Mike Holmes Shares His Best Tips For Keeping Aging Homeowners Safe

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

A lot of HGTV stars help people find or create their dream homes. Mike Holmes specializes in helping people stay in the homes they already love. Through shows like "Holmes on Homes," he uses his general contracting skills (and no-nonsense Canadian warmth) to help homeowners fix bad renovations and design flaws. Aging in place is a topic he's addressed more and more in recent years. More specifically: how can you stay safe and comfortable in your current home as you move into your 60s, 70s, 80s? How can you adapt your space so you're able to take care of your basic daily needs there, even if you face more physical challenges as you age? "Making choices now will give you greater control over your independence, quality of life, and dignity," Holmes wrote in an Instagram post.

Holmes has shared tons of practical suggestions for making your home more accessible as you age. They range from minor adjustments like swapping out hinges to major changes like rearranging your floor plan. Of course, not every idea will be feasible for all homeowners or all homes, but they can be a great jumping-off point as you look around you and think about aging in place. Ask yourself how your home will realistically work for you in the future if you struggle to carry laundry or groceries, experience vision or hearing loss, or use mobility aids like a wheelchair or walker. Collected from his YouTube channel and his Make it Right blog, these are some of Holmes' best pieces of advice for preparing your home so you can age safely and comfortably.

Fall prevention must be at the forefront of home design plans for aging folks. It's alarmingly common for older adults to fall and become injured. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in four Americans aged 65 or older has at least one fall each year, and about 1 million seniors are hospitalized every year for fall-related reasons. The CDC also says that falling once may make you more afraid of falling again, which can cause you to restrict your activities and affect your quality of life.

Naturally, preventing falls is something Holmes talks about a lot when designing spaces for older homeowners. "The floor must be seamless throughout the house. No tripping hazards," Holmes advised (via YouTube). Getting rid of throw rugs and leggy furniture is one simple way to make the home safer. You should also repair any uneven flooring, loose treads, threshold gaps, or other defects that could snag someone's foot or walker. He also points out that steep staircases (like many basement stairs in older homes) can be a fall hazard, but there isn't much homeowners can do about the pitch of their stairs. Minimizing your need to use the stairs is the best workaround. More on this next up!

Your current home may have essential rooms on multiple stories, but what would happen if you were unable to get upstairs? Problems with balance, an injury, or a disability could one day keep you from climbing your stairs safely or comfortably. Holmes urges planning ahead for that possibility as much as you're able to. He stresses the importance of having a livable footprint on one floor — specifically, the first floor. "It's the one floor that will be essential when you get older," he says (via YouTube), "You're going to need to be able to make a bedroom on that floor, a bathroom on that floor, a simple kitchen [that is accessible] whether you're in a wheelchair or not."

Many multi-story homes put living quarters on the upper floors, so creating an accessible bedroom and full bathroom on the ground floor could require construction. It's a big undertaking that takes time to complete and may be outside your budget and space constraints altogether. In that case, it could be useful to recognize the limitations in your current home so you can realistically plan for the future. If you do have the space and you're thinking ahead, a great contractor could help you rework your ground floor now so it's ready for you later.

Getting in and out of the home safely is something you must address if you plan to age in place. Look at the route leading from where you park your car all the way to your front door. Would you be able to navigate that path in a wheelchair or while using other assistive devices? If not, consider solutions now. Make sure that you can always move yourself into and out of your home, safely and independently.

Holmes already designed the outside of his home with aging in mind: "My front door — you come out of the car, [the pathway] comes up a very gradual run and right up to the front door," he shared on his YouTube channel. What should you do if your home's entrance has stairs leading up to the door? Installing a wheelchair-accessible deck ramp could be a possibility, if you have adequate space. Or, you may decide it's worthwhile to reconfigure the entire entrance to eliminate the stairs and replace them with a sloped path. Don't forget to look at ways to make your home's back or side entrances more accessible as well. Holmes issues an important safety reminder on his website: "In case of emergency, you need to be able to exit your home via any door necessary, so they all must be accessible."

Creating the ability to do laundry on the main floor of your home can be a safety measure as well as a nice convenience as you age. Consider making this change if your current laundry setup requires you to go down into your basement or up to the second floor. Even if you maintain the mobility to use the stairs as you get older, carrying laundry baskets up and down the stairs could make you more prone to a fall.

The logistics of moving your laundry room to the main floor can be tough, Holmes says, especially in older homes and small homes. Buying and installing an all-in-one washer dryer that does both functions could help. Because they're ductless, these machine can go almost anywhere, but Holmes isn't a strong fan of them because they tend to be inefficient. He has two suggestions that he prefers for moving laundry onto the ground floor of your home. The first option? Putting a stackable washer and dryer in a closet. However, wheelchair users might struggle to reach into these machines. Holmes suggests another solution he's used before in clients' homes: installing the washer and dryer in a kitchen or bathroom and disguising them with cabinetry. Losing some kitchen storage space to bring laundry onto the ground floor could be worth the sacrifice if it keeps you from needing to climb stairs with your arms full. 

