Two story home

[cfloriani]

Has anyone made a two-story home work or is it necessary to have bedroom, shower, living space all on one level? Our bedroom and bathroom (with space for shower modifications) in on the second level. Modifying our lower level powder room into a bathroom with roll-in shower, etc. would be incredibly challenging with the space that we have and the cost that would go with it. How long can one continue to use a stair lift? Thanks for your input.

 

[SKlocinski]

I have the same questions. Hubby can still walk up the stairs and take a shower but that won't last forever. I also thought about having our 1/2 bath downstairs made into a full bath with a roll-in shower. There is a closet right next to it and I'm thinking maybe they could take the wall out between them and extend the plumbing.

 

[Atsugi]

I don't think a stairlift would be wise. Our PALS will eventually lose control of their trunk muscles, and won't be able to sit up right. Plus, if feet or hands are unable to move well and easily, there's no way for a person to regain their balance.

Maybe someone has actual experience.

 

[GregK]

I have a two-story home. I get to the upstairs master bedroom and bath using a Garaventa Genesis lift (elevator).

 

[Diane H]

A roll-ln shower is usually hard to fit into the main level of a two-story home. The good news is that a roll-in shower is definitely not a necessity. Before we moved downstairs I was able to use our upstairs shower with the help of a shower chair which allowed me to slide sideways over the threshold of the shower. It wasn't that difficult but I found that a shower was not worth the effort. Both my husband and I were tired from the effort of transferring in and out. I was cold and shivering, he was soaked and sweating. Gradually the intervals between showers lengthened and we found that a wash down while sitting on the toilet was far easier and so much faster. By the time I had to move downstairs I had no interest in having a tub or a shower. We redid the downstairs bathroom by switching it to be wheelchair (power chair!) accessible by widening the doorway to double door size. We made the sink a roll-under for easy shampooing and general wash ups. When I could no longer stand for transfers, it was any easy switch to a bottom half wash in bed. (One soapy wash cloth, one wet, and a hand towel.) Five minutes max. Slacks and shoes on, up in the sling to my chair, and into the bathroom for the upper body wash, shampoo, etc. I am clean and neither of us is worn out. A shower is an expectation in our middle class society, but truly an unnecessary luxury whether we are disabled or not. Check out ALS From Both Sides to see the way a half bath can work!

 

[gooseberry]

While I am sure not showering and a bed bath idea works, Steve wanted a shower. Yes it was hard on me but he felt so much better getting a shower. It also gave me more time to check his skin for sores, etc.

I think in this case you must decide with your pals how important a true shower is to them and what simple mods could be done to accomodate. Is a small portable type shower an option in your small space? Could you turn your powder room into a wet room? The drainage is the question. Your pals may be able to walk stairs for awhile or the legs may just go. You just cant tell. I would kindly suggest you make a plan a and a plan b just in case.

 

[affected]

A shower was the one thing every day Chris actually looked forward to.

The pounding of hot water against his skin was important to him.

I like the idea of an inside lift if you wanted to do a remodel to use both floors of the house.

 

[Kathy K]

I am unable to stand, even for transfers, and still use a stairlift. I have young adult sons still living at home. They carry me into stairlift downstairs, then into transport wheelchair upstairs and vice versa. My core muscles are weak and arms are going too, but stairlift has sturdy armrests and so far we've been fine. As things progress, it may not work at some point.
I'm not sorry we got the lift. It's made my life so much easier not to mention safer for the past year and a half. It allowed us to keep things the way we were used to them, i.e. all bedrooms upstairs . However, it was very expensive and not covered by insurance. If I knew then what I know now, I might have done things differently.
Good luck with your decision.

 

[affected]

When I said lift, I meant like Greg an elevator that you can just ride your PWC into

 

[Nikki J]

My sister used a stairlift until the very end in spite of weak core. Certainly being extremely petite with a strong husband helped. I suspect the reverse situation might be more difficult for transfers and also a longer torso slumped over might be more problematic

 

[affected]

We have stair lifts here that you can drive a PWC onto.
I'd imagine they need a bigger stairwell and stronger walls than most homes have though.

 

[Nuts]

As you can see, people deal with progression in many different ways. My husband is 220 pounds and I will no longer put him on a stairlift by myself. If your PALS is small and CALS is strong, things are much easier. Some people, like my husband, crave that shower and others don't find it worth the energy (and I'm sure things will change for us as my darling gets even weaker). I would say that you need a plan for being downstairs, and you need to be prepared to make that move at any time. If the shower is the big problem, there are also portable showers that can be set up in the house or even in the garage.

Many people make modifications to the house and later decide that they were not worth the time and money. If you don't, as you can read here, there are many ways to get around it and still be downstairs. You must decide on your priorities. We LOVE the wet room shower, but we also had the resources to do it. My husband is 2+ years in and on a slow progression, so it was well worth it to us. What I would really NOT want to have happen is to have a PALS trapped upstairs. If he/she wants or needs to get out of the house, will there be strong enough people to deal with the chair lift once those core muscles are gone?

Becky

 

[Ells]

I also look forward to my daily shower; it makes me feel normal and the hot water running on my muscles is very therapeutic. An elevator/lift is a good, if pricey, solution if you have space.

I still use a stair lift as my core strength is good enough, although somebody has to put my feet on the footrest and use remote control.

 

[Matadog]

We have a lot in common with many of you. Wife wanted a stair lift. Even though she is small and I am big, I was concerned about safety with other family members helping. We ended up converting a family room into a bedroom and expaneded the bathroom into a full by utilizing the closet space as mentioned above. I tore up the subfloor and dropped the shower base 3/4" so it drains fine as a roll in. We do need a shower curtain but it works well. We did all of the work except for the tile and waterproofing which was done by real pros that I am friends with.

 

[wshealey]

We're getting ready to remodel the main level since the stairs are getting tougher to navigate. We think our best option is to widen the half bath enough for a chair, move our laundry room to the basement and put in a roll-in shower where the washer and dryer were. Fortunately we had the basement plumbed for a future bathroom when we built the house and can just use that for the new laundry room. The new shower will be accessible from our office which we will convert to a bedroom with very little modification. This leaves the rest of the main floor untouched and still functioning as it always has which was important to us. A little normalcy goes a long way.