Two steps to take when renovating the house of an elderly relative who has mild dementia
Posted on: 29 May 2020
If you are planning to perform renovations on a house that belongs to an elderly relative with mild dementia, these tips might help.
Get a residential insulation specialist to replace the house's old insulation materials
If neither you nor your relative can recall when the house's current insulation materials were installed, then they are probably quite old and far less effective than they once were. If this is the case, you should seek out a residential insulation specialist and have them replace these old insulation materials with the best ones that are available within your price range. The reasons for this are that older people tend to get cold much more easily than younger people and that when an old person's body temperature drops to a less-than-optimal level, their chances of getting seriously ill can increase.
As such, your relative will need their home to be kept very warm throughout the cold months of the year. If the house already has a fantastic heating system, then you might think that you can rely on this to keep them warm and that you do not, therefore, need to worry about replacing the insulation.
However, if your relative has mild dementia, they may occasionally forget to turn the heating on when the house gets cold, accidentally alter the system's timer settings or turn the system off entirely. If they do this when they're alone and the house is poorly-insulated, their body temperature could fall to an unsafe level and result in them getting ill. Conversely, if the house's wall cavities have been filled with new insulation materials that are in perfect condition, the building should retain its heat for significantly longer and your relative will stand a better chance of staying safely warm until your (or their carer's) next visit.
Additionally, having new insulation materials fitted could result in their energy bills becoming much more affordable. This could be very helpful if they have a modest pension and need to live quite frugally.
Contact a residential insulation contractor to learn more.
Focus most of your resources on the ground floor
If the house is a multi-storey building, you should try to focus most of your renovation resources on the ground floor. The reason for this is that whilst your relative might currently use the bedroom, bathroom or study room upstairs, there may come a time when they can no longer do this. For example, when their dementia worsens, it might affect their depth perception and make it dangerous for them to use the stairs.
By renovating the ground floor in a way that could make it feasible for your relative to comfortably reside solely in this portion of the house (by, for example, installing a fully equipped downstairs bathroom and turning the formal dining room into a guest bedroom that can eventually be used by your relative), you may be able to help them to live in their own home instead of a care home for a lot longer.
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