Bathroom Refresh ‘Popular Home Improvement Project’

Replacing an out of date bathroom was one of the top home improvement projects named in research from the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) Propertymark as we come into National Home Improvement Month.

While redecorating was the most popular project, undertaken by 72 per cent of homeowners, a bathroom refresh was another popular option, with 34 per cent of homeowners spending money on this in the last five years.

In fact, the NAEA Propertymark research revealed that the average property owner has spent £8,000 on DIY projects in the past five years.

If you are thinking of replacing your bathroom this year, you may want to consider how you can future-proof it, especially if you aren’t planning to move again when you get older.

While the organisation recommends things like replacing taps, re-tiling and painting the bathroom in a neutral colour, you could also look into fitting easy access showers. These fittings still look stylish, but will make it easy for you to continue using your bathroom even if your mobility worsens.

Chief executive of NAEA Propertymark Mark Hayward commented: “Homeowners are renovating and improving their properties for various reasons. Our needs are constantly changing and by investing money into our homes, we can really make the most of what we’ve got.”

There have also been calls recently for house builders to make sure the properties they construct are accessible and suitable for people of all ages. A survey for the Centre for Ageing Better found that 72 per cent of people believe all new homes should be designed and built to be suitable for people of all ages and abilities.

Design Assumptions ‘Stop Buildings Being Inclusive’

With the UK’s ageing population come new challenges and one of them is how we adapt our homes to make them suitable for us as we get older and our mobility worsens.

One academic in Australia is looking at how to combat the issues surrounding the inclusivity of the built environment.

Professor Catherine Bridge, who runs the Livability Design Lab at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, said that one of the issues holding more buildings back from being inclusive is current assumptions about design.

“The idea of wellbeing is modelled on a healthy, middle-aged man, and so that is how it [the built environment] is designed,” she said.

Professor Bridge added: “This is not representative of the population… especially those [the elderly and disabled] who experience some form of functional impairment.”

She also said that inclusion is one of the areas of accessibility that’s often overlooked in built environment design and stressed that architects and designers should take a more proactive approach to their designs to make them more inclusive.

By doing so, they can help people live in their homes for longer and prevent hospital admissions.

If you’re looking at making your home more accessible, the bathroom is a good place to start. Fitting easy access showers is one thing to consider as these can look great and will make it easier for you to continue to use your bathroom unaided as you get older.

This isn’t just something you have to consider as you get older either. The Guardian recently highlighted the rise in multi-generational living in the UK, with the total number of multi-generational households in Britain thought to number 1.8 million.

Inaccessible Housing ‘Holding Back Those With Disabilities’

More needs to be done to improve the UK’s housing stock and make it more accessible for those with disabilities.

That’s the opinion of Samantha Renke, an actress and disability campaigner who has experienced first-hand the difficulties that disabled people face when trying to have independent lives.

She wrote for the Metro that she spent years feeling as though she was trapped because she had to rely on her family and friends to help her with a range of tasks. Ms Renke has brittle bones and is a full-time wheelchair user.

Ms Renke stated: “For me there was nothing more dehumanising than knowing you are capable of being independent but your environment is disabling you.”

Last year she moved into a bespoke adapted apartment, that allows her to live independently. She explained that, since doing so, not only has she felt better in herself, but her family and particularly her mum, have benefited from not having to be her main carers.

Ms Renke argued that by providing more accessible housing, more disabled people of working age would be able to have jobs. She highlighted the fact that disabled people living in inaccessible housing are four times more likely to be unemployed than those in an adapted property.

Making changes, such as installing easy access showers, can be life changing if you have a disability.

And of course it’s not only in your own home that you can run into obstacles if you have a disability. One US wheelchair user highlighted some of the issues he encountered with public toilets in the UK on a recent visit, such as the lack of a table that is essential to enable him to use his specialist travel urinal.

Chores ‘Can Help Dementia Sufferers Maintain Their Identity’

If your partner is suffering from dementia, it’s important that you still allow them to be involved in the day-to-day tasks associated with running a home.

This is the advice of Dr Gayle Madden, Admiral Nurse Professional and practice development facilitator, who offered some tips to couples who are dealing with a dementia diagnosis or who are living with dementia in an article for Dementia UK.

