21 replies to this topic

[Alex_J]

Mid to end July I am moving house, to a house that better suits my needs. Its a nice place but pretty run down. Before moving in I am having the place re-decorated.

My OT has been to view the house with me and advised me on a few things but at the end of the day I am paying for it all so the final decision is all mine.

I would appreciate any advise on the following,,,
I cannot decide between laminate, lino or carpet. My OT wants me to have carpet because as my injury is L1 incomplete I can sort of walk. Only really a few feet at a time using objects in the home to balance myself and I (at present) prefer to bounce off the walls and units to get from place to place than use a chair. But I am getting a new chair in a few weeks and may feel happier using it so should I opt for laminate / lino so I can wheel about easier? anyone have any ideas?

Also I need to put a wider, flatter patch in the garden. If in the garden I will be in the chair for safety. Now I trying to decide if I should go for slabs or a concrete path. Slabs will look nicer but if weeds start to grow below them and start pushing them up they could become quite uneven. I would put weed matting under them and so on but over time weeds could still grow, the ground could move and so on. Would I be better to just go for concrete to avoid the possibility of this?

The front and back door both currently open inwards, do any of you find this an issue? Is it easier to have doors that open outwards giving you more room in the property to turn round and shut the door once in? I don't have a back door in this property and the front door goes right in to the main living room so its not an issue but my new property has a hall way from front to back with a door either end.

Sorry for all the questions, if anyone can offer advise I would appreciate it.

[Tim13]

Alex_J, on Jun 22 2008, 07:36 AM, said:

Mid to end July I am moving house, to a house that better suits my needs. Its a nice place but pretty run down. Before moving in I am having the place re-decorated.

Congratulations!

Quote

My OT has been to view the house with me and advised me on a few things but at the end of the day I am paying for it all so the final decision is all mine.

I would appreciate any advise on the following,,,
I cannot decide between laminate, lino or carpet. My OT wants me to have carpet because as my injury is L1 incomplete I can sort of walk. Only really a few feet at a time using objects in the home to balance myself and I (at present) prefer to bounce off the walls and units to get from place to place than use a chair. But I am getting a new chair in a few weeks and may feel happier using it so should I opt for laminate / lino so I can wheel about easier? anyone have any ideas?

I replaced my carpet with tile but linoleum is nice too. Carpet can be high maintenance, especially if you use a wheelchair because even the best brands will develop "wagon tracks" over time.

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Also I need to put a wider, flatter patch in the garden. If in the garden I will be in the chair for safety. Now I trying to decide if I should go for slabs or a concrete path. Slabs will look nicer but if weeds start to grow below them and start pushing them up they could become quite uneven. I would put weed matting under them and so on but over time weeds could still grow, the ground could move and so on. Would I be better to just go for concrete to avoid the possibility of this?

Yes, go for the concrete.

Quote

The front and back door both currently open inwards, do any of you find this an issue? Is it easier to have doors that open outwards giving you more room in the property to turn round and shut the door once in? I don't have a back door in this property and the front door goes right in to the main living room so its not an issue but my new property has a hall way from front to back with a door either end.

I purchased spring hinges so the doors just close behind me by themselves. They are available at any hardware store for around ten dollars and are completely adjustable as far as closing strength.

Quote

Sorry for all the questions, if anyone can offer advise I would appreciate it.

While you're remodeling the bathroom, check out American Standards "Right Height" elongated toilet line or just a regular commercial type elongated toilet. No plumbing mods required for either-I've even had them installed in a trailer (mobile home)
Also, if your toilets location doesn't lend itself to grab bars, a Versa-frame by Guardian works very well.

Edited by Tim13, 22 June 2008 - 11:49 AM.

[Alex_J]

Thanks for the reply and excellent information, never considered tiles for the floor, will look in to those too.

So much to consider before moving in, its going to be hard work, thankfully I am staying well out of the way and letting the builders get on with it.

[Trinity]

Tiled floors could be quite cold in the winter and if you are a little mobile would they be slippery underfoot? I have wood floors throughout my house, luckily they were there when we bought it otherwise it would have been very expensive. We have matting under most of our garden, we have no grass, most of it is paved and we have no problems with weeds growing through.

When you get your chair, don't use it in the house unless you really need to, it may be easier but you will lose function pretty quickly.

