Whether you are looking at building a new home or upgrading an existing home, it may be well worth your while to utilize elements of universal design into your home so that either you can enjoy your home for much longer than you might be able to otherwise. With the trend to living longer lives and spending more of those years living in the family home, there is a real benefit to designing and finishing a home with the principles of universal design in mind.

The Center for Universal Design sets out the principles of the concept as:

1. Equitable use: For useful and marketable to people with diverse abilities

2. Flexibility in use: Design accommodates different methods of use (example: right or left hand use)

3. Simple and intuitive

4. Perceptible information: Design might include pictures, tactile, verbal modes, or clear text with high contrast

5. Tolerance for error: Design incorporates fail safe or correction features

6. Low physical effort: for people with a great range of physical abilities and strength

7. Size and space for approach and use: Design is useable by people of many different size, postures, or mobility.

There are some pretty easy ways to incorporate these design concepts into your home when you’re building it; there are also a great many ways that you can incorporate them into a renovation as well, but it can take a fair bit more work.

Some of the aspects of Universal Design need to be built into a home; wheelchair access is easiest to put into a home when it’s being built, though it was be retrofitted with a bit of work. Some types of wheelchair access that are good to include are entranceways that don’t require ramps, single floor homes, wide hallways and doorways, and at least one wheelchair accessible bathroom.

Other aspects of Universal Design that can easily be installed into the finishing or renovation of a home are items like lever door handles, telephone showerheads, lowered rocker and dimmer light switches, matte finish countertops, and grab bars in the bathroom.

Many features that you can add in the finishing of your home building or renovating can incorporate Universal Design elements with little or no additional cost if you plan ahead; it can prove to be a great selling point later on or, as well, can make your stay in your own home easier in the years to come.

The Center for Universal Design http://www.design.ncsu.edu/cud/

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