She explained that when one partner has dementia, it “impacts the balance in a couple’s relationship”. In many cases, each partner will have chores that they typically carry out, and it’s these activities that help give them “a sense or purpose and value”.

“When someone has dementia it’s critical that they retain their sense of purpose and value in the home,” Dr Madden stated. That means looking at ways to allow them to contribute, and to make both partners lives easier. She recommends finding ways of doing things together, so that both partners are contributing.

She suggests talking about the tasks that the person suffering with dementia would usually do, and finding out what level of involvement they still want to have.

You should also talk about any changes you need to make to your home, such as installing easy access showers to make areas like the bathroom safer and more accessible.

Last month, the Express offered some advice on how to make your home more dementia friendly. Top tips include putting photos of familiar faces and places around the home to help trigger memories, and ensuring there’s as much natural light as possible in the home.

This is because dementia can affect a person’s sense of time, and being able to see when it’s light or dark outside can help those suffering from dementia better judge the time of day.

AI Project Could Help Improve Care For Those With Mobility Issues

A project that plans to use artificial intelligence (AI) to improve care for people with mobility issues has been awarded £865,000 by Innovate UK.

Digital Health revealed that the consortium led by Cambridge Bio-Augmentation Systems (CBAS) is behind the programme, which intends to develop a machine learning system that’s able to analyse the movements of people who are at risk of falls or who have orthoses.

The aim is to monitor patients more closely and help healthcare professionals to gain a better understanding of their needs, as well as to help them more accurately track the progress of their patients.

Patients involved in trials of the technology will be given wearable items that track their movements and the data gathered will be analysed by an AI platform.

The results from the trial will be validated by the Human Performance Lab at Queen Mary University of London. Dr Aleksandra Birn-Jeffery, lecturer in bioengineering at the institution, told the news provider that this represents an “exciting opportunity”.

“Not only is it an exciting opportunity to validate new technology that could make such a difference to patient care pathways, but we will be working alongside some incredible companies that are all striving to improve healthcare,” she asserted.

Dr Birn-Jeffery added that it could lead to a greater understanding of how orthotics patients progress following treatment.

In some instances, it could highlight how making adaptations to your home could improve your quality of life, such as fitting easy access showers.

Given that a recent survey by Which? found that the majority of people over 55 years old would be happy to make such adaptations to their properties, it could be valuable in improving many people’s quality of life.

Majority Of People Happy To Adapt Homes

It’s understandable that the majority of us want to stay in our own homes as we get older. Luckily, there is a range of modifications you can make should your mobility worsen as you age, and many people are happy to make these alterations if it means they don’t have to move.

A survey by Which? found that 92 per cent of people over 55 would be happy to make alterations to their homes, such as installing a stairlift, if this would allow them to continue living independently.

When you’re making these kinds of modifications to your property it’s important to think about how to make every part of your home as safe as possible.

Bathrooms are one space where slips and falls are more likely, so doing things like installing easy access showers or shower seats could be a good way to make the space safer and easier to use.

It isn’t only changing physical elements of a property that people over 55 are prepared to do. Over 80 per cent of those surveyed revealed they’d be happy to use a cleaner, gardener or handy person if it meant they could continue living independently.

The Which? survey also found that the majority of people aren’t saving money to pay for their care in later life. Just 12 per cent of the people who responded to the survey had set aside cash to help cover the cost of their care as they got older.

If you’re worried about how to pay for these adaptations, be sure to compare prices from reputable sources like Practical Bathing. It may be less than you thought.

How To Cope With Caregiver Fear

Have you heard of the term caregiver fear? It refers to the anxiety and worry a person can feel when they become a carer for a loved one.

According to Drugwatch, one of the most common ways in which it manifests is through the caregiver asking themselves a lot of ‘what if’ questions.

These questions can lead you down a stressful and frightening chain of thought, but the good news is that there are a number of things you can do to ease your worries.

The first stage is to write down all your fears, whatever they may be and regardless of how trivial you may think they are. Once you’ve done this, you can make the list smaller by deleting all the ones that are highly unlikely to happen.

Of the ones that remain, you should then start looking at how you can reduce these worries. Are you concerned about your loved one falling and hurting themselves at home, for example? One way to tackle this could be to carry out modifications on their home, such as installing easy access showers.