Trinity X

[Tim13]

Alex_J, on Jun 22 2008, 05:41 PM, said:

Thanks for the reply and excellent information, never considered tiles for the floor, will look in to those too.

So much to consider before moving in, its going to be hard work, thankfully I am staying well out of the way and letting the builders get on with it.

Don't stay too far out of the way, watch the builders like a hawk-i've started making them leave their cel-phones in their truck because some of them will spend half the day talking to other customers if they can get away with it.
My house had beautiful laminate wood floors before i bought it but the owners kids tracked so much water in from the pool it warped them everywhere. Was going to go linoleum like my last place because my Armstrong Solarian was so fantastic but everybody else had tile and after researching-it seemed like a better option. I'm very satisfied with it-shows no wear at all and maybe because of where i live-nobodys ever complained about it being cold. Have no idea where you are (you might fill out the location part of profile) so your results may be different.
Check out some of the tile at the site below:

http://flooring.buil...elain-Tile.aspx

[Tired of hurting]

Re: Garden, I enjoy gardening also. Mine is planted in half wine barrells. Don't forget to drill the holes. They don't drain and all plants float. I have 10 and can grow enough food for 3 families They are on the ground I have lawn. A little bumppy but I get by, keep planting and eating good food...Good day

[cate]

I would go for lino or one of the plastic type. that look like wood or lamminate. Firstly in you have carpet it will soon look very worn, and if you spill anything not so easy to clean. Laminated can be a bit slippery, but the plastic type we have here in the UK is very good, no9t high gloss, one of the names is Arneco the others I do not remember, will look it up, my daughter has this and finds it much better, I have the laminated in my house, and she is very unsteady on it, even though she used crutches. Ceramic tiles are a bit cold, especial here in the UK
Best of luck with the work, and keep an eye on the builders.
Cate

[ems]

WOOD WOOD WOOOD!!!!!!!!!! WOOD ALLOVER THE HOUSE!!!!

no really, get the best wood you can afford, or pull up the carpet, pray that there are lovely floor boards underneath , sand them down and stain if you wish!!! Soooo much more hygenic than carpet, and so much easier to roll on!!!!

[Kwag_Myers]

The only advantages to carpet over hard surface floors (at least, that I'm aware of) are sound absorption and static electricity. Yeah, I know. You'd think carpet would be more apt to cause static, but not so. I work in an office building that is mostly carpet. However, the only time I get static electricity is when I'm on a hard surface floor.

[eyelookok2blindgurls]

wooden floors or tiles pushing on carpet is tooo much like hard work

[wheeliebear75]

There are pros and cons to both. Carpet is a bit harder to push around on but then again it's a softer landing than linoleum or other hard surface floors. We've got hard wood floors.......I roll nice and smooth but when I fell out I didn't land so smooth; got pretty bruised up. Carpet can be manageable in a chair just keep the fiber length short and DON'T put in thick padding......that'll make it harder to roll than the length of the carpet. Our doors open in.......I have ropes tied to the door knobs so I can pull it shut. Best of luck on home improvements.

[russ1]

Alex_J, on Jun 22 2008, 08:36 AM, said:

Also I need to put a wider, flatter patch in the garden. If in the garden I will be in the chair for safety. Now I trying to decide if I should go for slabs or a concrete path. Slabs will look nicer but if weeds start to grow below them and start pushing them up they could become quite uneven. I would put weed matting under them and so on but over time weeds could still grow, the ground could move and so on. Would I be better to just go for concrete to avoid the possibility of this?

Patten imprinted concrete is your answer - so much better looking than concrete and if done properly even better looking than slabs.

And another vote here for porcelain tiles - especially in conjunction with underfloor heating although wood is very nice and warmer if heating is done with radiators.

[HiltonP]

We had carpets, but pulled them all up, and replaced with a combination of laminate (bedrooms/study) and tiles (bathrooms/living areas). Very happy indeed. Far easier to maintain/clean, and the laminate is surprisingly resilient to wear 'n tear from the powerchair.

[wheeels]

Unless you are going to be siting or crawling around on the floor, just say no to carpet.

[pittrehab]

I love the pergo laminate floors! c4/5 powerchair and service dog .....easy clean up

Edited by pittrehab, 23 June 2008 - 10:31 PM.

