iDesignBuildFlorida

Guide

Age-in-place and smart home safety

A beautiful house, drawn so it stays comfortable, accessible, and easier to live in as needs change. This is the guide. The work is still the renovation.

The order

  1. Beautiful home. The finish has to belong to the house.
  2. Aging-in-place design. The curb, the opening, and the path are construction.
  3. Smart home safety. Lighting, locks, leak detection, and shades, while that work is open.

This is not senior remodeling. It is a renovation you do once so the house is ready for the next 10, 20, or 30 years.

The service page

Three jobs, not a brochure

Lake Butler, Windermere

The problem was a master bath over a sinkhole, and a room that did not agree with the lake. The design kept the angles and opened a curbless wet room. Smart-home work, including shades at the glass, went in while the house was open. The result is a whole-house renovation, not a grab bar.

See Lake Butler

Reunion grand bath

The problem was a garden tub and a shower you had to step into. The design removed the threshold and rebuilt a wheelchair roll-in. No electronics are claimed on this bath. The result is a primary suite you can enter without a step.

See the Reunion bath

Orlando wet room

The problem was a tub, a curb, and a vanity that were never waterproofed as one room. The remodel is one wet zone and a linear drain. It is not a smart-home installation, and it is not the Orlando kitchen.

Aging-in-place remodeling in Orlando

What to decide while the house is open

  • Curbless versus a walk-in with a curb. A curb is a step. If the plan is to stay, take it out while the floor is open. A walk-in that still has a curb is a nicer shower, not an aging-in-place bath.
  • A two-story house. The useful move is a bedroom and a bath on the first floor, or a second floor that is already being added — the Reunion addition is that kind of volume, not a claim that every stair disappeared.
  • A parent staying. Door widths, the path, and the bath are the work. Do it in the renovation you are already doing, not as a second project after they arrive.
  • Twenty years in the same house. Lighting on the night path, blocking before the tile, a lock you can use, and a floor that does not hide a leak.
  • Winter Park and Windermere. Older street faces and lake houses. The Winter Park bath we built is a primary bath, not a roll-in. The Windermere proof is Lake Butler.

Is the house ready for the next 20 years?

Check what is already a problem. This does not score you, and it does not email a PDF. If more than a few are true, book the visit and we will walk them in the house.

Nothing checked yet.

Request a site visit

The checklist

Print this page and bring it. Bathroom: curb, slope, drain, blocking, handheld, a floor you can stand on, light. Smart home: night path, lock, doorbell, leak sensor, smoke and CO, shades only where the sun is the problem. Ask any contractor who pulls the permit, who owns the drawing, and which of these they will not claim if they did not install them.

FAQ

The questions, answered.

Is aging in place only for older homeowners?
No. It is for anyone who wants the house to keep working as needs change — planning ahead, recovery, or a parent staying — without an institutional look.
Where is the proof?
Lake Butler in Windermere is a curbless wet room. The Reunion grand bathroom is a roll-in conversion from a garden tub. Those are renovations, not a product brochure.
When does the smart-home work go in?
While the walls and the wet room are already open. Wiring, device locations, and leak detection are decided with the tile and the doors, not retrofitted the year after.
What is the difference between a curbless shower and a roll-in?
Curbless means there is no curb to step over. Roll-in means the opening and the floor are also clear enough for a wheelchair. Lake Butler is a curbless wet room. The Reunion grand bath is a roll-in conversion from a garden tub and a step-in shower.
How much does aging-in-place remodeling cost?
There is no package price. A curbless bath is not the same number as a whole house, and a floor that has to be rebuilt is not the same as a fixture swap. We set the number at the free on-site visit, after we see the existing floor, the curb, and whether the job is one room or the house. We do not publish a starting price.
Can I make my home safer without making it look institutional?
Yes. That is the point of doing it inside the renovation. Lake Butler is a curbless wet room that still reads as the house on the lake. The Reunion grand bath was a garden tub and a step-in shower; it is now a roll-in that still looks like a primary suite. The safety is the floor, the opening, and the light — not a hospital rail on the wall.
What smart-home technology is actually useful for aging in place?
Night lighting on the path to the bath. A lock and a video doorbell at the door you use. Leak detection at the water heater and the bath, before the floor is closed. Smoke and carbon monoxide on the same electrical plan. Shades where the afternoon sun is the problem. Not a theater system. We only name a device on a job where it was specified. Lake Butler has the shades. The Orlando wet room and the Reunion roll-in are the construction, not a hub.
Should I install grab bars during a bathroom remodel even if I don't need them yet?
Put the blocking in before the tile, even if you do not mount the bar. The bar can wait. Opening finished stone later to add the backing is the expensive version. Lake Butler and the Reunion roll-in were drawn that way: the structure of the shower first, the hardware only if it belongs to the room.
Can an existing home be converted for wheelchair accessibility?
When the floor and the opening allow it. The Reunion grand bath is the one we can show: a garden tub and a shower you had to step into, rebuilt as a wheelchair roll-in. A zero-step entry at the front door is a different question, and some houses cannot take it without structure. We say which one it is at the visit. We will not promise a ramp the slab will not hold.
TextKaren KarsBook a Site Visit