The mistake I see most often: clients who wait until they're 70 and recovering from a fall to start thinking about an accessible home. By then, the renovation is happening under stress, on a tight timeline, while someone is dealing with limited mobility.
The right time to do an aging-in-place renovation is when you're already renovating for other reasons. Add 5-15% to the budget, build it in once, and you never have to do it again.
I've done dozens of these in Ottawa, mostly clients in their 40s and 50s who are doing a kitchen, bathroom, or whole-home reno and want it to last 30 years. Here's what to spec.
The mindset shift
Aging-in-place isn't a hospital aesthetic. The grab bars don't have to look like grab bars. The shower bench doesn't have to look like a transfer station. Done well, an accessible house is just a well-designed house. Many of these features make life easier at every age.
The principle: design for the worst case (a wheelchair, a walker, a recovery from hip surgery) and the everyday case (carrying laundry, kids on hips, holding a coffee) gets easier too.
The big six features
1. Curbless showers
The single highest-impact feature. A curbless shower is a roll-in shower; the floor is flush with the bathroom floor, with a linear drain at one end and a 2% slope toward it.
What it requires:
- Lowered subfloor in the shower zone (1.5" recess) so the finished floor is level with the bathroom outside the shower
- Linear drain (Schluter Kerdi-Line or similar)
- Minimum 60" x 36" footprint, 60" x 60" preferred for true wheelchair access
- Fold-down or fixed bench (16-18" deep, 17-19" off the floor)
- Hand-held shower head on a sliding bar plus a fixed wall head
- Linear-drain grate that's heel-proof (slots no wider than 1/4")
Cost premium over a standard curbed shower: about a 10-15% premium on the bathroom, driven by the lowered subfloor, linear drain, and waterproofing.
2. Blocking in walls for grab bars
Grab bars need to be screwed into solid blocking, not drywall anchors. The blocking has to go in during framing, before the drywall.
Where I add blocking on every aging-in-place project:
- Around the toilet (both sides, 33-36" off the floor)
- Inside the shower (vertical at the entry, horizontal at 33-36" along the back wall)
- Outside the shower (one vertical bar at the door swing for support)
- Beside the tub (if you're keeping one)
- Along stair walls
- At the front entry (one side, for support stepping up)
I use 3/4" plywood blocking, 24" wide, screwed to the studs at the right heights. The material and labour cost per bathroom is minimal. Adds nothing visible. The grab bars themselves can go in now (if you want them), or 20 years from now (when you need them).
"The blocking is invisible. The grab bars themselves can be added or removed in an afternoon. Putting blocking in is the cheapest insurance you'll ever buy."
3. 36-inch doorways
Standard interior doors in Ottawa homes are 32" or 30". A 32" door has a clear opening of about 30.5" once you account for the hinge side. A walker is 27" wide. A wheelchair is 24-26" wide. The standard door is technically passable but tight.
A 36" door has a 34" clear opening. Easy walker access, comfortable wheelchair access, and the door swing doesn't bash a wall when you're carrying laundry.
What I spec:
- 36" doors at the primary bedroom, primary bathroom, main entry, and any room someone might recover in
- 32" minimum on secondary bedrooms and powder rooms
- Pocket doors where space is tight (a pocket door eats wall space, not floor space, and a wide pocket door is easier than a wide swing door)
- Lever handles, not knobs (next item)
Cost premium: little to none per door. Sometimes the rough opening is already 36" and the door was downsized; sometimes you need a 4" wider opening, which is a 30-minute framing change.
4. Lever handles everywhere
Doorknobs require grip strength. Lever handles don't. Anyone with arthritis, a cast, or a cup in one hand will appreciate lever handles, and they look great in modern homes.
The same logic for fixtures:
- Faucets: single-lever or motion-activated. Skip cross-handle hot/cold (which look great but are hard to use).
- Cabinet pulls: bar pulls, not knobs. 4" minimum length.
- Drawer pulls: same.
- Light switches: rocker style (Decora), not toggle.
Cost premium: zero, if you spec at the start.
5. Zero-threshold transitions
Every doorway threshold is a trip hazard. The old 1/2"-tall threshold strip between rooms is a fall waiting to happen.
What to do:
- Match flooring heights between rooms so transitions are flat
- Use Schluter Reno-T or Reno-U profiles for material changes (tile to wood, wood to carpet)
- Eliminate transition strips wherever you can; pick one floor that runs through the whole main floor
- Front and back exterior doors: zero-threshold with rubber sweep seals (instead of a 1.5" threshold + storm door)
This is mostly free during construction. Retrofitting later requires lifting flooring, which gets expensive.
6. Single-floor living capability
The biggest aging-in-place question: can you live entirely on the main floor if you have to?
The check:
- Is there a primary-bedroom-equivalent on the main floor (or could there be)?
- Is there a full bathroom (shower or tub, not just powder) on the main floor?
- Is the laundry on the main floor (or accessible without stairs)?
- Is the kitchen-to-bedroom-to-bathroom path under 60 feet without stairs?
If the answer to any of these is no in your existing house, an aging-in-place renovation might mean a small addition or rearranging the main floor. We do these as part of accessibility renovations in Ottawa regularly.