[gsp23]

Another vote for the Pergo like hardwood floors. I have them on the main floor of my house (different brand name that I cant think of offhand but same concept) and they are litterally indistructable. We had to trim and edge off near the steps and boyfriend had to bring in a power saw. Even with the power saw the floor boards were sparking like mad and took a long time to get through. I have had mine for 7yrs (2 of those in a chair) and there isnt so much as a smudge on them. Plus great for dogs cause cleanup is easy and also great for when you first come in if you have dirty tires cause again cleanup is a snap! I walk some and have fallen plenty on those floors as well and compared to the carpeting with thin padding that I have in my room, really not much difference.

[Alex_J]

Blimey, thanks for all the replys, did not expect so many its really kind of you all to share you experience.

I went to view the property again the other day and we had a good nose as what the floors are like.

Bedroom 1 has good quality wood floors just painted in a silly gloss paint so they can be stripped back and stained.

Landing is a total mess and so are the stairs so going to carpet them. (Having stir lift fitted so no bit issue for me and will do my normal balancing act when upstiars - only go up to go to bed and I do have some mobility with sticks and bouncing off walls and other objects). Also going to carpet bedroom 2 as it has poor floors and this will be the room I sleep in so having carpet for the odd falls will be useful.

Living / Dining room again has wood floors under the horrible and dirty lino tiles so they can come up and it can be stripped back and stained.

Kitchen already has tiles so all good there.

Upstairs bathroom is also tiles and the downstairs bathroom (the one I will use most) has good tiles down and also (which we did not notice before) grab rails and high seat on the loo.

The other things that I did not notice before is both bathrooms have sliding doors on them, not normal swing doors so this will make accessing them a lot easier.

Still waiting on a date to get the keys but fingers crossed we should have them by mid July.

Thanks again for all the replies, its so nice to be able to communicate with people who understand and can offer such useful experience.

[gsp23]

In case you havent (but I'm sure you have), double check the door widths for the bathrooms. I used to have sliding doors in my bathroom downstairs and the edge of the door actually stuck out too far so we switched to a regular door. Bathrooms being narrow doorways normally and add in the width of the sliding door often makes it inaccessible. Keep in mind that you can always get those special door hinges for regular doors to make them open flush giving you the width in the doorway, no such thing for sliding doors.

[Trinity]

Another small word of advice, glass doesn't bounce too well off tiled floors, my housemates are threatening me with plastic beakers as i have dropped so many glasses on our lovely tiled kitchen floor (doesn't bother me that much but then again I'm not the one who ends up with shards of glass embedded in my feet. The rest of the house is hardwood floor, glass stands a good chance of survival if droppped. I guess it depends how clumsy you are!

Trinity X

[robbo100bike]

I cant walk on bare floors like laminate or tiles without shoes becasue the hrad or cold tends too kick off spasms. Might be worth testing before you committ.

Anyway laminate is SO last year!!!

[emerson]

we just moved into a house together and had to get it accessible ready. (ramps, bathroom redo and a lift)

There a special hinges for doors called Z hinges. They will give you an additional 2 inches. best thing since sliced bread

I only know about what works and doesn't for wheelchairs...

We still have a lot of carpet and there are wheelchair tracks everywhere-- can't wait till we can afford to pull most of it up.

If you do carpet, do something very low. For wheelchair cruising tile isn't the best because it makes a thumping noise (sounds like you got a flat tire). Hardwood or laminate or vinyl are smooth, quite, and great speed!

good luck!! emerson

[Rotarymotion]

We have just built a new house for ourselves so had a blank sheet. We went for Karndeen flooring in hall and kitchen which was very expensive and disappointing, and to be honest we don't think it was worth it. We would have had fewer problems with laminate at a fraction of the price. Tiles obviously in the wetroom, vinyl in upstairs bathroom (cheap and very easy to roll on). The rest of the house is in carpet, but we bought the thin industrial carpet that you find on the floor of carpet showrooms. This is inexpensive, very hard-wearing, doesn't wear much so you don't get wheelchair tracks through all the doorways, and (most important) has a low rolling resistance. It lasted over ten years in the old house without problems and was still ok when we had the house knocked down.
As for the doorways, they can never be too wide.
Good luck in your new home.