Safer Living Spaces

[svetz]

Yesterday it was starting to pour and my wife went to pull the shutters on the porch down.

She was barefoot and the tiles were slick. She slipped and her fall was somewhat cushion as the inside of her arm came down hard on the back of a chair, it looks like she was hit with a baseball bat... She's okay....it could have been much worse.

Anyway, it got me to thinking about what might I be doing to make the place a bit safer as we're not quite as young as we used to be. What can I do to make my mother-in-law's house safer (She's in her 90s)... all of course without detracting from the look they want. A lot of the problem is even in identifying where a problem might exist.

So, in the vein of Why didn't I think of that? Tips & Tricks! this thread is dedicated to tricks & tips to make your house safer.

 

[svetz]

Article on fixing slippery floors

 

[Deleted-User]

Dunno how extreme you want to be, labor-wise, but I am convinced common bathtubs were designed to lame us: you have to raise legs one-by-one onto slippery/unstable surface, grab ahold of something stable nearby to do so, then gingerly negotiate a soapy/slippery environment. Several times I have raised my leg as usual, onto the edge of the tub to bend down and soap my leg, shifting my balance forward, only to have my toes slip off the edge. If I'm lucky, only a bonk on the head against the tile wall as I regain my footing, worse I suffer a fall, toes bent backwards for a strain, and bruises...it's a bone-break just waiting to happen. Tubs are so 70's anyway, and since 99% of the time we shower in the tub, there is no reason to even have the tub. A spa would be far better for soaking therapy anyway, so why risk all the falls negotiating a fricken tub?

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[John Frum]

Better lighting.
Especially in the kitchen and my work area.

 

[Deleted-User]

Interesting, the article I posted above also included the oven..another thing I think we have outgrown, along with bathtubs. Indeed, if I had to renovate a kitchen, and didn't care about the next owner/resell, I wouldn't have a conventional oven at all. Bend down, overheats the kitchen, negotiate carefully to avoid burns...why bother? For a few years, we have been using a Breville Smart Oven Air

Breville Smart Oven Air

www.brevillesmartovenair.com

to do all of the things, and a lot more, than the old oven can do. Dead-on temperature, reduced energy and risk of burns, easy to clean, etc. Old oven is now a storage cabinet for all the cast iron and Le Creuset stuff we've collected. IOW, totally useless as designed. Many things around a house can be 'rethought'...these, along with the growing trend of mini-splits versus central air, have been on my mind a lot recently, mainly due to economies and simplicity.

 

[John Frum]

Indeed, if I had to renovate a kitchen, and didn't care about the next owner/resell, I wouldn't have a conventional oven at all.

I've been thinking the same thing.
I could use the 50 amps for other things.