by picture alone. You should feel it and hopefully it will have some tooth to it. Don’t be deceived by labels like “good for bathrooms” because this can also reflect its water resistance vs. its slip resistance. Take a look at the technical specs for the tile you are interested in on vendor websites and then look at the DCOF Rating when WET which is the coefficient of friction test of the tile when it is wet. You are looking for a number larger than .42 but for a bathroom it should really be at least .55 Again, feel it. I was surprised to see the coefficient of friction number for the Emser Perspective Tile to be >.60 while the Emser Barn tile was >.5 because both are “porcelain” tile and the feel of the barn tile is actually less slick. So after you do your first round of looking at the numbers, try to get a sample of the tile and walk on it barefoot if you can. Chances are you aren’t bringing this back, right?
Both are Considered “Porcelain Tile” but one actually feels less slick.
Grab Bars
When people think of altering a space for aging in place, grab bars are the first thing people visualize. You would think something as simple as mounting a three foot metal rod wouldn’t be super challenging but even this can get complicated because you are talking about several trades working in a space as small as five by two and half feet.
I am assuming already that you are bright enough not to just mount a grab bar to an existing wall because not only could you potentially interfere with the existing plumbing but you might find negative space with nothing for the grab bar to attach to. Don’t rely on mounting to your existing studs either. Studs are commonly placed 16” apart and grab bars are not 32” across. To attach a grab bar you need to be working with an open wall.
In a public setting for ADA, you will be mounting a grab bar 33” to 36” from the top of the grab bar above a finished floor. What a contractor will commonly do is mount a piece of wood blocking like a 2 x 6 across the length of the wall mounted at the intended height somewhere between 33”-36” from the floor.
But let’s do some math and look at the unknowns. First of all that nominal 2 x 6 lumber is actually 1 ½” x 5 ½” so you are working with a diminished dimension already. Then we don’t know if the contractors are mounting with the finished tile depth in mind which can vary up to 3/4 inch or more. They could be making their calculations from the unfinished floor. They could be measuring from the low side of the shower near the drain vs, the high side of the shower where it starts to slope. The plumber could come in and adjust the blocking based on the diverter, hot and cold piping, and the supply and just walk away without telling anyone they moved the blocking around.
This adds up to a lot of unknowns and potential for error. You have tradespeople who are often not talking to each other and sharing information on site. So what are some things to demand?
Make sure your contractor talks to the other trades and gives them detailed calculations at the end of each phase of their work.
Have your contractor use a bigger piece of blocking such as a 2 x 8 or 2 x 10 to cover possible inches lost in translation and have that blocking run the length of the wall intended for the grab bar, not just the middle of the wall.
Although contractors may claim they “do everything” and don't need other trades, make sure if they are doing plumbing that they are licensed for plumbing and if they claim to “do tile” ask for photos and follow up with the referrals. Each of these trades is specialized work and although it will seem more complicated to do all this due diligence, often times it is better to go with the multi-person approach and have each trade concentrate their energy to the trade at which they are most adept. Tile setters actually have to be licensed in their trade and take out permits to tile showers.
Make your expectations with your contractor explicit. Directly ask for an ADA compliant grab bar height mounted at a finished height of 33-36” measured from the top of the grab bar. In this case you can actually choose as a shorter person or a taller person what that three inch increment should be but for the aforementioned reasons if you say 34” or 35”
And remember that a grab bar doesn’t have to look like it belongs in a hospital. There are many finishes to a grab bar and as long as it has a 1 ½” diameter and a smooth return to the wall with 1 ½” of space left behind the grab bar you can even get one customized. I emphasize the smooth return. Nothing sounds more unpleasant than getting jabbed in the hip when you’re naked.
Barrier Free Showers & Mental Barriers
I was talking to my stepmother recently about potentially renovating her bathroom for herself at age 72 and my father who is 84. She mentioned that their bathroom from the 1990s was cramped and contained things like a Roman Tub that they never used. She would like to remodel it to be more efficient for them. During the conversation she talked about grab bars and opening up the space more but I realized that she never mentioned including a barrier free shower in her thoughts.
If you are going through all that trouble to demo a space for someone who is getting older, doesn’t it make sense to take the extra step so to speak and create a barrier free environment for someone who might have to use a wheelchair later in life? And even if it does not come to that loss of ambulatory life, an older person would still benefit from not having to step over a dam. This same reasoning applies to someone who uses a walker.
A contractor may have to do some extra demo to lower the subfloor but if this is the home you plan to own for the rest of your years, make it work for you. The contractor gets to leave after the job. You are stuck with your own decisions.
Again, if you manage to convince your loved one or yourself to go the extra mile and install a linear drain, make sure that you not only hire a licensed trade to do the job but someone with experience installing this type of drain. A plumber who claims to “do them all the time” still needs to be asked for photos and referrals. After the drain is installed communication is required between the contractor and the plumber and the tiler. I’ve also been in situations where I realized that English was not the tiler’s first language and I managed to hire a plumber who spoke Spanish. These small observations can pay off enormously in the long run.
Before the physical barriers can come down, the mental barriers have to be shedded first. Unfortunately when people plan a project and begin the hiring process, therapists are often not the first trade one thinks about as part of the team. But overcoming mental hurdles and roadblocks can be helpful, especially when one emphasizes how a barrier free environment could help all future caretakers, family and potential employed help alike.
And you thought the actual remodeling process would be the hard part….