I need to see an actual to scale floor plan of the spaces you are thinking might be wheel cahir accessible IMO 36” doorways are much better to handle the newer wheelchairs. Toilet rooms for wheel chairs can only happen in a huge bathroom and IMO never in a home. A large bathroom with no interior walls and a rollin shower and a vanity that allows a wheelchair to roll under it are all needed. I think to renovate a home you are living in to make it ADA compliant for some imaginary buyer is really not good ROI. I like 32” wide doorways no matter what but even those are not a big issue for most buyers. I like the grab bars but they need good underpinnings to work and are not really attractive .

My FIL ended up in a wheelchair, and my MIL was happy to find a home already kitted out to suit. That said, there may never be a buyer like that in your area.

As Patricia said, unless a house is huge, most ADA accommodations are unattractive. However, if one bathroom was accessible, that would be sufficient. Is the entry to your home level? Otherwise, how would someone get in?

Good question, I'm thinking of making the house "ready" for ada but not actually 100% ada. I imagine a potential buyer with ada concerns bringing in a tape measure. This way they could see that the rooms are bigger, doorways wider etc. They could then put in the ramp, I can just make sure it's easier to do that to get into the front entrance (placement of shrubbery, layout of the pathway etc.

I live in a very nice area where people are downsizing after the kids move out and then buying smaller homes. Ranches are hard to come by in my area.

Also - lots of snowbirds by me. Although who knows with Covid what that brings for the future.

Grab bars are also good for pregnant women.

If you were building your retirement home, I would say yes. Standard wheelchairs need 60" of turning space that isn't usually found in most ranch home baths. Transfer wheelchairs are smaller and can often be used in situations where their use is just temporary.

I might be building someone elses retirement home - and who knows, maybe I rent it out if I move. That 60" is large and I accounted for that in Chief architect.

Okay good way to put it Sabrina. Yes. That's what I'm going after but with the idea that an older person could look at the house and know accommodations could be added for someone in a wheelchair. Then again, let's hope the renovation process doesn't put me into a wheel chair.

Houses are not Legos. “Just” moving some walls is very far from a “just” project. Those walls supply support for your roof, and contain electrical, HVAC, and plumbing in some cases.

Only do what you can accomplish for minimal cost and minimal disruption. Moving walls or moving plumbing on a slab will not fall in that category, ever.

When you think of changing a home for possible health issues, please think also of
hearing impairment/deafness (ex: pony walls or open plan for sign language and lip reading, blinking lights for doorbell or specialized telephone)

loss of vision such as macular degeneration (ex: high contrast edges of steps, tables, countertops, around light switches and outlets, around the floor of the shower enclosure, edge of bathtub, the shower head/bathtub faucet and water taps, shower and bathtub drain).

Please consult a Certified Aging in Place consultant before beginning any actual construction/renovation.

IMO do the house for you and forget the imaginary buyer unless you are selling in the next year. Who knows who will buy the house and as mentioned the wider doorways are always nice but a ADA bathroom is big and if you don’t need a huge bathroom what use the space. We have a walk out basement in a 50s ranch and we have everything we need on the main floor and we desided that from the beginning of renovating so tha if the time came when the satirs became a big deal we could feasibly live on the main floor. As for the things mentioned above they all can be added later, my husband when tblind 4 yrs ago and honestly we have changed very little about our house and he gets by quite well.

I have a good friend who has been a wheeler since the age of 15. Helping her find housing I can tell you how few there are that are TRULY ADA compliant. Carpeting is tough on shoulders for example. SHE however would not buy a home that SCREAMS a person with a disability lives here. She wants all her needs met but for no one to SEE the areas she needs help. So standard grab bars--no way. Sinks you roll up to--not happening. Food for thought.

I recently did a complete remodel and did not make it ADA compliant but did add features that make it easier to age in place.

I live in a high rise with a lot of seniors and none of them are in wheel chairs although several do have full time caretakers. The only wheel chair user was a child who lived with her parents.

I do think it prudent to remodel with features that make it safer and easier to use because although confinement to a wheel chair is relatively rare, it is NOT uncommon to be less than nimble and need adaptive measures. For example, I was young and had an operation on my leg which made it impossible to climb over a tub for several weeks so I was glad that the guest bath had a walk in shower since I had a tub/shower combination in the master bath.

