Do you want to live in your home as long as you can? Are you helping your parents or grandparents design a remodel that will let them live in their own home as long as they can? This episode is for you. We talk about the tricks and tips that can save you big money in the long run and the little things you can do along the way to make your home a lot safer.

To get your questions answered by Eric G give us a call in the studio at 833-239-4144 24/7 and Eric G will get back to you and answer your question and you might end up in a future episode of Around the House.

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Mentioned in this episode:

Baldwin Hardware

Baldwin Hardware

A new kind of decking and siding from Millboard

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[00:00:32] Eric Goranson: Right? You want it to be beautiful, stylish, comfy, and none of those rooms like that really make it feel that way. So that's why we're going to talk about some of these things today. So one of the things that I like to do is if you're designing out a shower, when

[00:01:14] Eric Goranson: Well, I got some information for this is going to be something fun here. We're going to start out and we're going to do this every single week starting out here pretty quickly, but it's all going to depend on you. I've got a new phone number because you know, we've had people wishing that we had some more.

[00:01:50] Eric Goranson: And answer those questions and you might end up in the show, which is cool. So that number 4 1 4 4 doesn't matter when you're listening to the show. [00:02:00] You can call 24 seven. If I'm not in the studio, I will call you back and answer those questions personally. And you might end up. On a future episode of around the house.

[00:02:31] Eric Goranson: Or if you have parents that don't want to go into assisted living or go into something like that, we are going to talk about that today. And you know, this is an important subject because if you're remodeling, and this is a house that you're going to be into, there are some really cool, neat. Tricks and tips that I can give you and one of those, let's just start out at the front of the house.

[00:03:10] Eric Goranson: And I tell you what, you can do a lot around your house. Especially if you're remodeling as you go. If you're like, ah, I'm not going to be there for 20 years. What happens if you get hurt? What happens if you have to have a knee surgery or hip surgery or something, or even a shoulder surgery? These are all things that we can do to your house without making it look like a cheap ADA hotel room that just looks like somebody's hospital.

[00:04:03] Eric Goranson: Because if you end up getting. Put into a wheelchair or a walker and you have to put one of those large metal temporary commercial ramps in there that are just a Looks like you're out in front of a courthouse that they put a metal ramp on the side to get people up those big steps Nobody likes that design unless they have to have it So if there's a way to bring that up that can be key, you know over the years garages Have been a tough place to manage that way.

[00:04:52] Eric Goranson: And so, you always had a step or two going down into the garage, and that's why, and that's how it's, unfortunately, the easy way to check out a, [00:05:00] a, um, you know, a, a garage that has been converted, is you walk out of the kitchen, there's two steps down, and guess what? You go like, okay. This rec room is now somebody's former garage.

[00:05:39] Eric Goranson: Of course, the garage floor, no matter what's going to have to be sloped towards the door. But here's what happens, and this gets a little bit interesting, that you can cause some rot on the siding and stuff because you almost have to have the garage coming up because you want to have four to six inches there between the edge of the siding or the sill place and the ground.

[00:06:27] Eric Goranson: But if you're building, it's not a big deal. If you're modeling, it usually is. But really, if you've got there where you could roll out of the garage, You know, not use the steps in and go in through the front door. That's a better situation and that's a good one for access. Now, the same thing is, is I'd like to see a, a electronic front door lock that can be run with an app or something that you can be giving a code to, like, let's say that you are elderly or you're, you're doing something for your mom or dad or your [00:07:00] grandparents or whatever, depending on what age group you're in.

[00:07:29] Eric Goranson: So these are great things that you can do with electronic door locks and things like that. Or if you've got an app on your phone and that person is hurt, but they need help or assistance, they can come in and unlock it. So there's many things that you can do just on the outside of the house. And that goes to lighting that goes to, you know, slip proof areas.

[00:08:06] Eric Goranson: More people get hurt because, especially when they're elderly, trying to go out and navigate in the slip soft lawn. If you've got a walker or something like that, those are things that can be pretty dangerous. So, having that camera system. It's a nice thing. Well, when we come back here, we're going to talk about what to do in the bathroom.

[00:08:49] Eric Goranson: Maybe right now you're designing it for you and you're in your fifties and you're like, Hey, I'm going to be in this house for 20 years, the chance of getting hurt or needing to do something or change things around as high. [00:09:00] So I'm going to be able to give you here when we come back, the biggest flexibility That you can do things with.

