[mttb14]

As the wheelchair use is new to use, and we are looking at moving to a bungalow your opinions will be helpful.

We are hoping (providing John's compensation claim is sorted by Nov, 06) to be moving to a bungalow. It is in quite a bad state of repair and needs completely modernising, but it has larger than average rooms and a big hallway with access to all rooms off it. (Mostly cosmetic work, as a lady in her 90's lived and died there and DIY was not on her list of priorities.)

Anyway, John only needs his wheelchair for any distance walking at the moment and can manage around the house and garden ok. It is assumed by doctors that he will continue to deteriorate and could possibly need to use a wheelchair all of the time.

He has co-ordination problems and his reflexes in his left foot are much worse than in his right and he is prone to falling, slipping and tripping, so would laminate flooring or tiles be dangerous from that point of view, but how hard is it to use a wheelchair on carpet?

Would you recommend archways instead of doorways, or double doors where possible. How hard is it to steer an electric wheelchair through normal doorways, or do they need widening. (It is recommended he has and electric wheelchair as he has problems with using his arms due to spasticity and spasms, plus release phenomena)

All answers will help as everybody seems to experience different things from time to time.

Maria

[juls]

Hi Maria,
I'm a c6/c7 complete. I use a manual wheelchair so i find carpet really hard to push on. As your husband John is going to be in an electric wheelchair and has problems with balance when walking, carpet would probably be the best option. You can get a really thin, basic underlay or no underlay at all which wolud make the carpet a bit harder and easier to wheel on ut if you choose carpet make sure you buy a quality hard wearing one! We laid carpet when i first got out of hospital and the wheelchair ruined it.
hope this helps in some way

[gazrobsuk]

Hi Maria,

Well we were in a similar boat in so much as when I came home I was in the chair so it was really tough (we've a bungalow too) so we got it all laminated (wasn't cheap) except for the lounge plus we also got a complete big walk in shower/wet room.

I don't use a chair now for short distances but like John I'm told I might so again when we extended we factored in wider doors but a lot of the house are still the same width as before so we'll cross that bridge whenever. I think 'hard' floors are best for manual or power chairs as you don't get the carpet 'ruffling/rucking' plus the resistance is much better.

If you have a clean sheet then I'd factor in things like wider access etc as it's a possibility he might need it & it's not too huge a cost at the beginning as opposed to doing the work afterwards so we even put in a wider back door when we had a new kitchen etc.

I hope you get your compo this year & start to build a more suitable place. Oh BTW I sent you a mail

Gaz

mttb14, on Jul 28 2006, 10:37 AM, said:

As the wheelchair use is new to use, and we are looking at moving to a bungalow your opinions will be helpful.

We are hoping (providing John's compensation claim is sorted by Nov, 06) to be moving to a bungalow. It is in quite a bad state of repair and needs completely modernising, but it has larger than average rooms and a big hallway with access to all rooms off it. (Mostly cosmetic work, as a lady in her 90's lived and died there and DIY was not on her list of priorities.)

Anyway, John only needs his wheelchair for any distance walking at the moment and can manage around the house and garden ok. It is assumed by doctors that he will continue to deteriorate and could possibly need to use a wheelchair all of the time.

He has co-ordination problems and his reflexes in his left foot are much worse than in his right and he is prone to falling, slipping and tripping, so would laminate flooring or tiles be dangerous from that point of view, but how hard is it to use a wheelchair on carpet?

Would you recommend archways instead of doorways, or double doors where possible. How hard is it to steer an electric wheelchair through normal doorways, or do they need widening. (It is recommended he has and electric wheelchair as he has problems with using his arms due to spasticity and spasms, plus release phenomena)

All answers will help as everybody seems to experience different things from time to time.

Maria

This post has been edited by gazrobsuk: 28 July 2006 - 01:31 PM

[happycamper]

Plug Points that are normally at floor level mounted sligtly higher is useful, extra light switches above centre of bed, get rid of the strip grip on the edge of carpets and just glue the edge in doorways down trip hazard,

[eav]

mttb14, on Jul 28 2006, 10:37 AM, said:

As the wheelchair use is new to use, and we are looking at moving to a bungalow your opinions will be helpful.

We are hoping (providing John's compensation claim is sorted by Nov, 06) to be moving to a bungalow. It is in quite a bad state of repair and needs completely modernising, but it has larger than average rooms and a big hallway with access to all rooms off it. (Mostly cosmetic work, as a lady in her 90's lived and died there and DIY was not on her list of priorities.)

Anyway, John only needs his wheelchair for any distance walking at the moment and can manage around the house and garden ok. It is assumed by doctors that he will continue to deteriorate and could possibly need to use a wheelchair all of the time.

He has co-ordination problems and his reflexes in his left foot are much worse than in his right and he is prone to falling, slipping and tripping, so would laminate flooring or tiles be dangerous from that point of view, but how hard is it to use a wheelchair on carpet?

Would you recommend archways instead of doorways, or double doors where possible. How hard is it to steer an electric wheelchair through normal doorways, or do they need widening. (It is recommended he has and electric wheelchair as he has problems with using his arms due to spasticity and spasms, plus release phenomena)

All answers will help as everybody seems to experience different things from time to time.

Maria

Hi Maria

1'm in an electric wheelchair 12 hrs a day. I bought a house (I wanted to stay in my area, no bungalows available) 8 yrs ago and had it adapted. bearing in mind it would be a family home and I have PAs around the clock. Living room through to dining room and study are divided by 2 sets of double doors, which I prefer to leave open. All the other rooms in the house plus front and back door were widened, I'd had experience in my previous home of normal width doors and they were hard work, lots of extra patterns on the wood work, specially after any celebrating etc!

Front room and dining room already had Parkay flooring, but have carpet in other rooms, bedroom/dressing room/study, all well stuck down. But, it's getting very patchy in front of my computer. I put stone paving (or whatever they're made from) in the hall - great for wet or muddy days. There are so many nice types of flooring to choose from, people are usually pleasantly surprised when they first visit, I'm not sure what they expect.

There was already a granny annex where the house was extended, I had this turned into a PA room leading to my shower/wet room leading on to my dressing room. It was the best thing I did, now when I get up I can shut the door to the annex and don't have to worry about intrusion on my kids/their friends/visiting relations
account and can carry on with my 'abolutions' in peace.

I have a conservatory which is great in bad weather when I can't get out, again with stone paving tiles.

Hope this helps and best of luck, having a suitable home has made a huge difference and life is pretty much ok, so you've got lots to look forward to.