The kitchen layer
The kitchen has its own aging-in-place playbook:
- Pull-out shelves in lower cabinets. Reaching to the back of a deep cabinet is hard at 75. Pull-outs are an affordable per-shelf add-on.
- Drawers instead of doors for lower cabinets. Same logic.
- Wall-oven at counter height (so you don't lift hot pans out of a low oven).
- Induction cooktop instead of gas. Safer (cool surface), faster, and easier for someone with limited mobility.
- Single-lever or motion faucet.
- Counter at 32-34" instead of standard 36" if a wheelchair user is in the home (or plan a section of seated-height counter for prep).
- Under-cabinet lighting on every run. Older eyes need 3-4x more light to read recipes than younger eyes.
The lighting layer
Vision changes more than mobility for most people. Spec dimmable LED ceiling cans on every floor (2700 K, 800-1000 lumens each, on dimmer switches). Add motion-activated nightlights in hallways and bathrooms (Lutron Caseta nightlight switches do this automatically). Plug-in plug-strip-with-USB outlets at hip height in the bedroom for easier reach. None of these features cost much; all of them add years of independence.
The cost premium, broken down
For a typical Ottawa whole-home renovation, the aging-in-place upgrades break down by where the premium lands, in rough order of cost:
- Bathroom upgrades (curbless shower, blocking, 36" door, lever handles): the largest premium, driven by the curbless shower build.
- Kitchen upgrades (pull-outs, drawer banks, wall oven, induction, motion faucet): the next largest, driven by cabinetry and appliance choices.
- Lighting and electrical layer (dimmers, nightlights, smart switches): a moderate line item.
- Threshold elimination and flooring continuity: mostly free during construction, a small premium if it dictates flooring choices.
- Doorway widening (3-5 doors): a minor framing cost.
- Blocking throughout the house: the cheapest line, and the best insurance in the build.
Across the whole project, the premium works out to about 3-9% of project cost. The marketing literature says "5-15%" but real-world Ottawa projects come in closer to 5-10% if you spec smart. We itemize every one of these lines in a written proposal so the premium is transparent.
What this looks like at age 45 vs age 75
At 45, you don't see most of these features. The kitchen has nice deep drawers. The bathroom has a beautiful curbless walk-in shower with a bench (which is great after a long run). The doors are a little wider than the neighbour's, and you didn't notice. The handles are levers because they're modern, not because anyone needs them.
At 75, the same house works without modification. No grab bars to retrofit, no doorways to widen, no threshold strips to remove, no shower to demolish and rebuild. You can host the grandkids at 80 and your sister recovering from knee surgery at 82.
You did the work once, at 45, when you were already renovating. That's the point.
Dream Touch handles aging-in-place specifications as part of every accessibility renovation in Ottawa we do, plus full-home and bathroom projects where clients want to plan ahead. Free 48-hour walkthrough at 613-862-4555.
Frequently asked questions
When is the best time to do an aging-in-place renovation?
The best time is while already renovating for other reasons, such as a kitchen, bathroom or whole-home project, rather than after a fall at 70. Building accessibility into a planned renovation means doing it once, calmly, instead of under stress on a tight timeline while someone has limited mobility.
Features such as wall blocking, wider doors and lever handles cost little or nothing when specified at the start and are expensive to retrofit later.
What does a curbless shower need for wheelchair access?
A curbless shower needs the subfloor in the shower zone lowered 1.5 inches so the finished floor is level with the bathroom, a linear drain with a 2% slope toward it, and a footprint of at least 60 by 36 inches, with 60 by 60 preferred for true wheelchair access.
Add a fold-down or fixed bench 16 to 18 inches deep and 17 to 19 inches high, a hand-held shower on a sliding bar, and a heel-proof grate with slots no wider than 1/4 inch.
Where should blocking for grab bars go in a bathroom?
Grab bars must screw into solid blocking, not drywall anchors, so blocking goes in during framing. Place it on both sides of the toilet at 33 to 36 inches off the floor, inside the shower vertically at the entry and horizontally at 33 to 36 inches along the back wall, outside the shower at the door swing, beside any tub, along stair walls and at the front entry.
Use 3/4-inch plywood, 24 inches wide, screwed to the studs.
How wide should doorways be for aging in place?
Use 36-inch doors, which give a 34-inch clear opening, at the primary bedroom, primary bathroom, main entry and any room someone might recover in, with 32 inches minimum on secondary bedrooms and powder rooms. A standard 32-inch door clears only about 30.5 inches, while a walker is 27 inches wide and a wheelchair 24 to 26 inches.
Pocket doors help where space is tight. Widening often needs only a 4-inch larger rough opening.
What kitchen changes help with aging in place?
Pull-out shelves and drawers in lower cabinets remove the need to reach into deep cabinets. A wall oven at counter height avoids lifting hot pans from a low oven, and an induction cooktop keeps a cool surface. Use a single-lever or motion faucet and bar pulls at least 4 inches long.
Lower a counter section to 32 to 34 inches if a wheelchair user lives in the home, and add under-cabinet lighting, since older eyes need 3 to 4 times more light.
Official references
- Who can do electrical work at my property?, Electrical Safety Authority