[00:09:26] Eric Goranson: If you got a home improvement question, give me a call 833 239 4144 and we'll put you in the show in a future episode. E 3 3, 2 3 9 41 44 around the house will be right back

[00:10:09] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to the Around the House. Show this where we hope to get the most outta your home through information and education we've been talking about really trying to design that home so you can make it your forever home and things. Don't think about. When you're remodeling your home as you get older, whether or not you're somebody young, you're working on your parent's house or your grandparent's house, there are things we can do along the way that expandability and capability to make it more accessible for everyone.

[00:11:00] Eric Goranson: And that's okay. I'll call you back and we might put you on a future episode of the show. Even if you don't, I'll still answer your questions for you. So that number 8 3 3 2 3 9 41 44. Now, one of the most important rooms we've been talking about here. Is bathrooms and, you know, bathrooms are a tough one because they are one of the most dangerous rooms in the house.

[00:11:45] Eric Goranson: So that's why we're going to talk about some of these things today. So one of the things that I like to do is if you're designing out a shower. Go ahead and put in a roll in curbless shower. Curbless showers are hot. You can walk right into that. And, uh, the nice [00:12:00] thing is, is you can do that in almost any, any space nowadays, they've come up with a lot of different ways to do it where you can recess the floor down.

[00:12:29] Eric Goranson: So larger bathrooms are key. So if you can do that in a perfect world, I'd have a five foot space, which is a circle. It's five foot across. You can spin around if you were in a wheelchair and have assistance, but that's not always necessary. And quite frankly, not always practical. So these are things here that you got to be really careful with just to be able to get in there.

[00:13:06] Eric Goranson: Block it out. So you have places to put towel bars. That way you've got towel bars. You've got grab bars. You've got safety handles, all those things that you do. Sometimes they'll go in the shower. Sometimes they'll go out in the bathroom as you're getting into a tub shower. But if you block that out, and then what I do.

[00:13:52] Eric Goranson: And it really costs you almost nothing. You know, short pieces of scrap lumber. You might have the price of a few Two by sixes or two by [00:14:00] eights, but use big lumber I go in there block it out and it looks really good because you won't be able to see it But when the time comes you're not gonna have to dig into that wall and actually put those blocks in because anytime that you've got people like that where you've got You know the weight of their body You can't just go into drywall.

[00:14:36] Eric Goranson: Without having to somebody have somebody come help you that gives you that ability to take care of yourself. And, uh, there's nothing more embarrassing than having to have somebody come in and help you go to the bathroom. And if you can take that step by just putting an outlet back there, that gives you a chance to put up a day toilet seat on that existing toilet later.

[00:15:16] Eric Goranson: If you've got, you know, let's say you've had knee surgery, let's say you've hurt your leg or, or you're not using them very well. Those are great in this situation. So that's another one of those right there. Now, the other thing is, is if you've got a tight space and they're making it where you can actually roll in underneath.

[00:15:51] Eric Goranson: So those are two great ones right there that you can get done. And these are all really easy things you can do in the bathroom. Now, the other thing is too, is make sure [00:16:00] you've got a really nice non stick floor in there. You know, you want something that you're not going to slide, right? You want that, you know, the right surface coefficient there that you're not going to have a wet floor and slip.

[00:16:29] Eric Goranson: And anytime that you can do that. And get a place that you can get into after you're going to do a tub. Um, and you're, you know, you're older. Sometimes those walk in bathtubs are not a bad idea, especially if you're getting, you know, towards retirement age, something like that, and you're worried about it.

[00:17:02] Eric Goranson: You've got to let all this water that's very high because they're narrow drain down so you can get out of it because you have to be able to open the door. The power drain makes it so you're not sitting in there freezing outside of the water all wet. And that really helps speed that up. So make sure you get the power drain option.

[00:17:37] Eric Goranson: And then the other thing is, is just make sure that you've got, uh, light switches and stuff are accessible. Outlets are accessible. They're in the very far back. That's not great. And then the other one is that, um, make sure that you've got handles that you can operate. Now handles you can operate means that if you can turn it on with a closed fist, you're heading the right direction.

[00:18:11] Eric Goranson: With a closed fist. So that's a big one right there. We come back. We're going to dive into the kitchen and talk about that. If you've got any home improvement questions, give me a call at 833 239 4144. That number 833 239 4144 around the house. I'll be right back.[00:19:00]

[00:19:27] Eric Goranson: And, uh, these are really cool little tricks that I've learned over the years through my 30 years of design. These are projects that we've taken on and, uh, they have really been able to save people money. Because when you're doing a remodel, if you can do a few of these things, they're going to make it so much easier.

