Universal design for the home
What is it?
Universal design refers to a broad range of ideas meant to produce buildings, products and environments that are inherently accessible to older people, people without disabilities and people with disabilities.
It is used in home remodeling to make things safer, easier and more convenient for everyone. It does not mean turning a home into an assisted living residence!
You don’t have to be elderly to slip on wet tiles in the bath!
In fact, many of the features of Universal design actually make the bath more spa-like; features such as no-threshold showers, tiling the entire bathroom floor (with no-skid tile), designer grab bars and easy-to use faucet handles (who doesn’t get annoyed at trying to turn the faucet on with wet hands?).
The National Association of Home Builders has an excellent article on Universal Design; Rose Construction’s, DyLon McClary is a certified designer of what is also called Aging in Place design. But you don’t have to be aging to love the conveniences and safety elements.