You could also explore providing in-home care and assistance to take some of the weight off your mind and ensure your loved one is getting the care they need at all times.

If you decide that renovations may be necessary, consider how you can future-proof them to ensure you don’t need to keep making updates.

In fact, future-proofing our homes is something we should all be thinking about, designer Kevin McCloud told the Express earlier this year.

Renovating? Think About How To Future-Proof Your Home

If you’re getting started on a home renovation project, you should be thinking about how long you plan to remain in your property and whether it’s worth making changes that will ensure it remains suitable as your needs change.

This is the opinion of designer Kevin McCloud, who told the Express that it’s more important to future-proof with renovations than to do something grand.

He made a number of suggestions of things you should think about if you’re going to make substantial changes to your current home, especially if it’s the one that you plan to live in for the rest of your life.

“If you think you have an opportunity to renovate why not borrow a wheelchair for a day, get in it and try to go round your house and see how you get on,” he stated.

Mr McCloud also recommends thinking about what it is about your home that makes you want to stay there long term. These are some of the areas that you need to focus on making accessible, he stressed.

Of course, practical rooms, such as the bathroom and kitchen, will also need to be addressed, so if you’re going to replace your suite, consider fitting easy access showers that look stylish but that won’t need to be replaced if your mobility changes.

Mr McCloud also said that, if you’re undertaking a big renovation project, it’s worth taking this opportunity to install a downstairs bathroom.

He isn’t the first person to suggest that we should be thinking about how our homes can adapt as we age. A recent exhibit in the US showed how a space measuring 1,000 sq ft could be configured to suit roommates sharing, a multigenerational family and a retired couple.

Older People With Moderate Needs Waiting Longer For Care

Older people with what are termed ‘moderate needs’ – such as those who could be at risk of a fall or of becoming malnourished – are waiting too long to receive the care and support they need.

The Independent highlighted the findings of a report by the Commons Public Account Committee (PAC), which stated that those who have the greatest need are being prioritised when it comes to arranging care packages, leaving those in moderate need to wait too long for their care.

The news provider noted that, should these people then be admitted to hospital because of a preventable fall or other health complication, this is likely to cost more money than providing the care they needed initially to remain in their own homes.

Age UK has stated that 1.2 million older people in the country currently have unmet care needs, giving an indication of the scale of the problem.

Part of this may be assessing the home environment and helping people to make changes, such as installing easy access showers to make their home safer and enable them to continue to carry out certain tasks for themselves.

Earlier this year, Age UK stressed the importance of helping more older people get active and remain mobile.

The charity noted that dancing is particularly good exercise, because it not only helps keep people healthy and active, but also reduces their risk of suffering from a fall at home. According to its figures, one in ten people over the age of 65 are regularly dancing in the UK.

The organisation also noted that dance classes are more popular and engaging than traditional fall prevention programmes, as well as being a great way to improve the mental wellbeing of those who participate.

Empty Nesters Improving Homes Rather Than Moving

More and more people are choosing to stay put when their children move out of home rather than downsizing.

That’s the finding of a survey by Lloyds Bank, which revealed that 45 per cent of empty nesters in the UK are not intending to move, but instead plan to stay where they are and make changes to their family home.

In some instances, this involves repurposing a child’s bedroom into something like a home office or a hobby room, while others have taken the opportunity to carry out wider home improvements.

Kitchens and bathrooms were found to be the rooms that people were most likely to upgrade, with 43 per cent of those who stayed in the family home stating that they’d carried out some kind of home improvement since their children left.

Upgrading a bathroom is a good idea, and it’s worth thinking about how you can future-proof that space when you do so. Installing easy access showers, for instance, is simple and can still look very stylish, but means that as you age you don’t have to worry about how you will get in and out of the shower.

Thinking about how you can design your home so that it adapts with you as you age is very sensible, and can allow you to make changes gradually rather than having to splash out on big alterations later in life.

Smart technology for the home is something else worth considering, as this can be especially useful for monitoring your safety in your home. There is an ever-growing range of devices that you can install to help with everything from lighting and heating controls, to keeping track of your movements and alerting help if you have a fall or become ill.