Home.
Few words are as emotionally loaded than home.
For many approaching their 50s the looming question of ‘stay or go’ can be one of the easiest – or most formidable –choices they’ll ever make.
Maybe your house is paid off, and you love the neighborhood. Maybe you’ve spent a lifetime working the landscape and the perennial borders. The banks of French blue hydrangea or azaleas are finally just right. Maybe you built the house, or its centuries old. Maybe it’s your one and only, or your forever house.
For those who are happy at home aging in place might be the answer.
Chris Egner said universal design is a concept aimed at making homes accessible to everyone.
Egner is president of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI) in Wheeling, Illinois and owner of Chris Egner Design-Build-Remodel in New Berlin, Wisconsin.
“Universal design is making a home as functional and usable for as many people as possible,” Egner explained.
The concept incorporates features and elements suitable for use by older homeowners, those with illness or disabilities and those with multiple generations living under one roof.
“Many things fall under that category, and the whole concept is absolutely growing,” he said.
With more Americans interested in staying in their homes longer there is more demand for products that address the needs of aging and older adults.
“Over the past three years manufacturers have stepped up with products that address these needs” that are more stylish and attractive, Egner noted.
From converting a little-used room to a bedroom, adding bathroom grab bars, hands-free lighting, a staircase chair lift, elevator or first floor addition, more seniors are exploring aging in place.
According to an AARP report published on its website, roughly 77% of Americans aged 50 and older said they prefer to stay in their homes as they get older.
“Aging in place is still a hot topic of conversation,” said Leigh Nunno, a Realtor and associate broker at Melissa Healy Group at Keller Williams Real Estate in Doylestown.
Nunno said some sellers who might have moved because their home no longer works for them are reconsidering their options.
Housing inventory remains tight. Aside from age-restricted communities, finding desirable one-floor living is harder to find in Bucks County, Nunno explained.
“Now they [older homeowners] are looking into how the home can work for them,” she said.
A formal living or dining room, little used office, den or playroom the kids have long left behind are candidates to consider converting to a first-floor bedroom.
These spaces should be part of a walk-through client visit and housing inventory.
Candid conversations and expectation setting go hand-in-hand with physical spaces and floor plan limitations, said John Gemmi, owner of Gemmi Construction Inc. in Buckingham Township.
“People want to stay where they are, so we look within the existing space. How are you using it, and are you using every square foot of your space,” he said.
This Q&A approach to each and every room helps coax clients to reconsider how rooms are used.
Next, Gemmi helps clients identify which rooms might be suitable to convert to a downstairs primary bedroom suite or en suite, if space and municipal zoning allows it.
“An office can become a bedroom. A half bath may be able to be modified to become a full bath,” Nunno explained.
Gemmi said he’s converted two-story Colonial homes built in the 1970s into workable one floor living spaces for clients.
“These are original homeowners of the property, and they just don’t want to leave it,” he said.
Dennis Gehman is president of Gehman Design Remodeling in Harleysville, Montgomery County, and he works with clients to make their homes suitable to age in place.
Gehman said a recent client project involved converting little used dining and formal living room spaces into a first floor primary bedroom and sitting room.
“We did a ‘Jack and Jill’ bathroom with two doors, and for a powder room conversion, we bumped it into the living room,” he explained.
Whether you call it a chair lift or chair glide, these units have become sleeker, less obtrusive and range in color options and price points.
Installing a chair glide makes access to a basement or second story in the home safer and easier for those with mobility or balance issues.
“The track can be painted to match the staircase molding, and chairs are available in different colors” so they blend in better, said Jaimie Meehan, a Realtor at Melissa Healy Group at Keller Williams Real Estate in Doylestown.
Some homeowners consider building an elevator to create safe and efficient access to various floors in the home, according to Meehan.
“It’s almost a tube, and you could install it from a living room to a primary en suite space,” Meehan said of one inside elevator option.
For those looking to build an exterior elevator, access to various home levels becomes greater.
“An exterior elevator is the priciest option, and you can excavate a basement and go to the attic” with an elevator addition, she said.
For those willing to invest in the property and with enough land and zoning clearances on which to build, adding a bedroom, bathroom or primary en suite combination might be the best option.
“First floor living is extremely desirable. I always encourage people to look within the home’s footprint before looking to add on,” Gemmi said.
Check with your municipal zoning officers before beginning any construction project.
If you are thinking about a first floor addition, look at the house plan and whether a single or two-story addition makes sense.
“Could the rooms on the second floor benefit from an expansion? There can be different benefits to doing the addition, so it’s important to think through,” Gemmi explained.
Gemmi said calling your local municipal zoning offices can help you determine if an addition to your property is possible, as well as the next steps you would need to take.
Those with private on-site or septic systems, may face additional challenges to adding a first floor addition.
“The biggest part involves a conversation around the sewer/septic service,” he said.
If you are cleared for an addition, he recommends starting the design process using the aesthetics of the existing home for building materials, construction features and home style.
“The ROI [return on investment] even if you put an addition onto your home, is high,” Gemmi said.
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