Make Your Remodeled Home User Friendly

When something in your home is old and worn out, if it’s out of date, or you need more space, then it’s time to think about remodeling. But it’s not just a snap your finger thing. There are a number of decisions to be made---exactly what to do, how much to spend, will you have to move out for a while, etc.

In the what-to-do category you’ll be sure to include modifications of the parts of the house that you found out the hard way should have been different from day one. Like a refrigerator door that you can’t open all the way because it hits a wall. Or a light switch that’s behind an open door. And the drop-in kitchen sink that, if changed to an undercounter mount, would make cleaning up so much easier. As long as the workmen are in the house, surely it’s a good time to take care of these things.

You’ll want to  go through your house asking yourself what could be better. Would this be a good time to improve the lighting in the dining room or to update the heating system to a more efficient and effectiveone? Going from old single-pane windows to “green”  newer double or triple-pane can often make the remodeling pay for itself in a short time because there’s less heat loss.

While you’re making your list of possible improvements, don’t overlook the many other things that make a home user friendly. They are found throughout a house from little things to big. These are discussed in detail in Better Houses, Better Living, a book that is dedicated to making living better regardless of the size of the house or its cost. Far too often designers and builders are more concerned with making a house look good---afterall, that’s what people see and buy with little or no concern with its user friendliness.

This is not new. It was almost 400 years ago that philospher Sir Francis Bacon wrote that

“Houses are built to live in, not to look on; therefore, let use be preferred before uniformity, except where both may had.”

In other words, we should be concerned with how a house will be to live in before we worry about how it looks. And this is just as true with a remodelled house as with a new one. And when the remodelling is on-going, be sure you go over everything with the workers so that they know just what you want. Too often, if you don’t, they’ll do things the way they’ve always done them which may or may not be what you want. And this gives you another opportunity to get their inputs which may include somethings you hadn’t thought of.

User-friendly homes are discussed in Myron E. Ferguson’s book Better Houses, Better Living  available at http://www.BetterHousesBetterLiving.com, from the publisher (Home User Press, 1-800-530-5105), or from Amazon.com. The Existing House Checklist or the Building & Remodeling Checklist that come with a book order are also described on the publisher’s website. Ferguson can be reached at betterhouses@comcast.net.