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The wide-open living area at the North Valley home built by Steve Hale is designed to accommodate universal design and aging in place. The idea is to create spaces that are safe and comfortable for people of all ages and abilities. (ADOLPHE PIERRE-LOUIS/journal)
Ever since an debilitating tumble off a ladder last year left Sal Cano paralyzed from the chest down, he and his wife, Maryann, have been thinking about the advantages of a home designed specifically to make life easier for people who use wheelchairs.
They have made changes to the Rio Rancho home they had custom-built 20 years ago, including widening doorways, adding ramps and installing a roll-in shower. But the Canos know it’s not really enough for comfortable living.
“We realize that we have to sell our home in the future because it’s not going to meet our needs,” Maryann Cano said.
The growing acceptance of two homebuilding concepts should make their search for a new home easier: universal design and aging in place. Universal design aims to create spaces that are safe and comfortable for people of all ages and abilities while aging in place refers to the ability to live in one’s own home for as long as possible.
This bathroom is designed with handicapped-accessible features such as the tub and shower. (ADOLPHE PIERRE-LOUIS/journal)
Both concepts were important to sisters Vangie Samora and Elsie Sanchez when they built two new houses as part of a family compound in Albuquerque’s North Valley. They have a third sister who is in a wheelchair and Sanchez has a daughter in a wheelchair so they wanted to make their homes easy to visit. They also considered their own futures.
“We just thought, ‘Why don’t people build their homes like this to begin with?’” Samora said. “You ought to build so you can accommodate at the very least a walker.”
Samora and her husband, both 65, get around fine now but want to be prepared in case things change in the future.
“We certainly see that things can change in an instant and then you’re in a house that doesn’t work for you,” Samora said.
Their new home has wider-than-normal hallways and doorways, grab bars in the bathrooms, two roll-in showers and no steps. In addition, there is an accessible brick path connecting the sisters’ front doors and back porches.
“Everything is built for a wheelchair coming into the house,” Samora said.
Getting rid of steps and stairs also was a priority for Sanchez when she moved from a two-story condo to her new home.
“I realized that was not very safe,” she said. “I’m getting older. In looking to the future, with the aging process, things happen. … I wanted everything to be completely accessible.”
Sanchez, who likes to cook all her own meals from scratch, paid particular attention to the design of her new galley kitchen. The oven is at waist level so she can pull out a heavy casserole and easily put it on the counter without bending or lifting. Dishes and pots are stored in drawers to avoid reaching up to shelves and a second sink next to the stove makes it easy to fill pots with water. In addition, everything is close together to minimize the steps she has to take.
Steve Hale, program director for Build Green New Mexico and a custom builder himself, built both houses.
Visitors wouldn’t notice the differences between those accessible homes and a standard home unless they were looking for them, he said.
Hallways and doorways are built wider than standard widths. There are no steps at the entry or between the garage and the house. Toilet seats are raised to a more comfortable height. Empty space is left under sinks so a wheelchair can get in.
“It’s basically a list of pretty subtle things,” he said, but added those simple changes can make a big difference. “It’s really just more forethought than anything else.”
People in their 40s are starting to ask for aging-in-place features, Hale said. “It’s a real easy sell because people when they’re building a custom home, they’re wanting something they can stay in for a while.”
This family therapy pool includes accessibility features for a child. (ADOLPHE PIERRE-LOUIS/journal)
Robin Harder of Harder Custom Builders agreed. Her company has been incorporating universal design principles in its homes for about 12 years.
Simple things such as making doorways wider and moving light switches a little lower and outlets a little higher so someone can reach them from wheelchair are standard features that Harder includes in all its homes.
“Most of our customers, they’re looking at a home they plan to be in for the rest of their lives,” Harder said.
For some, it’s not just permanent disability that can present a challenge. People in their 50s and 60s are more commonly having surgeries such as knee or hip replacements.
“It may be a short-term incapacitation, but you’re not fully mobile,” Harder said.
Accessible design features make it much easier to get around with a walker or other assistance during those weeks of recuperation after surgery.
Universal-design and aging-in-place features generally don’t add much to the cost of a new home when it is being built. But retrofitting an older home can be expensive, particularly things such as making a tiny bathroom accessible for a wheelchair.
“To go into an existing home and do a renovation and remodel, that’s another situation,” Harder said.
Sanchez said she believes the building code should require all new homes to have accessible-design elements.
That may be something for the future, but Build Green New Mexico – which certifies homes built to sustainable standards – recently adopted the latest national green building standard with a section on accessible design, Hale said.
“You can live in your house longer,” he added. “That’s a sustainable feature.”