[00:19:59] Eric Goranson: [00:20:00] Hey, if you have any questions for me, hit me up on the phone. 833 239 4144 to call into the show. That's 833 239 4144. Would love to talk to you here in a future episode. Well, here's the thing we're talking kitchens now and kitchens can be really complex and a little bit, um, you know, a little bit more troublesome to design depending on what you want.

[00:20:54] Eric Goranson: But let's talk about some of the things that work and some of the things that don't work when you're designing a kitchen. Let's talk [00:21:00] appliances. I'm a fan if you're in a, um. If, you know, if you're in a wheelchair or if you have reduced abilities, like you're in a walker or barely getting around, I'm a fan of side by side refrigerators for this because you could get in, get into both sides.

[00:21:30] Eric Goranson: A French door door is okay, but the gallon door storage is usually up higher on the top or top shelf. And that's one of those things that that makes it harder. So you can with a side by side, I think, do better. And then you can get it open where you can get into it and get into that space a little bit easier.

[00:22:07] Eric Goranson: So you can sit there and be able to navigate that. So that's 1 of them. I am much more of a fan of an induction cooktop. Uh, so you've got something that's not getting very hot, a microwave down low in under a countertop and a base cabinet. I want to have a range hood like what Zephyr makes for instance, or some other brands where you can.

[00:22:50] Eric Goranson: And have access to it. Now, if you're just planning ahead, that's maybe not the case, but many times you can go in there and take that cabin out underneath it [00:23:00] and go in and do some stuff with it. So these are things that, uh, and we have made cabinets in the past too, that had, I guess the best way to explain it would be flipper door hardware that you would see on an old entertainment center, where you can open the doors up and slide them back in by doing that, that gives you full access underneath there.

[00:23:38] Eric Goranson: That's underneath the countertop height where you're down low with that. Um, that's a cool 1. they make a lot of different oven configurations depending on how you want it. You can get them that that swing side by side, like a microwave. You can get them to drop down. Really depending on the brand and the style of what you're looking at.

[00:24:22] Eric Goranson: And so I raised that up about another 6 inches. And so by doing that. What it did is it gave us that access where the when the door was down, it was not, you know, 6 inches off the ground, which is really tough to manage. So it brought it up. So it was almost a foot off the ground, which was a game changer for this and even better.

[00:25:18] Eric Goranson: So really, if you think about it, that's a really great way to go. Now those are all things that you're going to probably do. These aren't really great retrofit things, but they are great when you're designing a kitchen to think about those things moving forward. Because that's really important there to be able to do that.

[00:25:50] Eric Goranson: You know, lower so you have access and, you know, when in doubt, just go grab a, a, um, a dining room chair and sit in the kitchen and say, okay, how am I going to cook with this [00:26:00] kitchen? Because that's really what you're talking about doing. Now, if it's something that you're like, hey, I'm going to make this.

[00:26:23] Eric Goranson: So again, there's a lot of details to this, but a great certified kitchen designer can do that with you when you design out the kitchen. And there's a couple of things out there. If you look at the, uh. Yeah. You know, certified kitchen designer, which is old. I think they're the certified kitchen a bath designer.

[00:26:56] Eric Goranson: So these are all things that really. When you're working on a project [00:27:00] like this, um, it would not be a bad idea. I think everybody should sure take a look at that. You know, whether or not it's just your grandma coming to visit for two weeks and you want to be able to have access to make her more comfortable, those are really good, you know?

[00:27:30] Eric Goranson: It's really not, but what you want to do is be able to not have rugs in there, have your floor down, have your system there and make it so it's easily maintained and then you'll be much better off. So as you can tell, there's a lot of little details here within this space. Yes. To design it out. But these are all great tips.

[00:28:04] Eric Goranson: Now there's a lot of little things like that. When it comes to that, you can mount the, uh, garbage disposal. If you get one of the air buttons, you can mount that forward on the, on the countertop so they could get at it, you know, and, uh, again, making sure that you can control the faucet with a closed fist.

[00:28:38] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to[00:29:00]

[00:29:28] Eric Goranson: And when you're doing remodeling projects, sometimes you can do some things that'll really pay off later on in life here. You know, Oh, wow. I'm happy. I did that blocking in the bathroom 10 years ago. That's one of those things that really helps out. So those are the things that you can really do to make this worthwhile.

