Aging-in-Place Renovations in Pittsburgh, PA

By the time you reach retirement, you’ve built a lifetime of memories in your home. This is where you lived your best life with the people you love most. Why leave it for unknown shores when you can build an aging-in-place strategy that lets you keep your most treasured property? Clever design features can bring you comfort and independence. Marvista Design + Build has all the innovations you need to turn your Pittsburgh house into your own private retirement home.

Design Considerations

Aging-in-place renovations target several factors of a home:

  • Lighting, color contrast, and obstruction removal can counteract weakening eyesight.
  • Railings and anti-slip textures are helpful to those with balance issues.
  • Easy-grip handles, levers, and faucets benefit homeowners with reduced hand strength.
  • Attention to stairs, ramps, and tripping hazards can help those with reduced mobility.
  • Countertops and cabinetry can be adapted to suit those who use wheelchairs.

Your bathroom and kitchen will probably need more attention than the rest of your space. Countertops must be reduced, islands may need removal, and railings must be added. But the ultimate result makes it all worthwhile. 

Home Remodeling for Accessibility and Safety

Home modifications can have a powerful impact on your quality of life. They build independence into your lifestyle so that you can live the life you love. But they aren’t always as easy as widening a doorframe or lowering a light switch. You might need to knock out kitchen islands or move your home onto a single story. Other accessibility ideas include:

  • Infinity showers with seating
  • Reduction in window glare through new fixtures and treatments
  • Flexible task lighting in all cooking areas
  • Widened porches and garden pathways
  • Tub, shower, and bedroom railings
  • Enlarged rooms to accommodate a 5-foot wheelchair turning radius
  • Walk-in baths
  • Widened bathrooms for wheelchair access.

As a rule of thumb, you need 60 by 60 inches of turning space, 32 inches in countertop height, and 36 inches in doorway width. Levers, grab bars, and chair lifts will all improve your safety, but simple color palette changes are just as powerful. When steps, rails, and fixtures bear contrasting hues, you’ll reduce missteps and the accidents that follow.

Mobility Devices and Design

Mobility design has as much to do with your floor plan as it does your lifts and ramps. An accessible floor plan builds the right widths and turn radiuses into every part of your property without interfering with your plumbing fixtures. While many move to one-story residences, elevators and stairlifts are simple additions if you have the budget to afford them. Hydraulic and pneumatic mechanics are not cheap additions, but you can certainly reduce your outlay by choosing a cable-driven design.

Main Floor Living

Many Pittsburgh residents can avoid the expense of elevators and lifts through main floor adjustments, but even those aren’t as simple as you might think. Extensions might be the most effective way to accommodate your floor plan adjustments. Older homes typically need a more open floor plan, which is significantly easier to remodel for accessibility. That might demand a change in plumbing and cabinetry. 

Trust Marvista for Aging-in-Place Renovations

Your later years are supposed to be a time to celebrate your freedom. That’s why Marvista loves the aging-in-place movement — it gives retirees the freedom they’ve long for all their lives. We’ve been a Pittsburgh industry leader for many years, so we’re true pros, particularly when it comes to transitional kitchens. Our design + build process will take you through every phase of your renovation. Our unique approach brings both style and practicality to your project and always keeps you closely involved. Call us to prepare for your happiest stage of life today.