Upper cabinets in the kitchen and other areas become harder and harder to access as you get older. And again, climbing up on something to reach the top shelves could lead to a fall or other injury. If you don't want to risk it, you essentially lose the use of that storage space. Holmes has a suggestion, and it's one relatively low-effort way to make your kitchen more accessible as you age. "Take the upper cupboards down," he says. "Put in the new ones that you can pull the shelves down. So [you're] not tempted to step on a two-step stepladder, trip, and fall." 

In fact, you don't necessarily have to take the whole cupboard down. Removing the shelves and installing pull-down cabinet organizers is much simpler. This way, you'll keep your storage space without sacrificing safety or having to replace your cabinets. There are a variety of pull-down shelving units available in different sizes and configurations, but many are not cheap. Expect to pay upwards of $500 for dual-tier upper cabinet shelves, plus installation costs if necessary. As an example, the Rev-a-Shelf two-shelf chrome pull-down plate rack from Lowe's currently retails at over $500. These units need to be sturdy and well-built in order to hold all your kitchen supplies while still moving smoothly in and out of your cabinets as needed.

As you've probably noticed, a lot of his advice about aging in place at home centers around the same idea: making sure you could still take care of basic self-care functions even if you were to lose some mobility. Creating safe and easy access to the showers is vital for maintaining independence and quality of life as you age. If you can't bathe yourself regularly, you're probably not going to feel very comfortable going out and socializing. 

Holmes recommends getting of your bathroom tub in favor of a stand-up shower. If aging in place, a curbless shower is likely the right choice for your bathroom. "Make sure that the shower has no curbing, that you can get in — in case you've got a walker or you've got a wheelchair — you can get into it," says Holmes in a YouTube video. Of course, slippery floors should be avoided too, so there are a few clever ways that curbless shower can be installed so water won't flow into the rest of the bathroom. He also says to make sure that the shower has easy-to-operate controls and is plenty of space to move so that you can accommodate a walker or bring in a shower chair if necessary. If you're already renovating your shower, consider installing a shower bench at the same time. Built-in benches often look more stylish and may be a useful feature if you ever have mobility issues or difficulty standing up for an extended time.

"Grab bars are the greatest thing," Holmes says (via YouTube). Having a few of them strategically placed in your bathroom and other living areas can help you stay mobile and safe at home. He stresses the importance of prior planning. "People don't think about where to put the grab bars. It may change from when you're 60 to when you're 80, that you may really need another grab bar," he continued. However, Holmes warns that they can be difficult to install in an existing space if it hasn't been designed with future grab-bars in mind.

One of the key things to consider when picking shower bars is that they must be attached to wall studs for maximum security. Some people try to install grab bars to drywall using wall anchors, but if someone trips and grabs that bar to keep from falling, the force could pull the bar out of the drywall. Mounting them to studs is best practice, which is why Holmes emphasizes planning ahead. If you're already going to do a bathroom remodel to make the space more accessible, install blocks of wood between the 2 by 4s in the wall, usually mounted somewhere between 24 and 48 inches off the floor. Take photos of the blocking before the drywall is put in so you remember exactly where they are. In the future, you can easily mount very sturdy grab bars to these blocks.

Widening your doorways might sound like a big undertaking, and it can be, but it might be necessary if you want to age in place and live in an older home with narrow doorways. People who rely on mobility aids to move around safely may struggle to fit through doorways with their devices. Holmes shares on Make It Right: "Doors need to be wider to accommodate wheelchairs and walkers. Doorways should be at least 32 inches wide, but 36 inches is better for maneuverability."

Not sure how wide your existing doorways are? Grab a measuring tape and walk through the first floor of your home. Measure all the doorways you need to be able to get through to take care of your basic daily functions. That typically includes kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom doorways, and any exterior doors. Remember, all exterior doors should be accessible, since you never know which door you might need to escape through in an emergency. Removing decorative molding could give you a few extra inches of space without having to hire a contractor to rip open the walls. The simple act of swapping out existing hinges for swing-clear or offset hinges is a clever trick you can use to create extra clearance in your doorways too. 

Smart locks have a lot of advantages for older folks and their loved ones. For one, "misplaced keys and lockouts can be a real safety issue for older homeowners," Holmes writes on Make It Right. Installing smart locks ensures you can get into your home even if a memory lapse causes you to forget or lose your keys. Smart locks can also help family members look out for older relatives. WiFi-enabled locks can allow authorized users to lock and unlock the doors remotely. If you do get locked out, you can open the door from your phone — or have a family member unlock it from their phone.

Holmes recommends Schlage locks, specifically the Encode Lever. Per his Make It Right blog, he says, "Its design makes it easier to grip and turn, especially for anyone with arthritis or reduced mobility. Plus, it fits standard doors with just one borehole." With that said, there are a lot of well-reviewed smart locks available these days, so make sure to choose the lock that's right for your door and security preferences. For older folks who live alone, a smart lock is especially essential in case of emergencies, and it's a relatively affordable and easy upgrade. "It's a simple way to stay connected, feel secure, and keep your home working for you as you age," Holmes concluded in the blog post.