Inexpensive Ways to Make Your House Wheelchair Accessible
Carpets and Rugs
To make it easier for you to maneuver your wheelchair remove any loose carpeting or rugs. It doesn’t make a difference if you have a mechanical or electric-powered wheelchair, it’s easy to get caught on carpeting that isn’t as secure as it once was.
Rugs will get caught in your wheels, you can simple remove them and replace them with new carpet that fits more snugly to the floor. This should make it alot easier for you to move around not having to worry about caught rugs in your wheels.
Cordless Phone
With a cordless phone you won’t have to hurry into another room when the phone rings. Keep the phone close by so just in case of an emergency you can call for help in matter of minutes.
Levers
Replace your dor knobs with levers. That will make it alot easier for you to enter and leave your home as well as getting in and out of any rooms. Door knobs can be very difficult for a wheelchair-bound person to turn, but a lever can be easily pushed down. That is why there are no door knobs in hospital rooms but levers.
Grab bars
Install grab bars in the bathroom, around the bathtub/shower and the toilet. These bars will stabilize you as you move from your wheelchair to your toilet and from your bathtub to your wheelchair. That will give you some of your privacy back and will be a little less embarassing.
Mini-ramps
You can install mini ramps on high door thresholds. Many threholds are high off the ground and makes it hard to get a wheelchair in the house. By gluing or sealing down a few tiny wedges of wood or metal, you are making a ramp that will help you get in and out of the house.
Non-slip Floor
Install a nonslip floor in your bathroom. Bathroom floors get wet, becoming very dangerous especially for you and your wheelchair. This floor will greatly reduce your chances of you or your wheelchair from slipping when you are going from your chair to the bathtub or shower.
Automatic sink fixtures
Motion-detecting sink fixtures can make operating your sink alot easier. The faucet starts running once you put your hands underneath the faucet and stops when your hands are removed from underneath the faucet. This eliminates you reaching for the sink handles.
Hoses or nozzles
A hose or nozzle system is a moving head shower head, meaning you wont have to twist and turn when rinsing yourself off. Many of this nozzles have different settings, some perform massaging functions, which can help sooth body parts that might be aching or might be sore from sitting in your wheelchair. Those hoses or nozzles are easily installed in most showers, making them an easy way to make one life’s more relaxing.
Mailbox
Move your mailbox to make it more accesible. Move it from the end of your driveway closer to your house and lower it to a level you can easily rech from your chair.
Driveway
Gravel driveways and walkways make it difficult to get around in your wheelchair. You can get a professional to pave your driveway and is relatively inexpensive.
There are different things you can do to make it easier for you to move around your house. Alot of them are inexpensive and can be done by yourself or a professional. Whatever makes you more comfortable and suits you, that is what it’s all about. Just make sure you stay safe.
