Living With a Disability – Choosing the Right Flooring

Feb 7, 2012 by admin

One often overlooked part of converting a home to suit the needs of a person with a disability is flooring.  In the rush to make the bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen accessible, the issue of navigating the house in general gets forgotten.  Fortunately, choosing the right flooring is not usually a big challenge.  Here are some useful rules of thumb that should help you.

Each Disability Has Unique Needs

There’s no such thing as “disabled person’s flooring.”  Each disabled person will have their own needs – some of those needs are best served via securely laid carpeting, while others may prefer vinyl floors or something else entirely.  Before you choose new flooring, consider the needs of the person with the disability.

• Blind: A blind person would be best served by laminate or timber flooring that is flat, smooth, and consistent.  This will remove the danger of them tripping on inconsistency in the floor, and will allow them to hear people moving around in the house.
• Dementia: Dementia sufferers tend to prefer carpeting that is pattern free and consistent.
• Deaf/Hard of Hearing: Those with a hearing dog benefit from easy-to-clean laminate or vinyl floors.
• Mobility issues: People who are not wheelchair bound, but rely on walkers or crutches, need non-slip, easy to see, consistent flooring.  That could be a well laid carpet, laminate, or vinyl.  The key is that it is all at a consistent level, and it is non-slip.
• Wheelchair users: Wheelchair users have similar issues to those on crutches.  They need well-laid, durable, seamless floors.  Carpets are sometimes problematic, so laminate, timber, or vinyl floors are a good choice.

For most people, the biggest issue is durability.  Deep pile carpets would quickly show signs of wear in the home of someone who relies on crutches or a wheelchair to get around, and the owner of a hearing dog would probably quickly tire of cleaning up dog hairs on such a carpet.

Fortunately, there are lots of attractive, easy to care for, and durable floor surfaces available these days, so there’s no need for the house to look like a hospital!  You can have floors that are nice to look at, but are practical enough to support any special needs that must be accommodated.

Before you invest in new carpets or flooring for a disabled person, make sure that it will be fitted properly.  It’s inconvenient to have tiles coming up, or a carpet corner sticking up, in a home full of able-bodied people, but in a home occupied by someone with a disability it could lead to a serious accident.  Professional, high quality fitting services are essential in this case.

Choosing the right floor covering is only a part of the equation, but it’s a good place to start.  Once you have the carpeting sorted out, you can start looking at other areas, such as stair lifts, lower door handles, easy-to-turn taps, and other accessibility modifications for your home.

Article written by James Harper on behalf of Stewart Groom Flooring, expert suppliers and fitters of vinyl floors and carpeting.