[00:30:03] Eric Goranson: Going three foot gives you access for everybody. And that's a really, really good thing. Whether you're going into the bathroom, into a hall closet, whatever, having those larger doors makes it easier to get furniture in when you're trying to move appliances around, having good egress in and out of a room.

[00:30:41] Eric Goranson: Um, Lutron makes a really nice one that I like as far as smart blinds. They've got, uh, part of their Casita system. It works really well. So I've been really impressed with their blind systems. They've got it dialed in. Now, the other thing is, is to really take into account flooring. I'm not a carpet person.

[00:31:17] Eric Goranson: Anytime that you do a transition between carpet and flooring, even with a no transition strip type of thing right there, where it's just a hard joint. Those are things that wheels get cut up on and they're also sharp edges. So I would much rather dial the design off 11 and bring it back. So you have.

[00:31:55] Eric Goranson: You know, if you put in a bright white, beautiful kitchen with a wheelchair, [00:32:00] just like with young kids, it's going to get beat up. And it's not going to look great after a few years and there's really not much you can do about that. So medium tone woods, those look really good because you've got the wood grain, which hides the scratches, dings and dents.

[00:32:31] Eric Goranson: So these are all super important within that planning. And then I really want to see you put in a good, um, you know, a good heating and cooling system in there that, uh, can make sure that you've got it comfortable. You know, if you've got somebody that has limited abilities and you've got the house completely out of control on temperature where it's in its 90s because it's 100 outside.

[00:33:17] Eric Goranson: That is so key right there while you're doing the remodel caution, nothing. And that way, when you go get your total washlet, you can plug it in right there and you're good to go. So take some time on these things. These are really important steps. That, um, and you don't have to do it to make it look commercial or institutional, you know, we're trying to make it so people can stay in their homes so much longer.

[00:33:57] Eric Goranson: And then you have options down the road. [00:34:00] So it's something that I see good builders doing down there. And if you're doing it on your own project, it's, it's, it's smart. It's really, really smart. So that really kind of covers this whole subject here of really trying to take things to consider when you're remodeling your home.

[00:34:43] Eric Goranson: And, you know, me, I love new tools and it makes. Just take it on a project so much better and I tell you what, um, that is the best multi tool I have ever used. And here's for a couple reasons why. Um, and you know, if you've seen me [00:35:00] on my show, I've got a lot of Milwaukee stuff. I've got a lot of Bosch stuff.

[00:35:27] Eric Goranson: They partnered up with them, which is great. And, uh, that is trick, but really, I tell you what, the one thing that I noticed is how smooth. I've cut that thing gave now using my Milwaukee and sorry, Milwaukee. It's a great powerful tool, but the way fine builds there is there is so much less vibration and they designed it with this floating head that if I'm using that, doing a bunch of molding cuts or cutting out cabinets for electrical outlets or whatever, man, I felt almost no [00:36:00] vibration through that.

[00:36:24] Eric Goranson: And the other thing that I thought was really in, in, in. Amazing. And I haven't played with their stuff that much. It's something I haven't really got to play with. I've played around with probably a more fest tool than anything on the other, you know, kind of European brands. But I tell you what, they have a blade for every situation, which I like.

[00:36:57] Eric Goranson: Boy, those guys have probably a hundred different [00:37:00] blades or probably closer to 200 different blades that work really well for the saw. And, uh, you can cut through stuff. I went through and, uh, was doing it. You'll see it on an upcoming video, but, uh, I removed grout just like it was a dream. And I tell you what, there is nothing faster than taking grout out than that tool right there.

[00:37:37] Eric Goranson: They were the first cordless drill manufacturer, you know, a century or two ago here, those guys were all over it. And of course they were the inventor of the multi tool and they have just taken that. Again, with their newer battery powered stuff to a new level. So, uh, the other thing too is if you're a steel worker, they have gotten into, uh, not only into wood, but they've gotten into steel and, [00:38:00] uh, I was playing with, uh, this magnet vice that they have today that, uh, wow, that thing was impressive and you could control how much adjustability you have with the magnet.

[00:38:28] Eric Goranson: So I'm going to bring them on the show here in a future episode and talk power tools because they have so many great things going on, but I have to give them a great thank you for coming on the TV show and that'll be a great segment coming up. Well guys, uh, we're going to do, uh, another episode here coming up for our number two, but here's the thing.

[00:39:09] Eric Goranson: So that's really cool. And that's one of those things that I think is really trick. As far as being able to do stuff. So we've got another great interview coming up here next stick around. Thanks for tuning in to round the house. Our one hour. Number two is right around the corner. Don't go anywhere.