Adapting Your Home To Maximize Mobility

Beasley said he can design an accessible bathroom that runs between $8,000 and $12,000.

Making a bathroom fully accessible, with a no-threshold shower, new tiles and flooring and a full-floor waterproof membrane, can easily run $25,000 and up, depending on the finish, Butler said. But just making a bathroom "much more accessible and easier to use" typically runs about $12,000 to $15,000.

Architects and accessibility experts caution that homeowners should consider the big picture before embarking on one piece of the accessibility puzzle.

"You have to ask yourself: 'What are the long-term goals of the owner?' " Salmen said. "Are they going to stay in the house long enough to make it cost-effective? Are they going to live long enough to take advantage of the changes? What is the individual's physical condition, their age, the physical condition of their house, the value of their house and the location of the house in a neighborhood? Is it, for instance, in a neighborhood where they can get to critical amenities if they aren't able to drive? And what is their financial situation?"

"Sure, you can fix up a bathroom, but the really accessible house would have no steps and would be wide enough throughout for a wheelchair," Salmen said. "In some cases it's not worth it to modify the house you're in. In other cases it is."

Lynn Anderholm, an Alexandria homeowner, hired Beasley's firm to modify her house three years ago. The 52-year-old has had Parkinson's disease for about 12 years and had lived there for about 20 years without modifications.

Anderholm got a variance to add a first-floor accessible bedroom and an accessible powder room, and then made the second-floor bedroom and master bath wheelchair-friendly. The house now has wide hallways and 36-inch doorways in most rooms.

The addition and new bathrooms were less expensive than renovating the old rooms, Anderholm said. Experts say it is generally cheaper to build in accessibility from the start than to redo an older home.

Anderholm and others, though, say builders should embrace universal design. "If it were up to me," she said, "all builders would put in 36-inch doorways and at least 48-inch hallways. It's not that difficult to do in new houses, but if you try and do that once the house is there, it's very, very difficult."

Some remodelors and industry officials, however, say surveys of home buyers show that they generally don't want features identified with aging or disabilities, even if they don't cost much more.

Buyers "just don't want to think about it" until they have to, said Jim Lapides, communications manager for the Remodelors Council. "It's a psychological issue," said Gopal Ahluwalia, research director for the National Association of Home Builders.

But builders also know that bathrooms are the second-most-popular remodeling project, after kitchens, that remodeling is a $10 billion-a-year business and that there is growing interest in aging in place from some very vocal corners, such as AARP.

Prince William County officials agree. County leaders a year ago set up an aging committee to promote accessibility. The committee published the pamphlet "Easy Living With Universal Design" and is working with designers, businesses and Centex Homes on a demonstration home expected to open in Bristow this fall.

Prince William is "reaching out to builders because we have learned that, time and time again, seniors are tending to follow their children into Prince William County but, time after time, they've learned that the houses they've moved into are not accessible to them," said Toni Clemons-Porter of the Prince William Area Agency on Aging. "If anything happens, if a child or an adult becomes temporarily disabled, it's an eye-opener."