I did the following

Changed the tub/shower in the master to a larger walk in shower that followed the footprint of the original tub. I didn't install a curbless shower but I did make the curb as low and narrow as feasible

I installed grab bars in ALL the showers. I don't know why this isn't universal as even a young person can have a momentary loss of balance. My grab bars are NOT institutional looking at all. Grab bars need to be attached to the studs so the time to install is when you are building the shower.

Installed a bar at the toilet. Again, just looking ahead to when mobility might be an issue. My grab bar essentially looks like a towel bar and I actually use it to hang towels. Again, since it needs to be attached to the studs, the time to install is when you renovate

Using a walker is pretty common for seniors and really many people recovering from an operation. I did make sure that the pathway into the bathroom was wide enough for a walker - especially in terms of being able to turn around when reaching the toilet.

I installed a bench in the shower in the master bath. Mine is built in and I also installed a hand held shower head that can be used while sitting at the bench. I did need a shower seat after an operation and the bench is MUCH more stable than one that isn't built in. I enjoy using it now as it's relaxing. I know there are those who recommend just a movable stool but when I used that after my operation I found it not as attractive and also in the way - where do you store it? You have to clean around it etc. When my father was in assisted living he had a caretaker who helped him shower. That is why I thought the bench with the hand held close to the bench would work if I needed that kind of help late in life.

I also had several electrical plug outlets installed at waist level so they could be accessed without stooping. Again, this is something I saw at my parents' retirement condo which was in an over 55 community. It is easy to do when you are getting electrical work done and blends in. I have one in every room. Again, when I needed surgery, bending down to plug in vacuum cleaner was difficult and so having access to plugs without bending is great.

You have the obvious advantage of having all rooms on the same level. I think any prudent person considering a home that intend to live in during their "senior years" would be crazy to not have a bedroom and bathroom on the ground floor.

Again, most of the stuff I posted about is not specific to permanently disabled people or really infirm seniors and doesn't detract from function and aesthetics of those who are still completely agile. However, as I learned, you never know when you might temporarily disabled but - as others have posted - most seniors do not need wheelchairs. My father lived in an assisted living facility for several years and almost all the seniors living there were NOT in wheelchairs. To the extent they needed mechanical help, they used walkers when they went to the dining area. The only time my father ever used a wheel chair was if he would be walking a long distance and that was because of his heart rather than not being able to use his legs. Inside his home and moving around the facility he needed nothing for many years and then only a walker.

We live in a ranch house and my husband just became dependent on a wheelchair. We put flat opening hinges on our doors, raised the floor in the family room where there were steps going down and now he is able to wheel all over the house EXCEPT for the bathroom. The door is too narrow to get into the room so has to use a walker. The bathroom is situated so that the door cannot be widened, My advice would be, if you are able, make the doors...all of them...wide enough to accommodate a wheel chair. You never know when someone in your family or a buyer will need these wide doors.

It's up to you how much you wish to go ADA compliant. I did build my home (retirement) to age in place. Granted, I don't know what I'll actually need, but I did base some of my decisions on having had limited mobility due to a broken ankle a few years back, requiring the ability to get around anyhow. My house doesn't look "bad" for the choices I made... Doors are wide into bedrooms and baths. There's a roll in shower in the master. Grab bars - non obtrusive- in the shower, and in the guest bath (standard tub/shower set up). No lumps between flooring types. If it comes to any necessity, I can live on just one level.

Yes, I live in snow country, so there are steps into my house. I could install a ramp, but not going to do so unless I have to.

On the other paw, my kitchen counters are 37 inches high. I'm tall. I built these for my needs NOW.

Coming a little late to this discussion, but I'll add that my experience from observing at close second hand how my dad, who was in a wheelchair his whole life, lived in and gradually adapted our family house, and how my mom is now aging in place in the same house as an ambulatory octogenarian, is that disability accommodations can be very person-specific and following ADA rules does not always produce the most usable fit for everyone. For instance, surfaces and appliances lowered to be usable by someone in a wheelchair can be a real trial for someone who can walk but who can't bend easily.

My advice would be not to feel the need to proactively change everything for a hypothetical future owner, but if you are making a change anyway, don't introduce any changes that make things worse. Don't narrow a doorway; don't box a toilet into a narrow alcove, etc. Make thresholds flat or low-profile, easy to roll over and hard to trip over. Nonstructural things that work for everybody in my experience and just make life easier: outlets, switches, and thermostats mounted at about 36"-42", rather than higher, so you can reach them from a sitting or standing position and don't have to crawl on the floor to unplug things. Nonslip/resilient surfaces that would cushion a fall a bit without impeding a rolling chair or walker. Grab bars are good for everybody.