Donna Edgerton didn’t want to leave her home in the Stonewall Court neighborhood in Richmond’s West End.
But she also knew she might have trouble one day — like her mother — climbing the stairs to the second floor.
Edgerton planned to retrofit her home to make it more accessible for her mother, but her mom died before she had the work done. She considered her options, including moving, and chose to proceed with the project.
“I cherish the neighborhood and the different age groups here, but I knew that when I get to be my mother’s age, I didn’t want to worry about steps,” she said.
Edgerton, on the leading edge of the baby boomer generation, had an elevator shaft installed and plans to equip it someday with the actual elevator. Meantime, she uses the space as a wet bar on the first floor and as a linen closet on the second floor.
She didn’t stop there. The elevator shaft is part of a new addition for an open-plan kitchen and family room.
Her situation reflects the fastest-growing segment of the residential remodeling industry — home modifications for aging in place, according to the National Association of Home Builders.
Boomers — those born between 1946 and 1964 — typically are left with two decisions that come down to their economic situations and locations, said Craig Toalson, executive director of the Home Building Association of Richmond.
“Do they downsize and move to a home that is designed better for aging in place and low maintenance? Or do they modify their current home for aging in place?” Toalson said.
If boomers move, most want a first-floor master bedroom, said Jeff Tunstall, president of Chesterfield County-based CraftMaster Homes Inc.
“We try to get most areas that they utilize in daily living on the first floor and build wide doors into the bath and bedroom and large zero-drop entry showers,” he said.
Edgerton chose drawers not cabinets for under the kitchen counter, since they are easier to manage. Most doors throughout the house were widened to at least 3 feet to accommodate a wheelchair or walker. (Standard bedroom and bath doors are 2 feet, 6 inches.)
Her doors have levered handles instead of round knobs — a better option for arthritic hands or hands carrying a lot of items.
Edgerton also had a bath redone with zero-entry thresholds into the room and a shower. The shower has a built-in bench. Pedestal vanities can accommodate a wheelchair and the mirrors tilt, so they can be adjusted depending on whether a person stands or sits.
It is better to plan ahead than it is to do quick-fix solutions in response to a crisis, said John Robertson, a co-principal with HomeKeepers Inc., a consulting, design, maintenance and construction firm in Henrico County that did the Edgerton project.
It’s difficult to think clearly and plan ahead during stressful times, said Robertson, a builder for 30 years who also serves as chairman of Senior Connections, the Capital Area Agency on Aging, a nonprofit resource for seniors and their caregivers in Virginia.
Thoughtfully planned universal design elements — such as adding an elevator or building zero-threshold entries — can add value to a home, Robertson said.
“You want to make sure that an addition or a modification looks like it is part of the original house,” he said.
HomeKeepers focuses specifically on making houses more accessible, safer and easier to live in, said co-principal A. Lynn Ivey III.
Robertson and Ivey incorporate easy-living design elements, whether it’s for a large addition as they did for Edgerton, a small first-floor bath and laundry in another house in Richmond, or a 10,000-square-foot single-family house in Goochland County.
Seniors 65 and older and people with disabilities are “a crucial target market that no builders should miss,” according to Builder magazine.
In the Richmond area, the number of people ages 65 and older will outnumber the school-age population for the first time in history over the next 15 years, according to a 2015 report by the Greater Richmond Age Wave, a collaboration of public and private organizations working to prepare for the region’s growing aging population.
By 2040, the number of people 85 and older (40,541) in the area will have more than quadrupled since 2000, according to the report.
“One of the biggest challenges over the next decade is how we will accommodate the growing senior population and make sure the houses they live in and the housing choices they make will be suitable for their changing needs,” said Bob Adams, executive director of Virginia Accessible Housing Solutions, whose EasyLiving Home program is designed to encourage builders to include accessibility features in home design and construction.
The problem is particularly acute in rural areas, as young people leave for urban areas and the number of senior households increases, Adams said.
“The number of seniors who live alone is growing dramatically in these areas,” he said, “and they are more susceptible to being isolated.”
Cities can be challenging as well for the rising senior population, since old housing stock on narrow lots can be difficult to retrofit, Adams said. Most modifications in the Richmond’s Fan District, for example, need to be done on the rear of the property.
Virginia offers a $5,000 tax credit to a builder or a homeowner who includes at least one zero-step entryway, wide doorways and wide passages, and one full bath and bedroom on the first floor in a newly constructed home. Another tax credit is available on remodels for eligible improvements.
“In my experience, it’s more common for the homeowner to get the credit,” Adams said.
According to the National Association of Home Builders, the baby boomer generation has many choices as potential clients of remodelers, builders and contractors.
“Overwhelmingly, seniors would prefer to stay in their own homes,” the association said.
HomeKeepers takes the aging-in-place concept a step further than construction and offers home management, where a homeowner hires the company for home maintenance — changing bulbs in floodlights, replacing air filters and batteries in fire detectors, checking for leaks and making sure there are no unwanted critters in the house.
Marion Shackford, owner of Adaptive Home Environments, a consulting firm in Quinton, said she prefers the phrase “thriving in place” to “aging in place.”
“Thriving in place is when we redesign our homes to meet our needs as we change,” Shackford said. “The result is not only safety and independence but psychological well-being.”
As a former executive director of continuing care retirement centers, “the recurring scenario that I saw was someone leaves their walker at the bathroom door (because the doorway is too narrow), then they fall and break their hips or they try to reach something, get on a step-stool and fall and break their hips,” Shackford said.
“They go to a hospital or a nursing home. Most of the time they never return home. They get depressed. They feel like they have lost all control of their lives. I saw it over and over again. It breaks my heart.”
These problems can be solved, said Shackford, a certified aging-in-place specialist, a designation conferred by the National Association of Home Builders.
“People can modify their homes so they can successfully age in place, enjoy their homes, neighborhood and communities, which to many is quality of life.”
Shackford does assessments of physical and cognitive functions in addition to making recommendations about modifications to make life easier.
Most people try to adapt their behaviors to their environment, she said. “They don’t realize they can adapt their home environments and use assistive technologies to meet their needs.”
Shackford has made changes to her own home to make life easier and less dangerous. She tore down front and side wood decks, which can be slippery in inclement weather, and replaced them with brick. She also lowered the height of exterior steps from a 12-inch rise to a 6¾-inch.
“It’s so much easier,” said Shackford, who stays active bicycling and kayaking. “So many great things can be done,” she said, such as lowering light switches and raising electrical outlets to help people with mobility issues. Wider doorways are not only good for wheelchairs and walkers but also come in handy when moving furniture, she said.
A built-in oven with a pull-out shelf can make cooking easier, especially when lifting turkeys and other heavy dishes. She recommends grab bars in the bath that double as towel racks.
“These products are very stylish and not expensive. ... There are so many cool things you can do.”
