You might be the classic, modern do-it-yourselfer. That’s a wonderful thing. Being able to do any number of home improvement projects on your own is not just a wonderful way to save money, but also feel satisfied. It’s a sense of pride for many men and women to be able to fix something in the house, repair a leaky faucet, or even open up a wall in the house to create a more open atmosphere.
When you have an aging senior in your life who may not be as safe as they once were because of health issues, injuries, or simply the natural process of aging, you may understand certain modifications can be an important improvement for them.
However, unless you have exceptional experience with home improvement projects, it may be best to hire an experienced handyman to do the work.
What kind of mistakes could an inexperienced do-it-yourselfer make?
Let’s talk about grab bars. These are not the same as towel bars because they are designed to hold up the weight of a full grown, healthy adult. A towel bar is most likely simply secured to the wallboard or tile. If you held onto that towel bar, put your full weight on it, what’s going to happen?
It’ll probably rip right out of the wall, damaging the tile or vinyl surface as it does. What would’ve happened if that aging senior tried to grab onto the towel bar when they were slipping?
It could very well lead to even more significant injuries as a result. Now, let’s say you understand the importance of a grab bar to keep this aging senior safe. Let’s say, also, that you installed it just as you would have a regular towel bar.
You may have used a device to try and find the wall studs so you could anchor them properly, but because of the tile and the type of wallboard, you got false readings. You didn’t fully understand those false readings, so you anchored the grab bar where you thought a wall stud was.
But it wasn’t there. Suddenly, a false sense of security was provided to that aging senior in your life and they grabbed onto it. It ripped out of the wall and they fell, suffering serious injuries.
What went wrong? There could be any number of reasons why that wall stud finder produced a false result. If you don’t have experience, like somebody who has been doing this for decades, the result could be devastating. That’s why it may be best to depend on an experienced handyman for these home modifications when the safety of seniors is at stake.
