Parade of Homes

12 Parade of Homes FALL 2016 Lori Thorsteinson, owner of Loren realty and sales manager for Parkhill Homes, is both a CAPs and senior real Estate specialist (srEs), trained to help home buyers find or develop the right home to meet their needs now, and in the future. Thorsteinson says little details count, so buyers have to assess their abilities and needs. How long do you plan to be in the house? Is anyone currently ill — or are there health changes that you know are coming? Can you manage one flight of stairs to the basement in a bungalow? Can you manage a second flight? Even condos might need some aging- in-place modifications. "When an accessible home is built new, the design is guided by the capabilities of the individual who will live there, or it is designed around their caregiver if the person is entirely dependent," she says. "It's very personalized." Thorsteinson says there's growing interest in aging-in-place de- sign concepts among middle-aged and older clients, and she fields more questions about wheelchair access than any other feature. Buyers may want visitable homes — built with no-step front en- trances, wider doorways and accessible main-floor bathrooms — to accommodate friends and parents who use wheelchairs. she's also sold homes to buyers who want their aging parents to live with them full-time. "We've done homes with essentially two master bedrooms and two ensuites where the bathrooms are more easily accessible," she says. "A minimum five-foot turn radius in bathrooms is needed and you want to make sure all the doors and hallways are wide enough to accommodate the chair." For homes that are not visitable, Parkhill Homes has installed ramps, but more often they add motorized platforms where a wheelchair is moved onto a gated platform at grade and then lifted to the door. "We've even done closets that could be turned into elevator shafts," she says. More common modifications are stairlifts, grab bars in showers and tubs, and higher toilets in bathrooms. With a wheelchair-accessible shower, the floor is dropped and gently sloped to ensure proper drainage. special fixtures for plumbing might also be installed, and instead of door knobs, door levers are easier to use. other considerations are height of kitchen cabinets and counter- tops, which can be lowered. Light switches should also be lowered, and the choice of flooring is important. "you want to look at hardwood or a vinyl plank or a laminate — a hard surface is much easier for wheels or other assists," Thorstein- son says. "And transitions from one type of flooring to another can be irri- tating or difficult, so you want to minimize or eliminate those, and we'll design a home at walk-in level with no drops in the floors." The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) provides exhaustive checklists for homeowners who may need accessible homes and adaptable homes, along with suggested modifications, such as increasing lighting or installing handrails, on its website at www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca. How to age in Place Cont'd from page 11 'We've done hes with essentially two master bedros and two ensuites where the bathros are more easily accessible'

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