help for someone clueless about these things

[AutumnRose1]

I hope this isn't too silly to ask but I live in a small flat and have never watched anything about renovations.

My mum - 81 - is in that tough spot with future planning and how accessible her home is.

She can manage house and stairs now but we are wondering about some adaptations. She finds it quite stressful having work people round full stop, so I thought I'd ask about costs of things here. It might be a complete no from the start due to cost.

There's an empty garage, with a sort of typical garage door to it.

what would it be, ball park, to make it a bathroom with toilet and wetroom/accessible shower type area? it's in line with the kitchen so presumably there are plumbing connections.

Then the garage door would have to be replaced with actual wall, if that makes sense. There's a side window in the garage. It's very small but hopefully enough for a bathroom? The garage fits one car but she is getting rid of her car.

Also, a harder question maybe - the house can be very cold for her. What's a cheapest option for insulation in the lounge? I was thinking some insulation could go up and a stud wall on top?

Thanks so much for any thoughts.

Hi,

Sorry I don’t actually know the answer to either question. However my nan had her bathroom converted (although not from a garage, just to a disability friendly bathroom) and was able to have it funded through the RAF as my gramps had served as a young man. I believe in some parts there are other grants available for this sort of work so may be worth looking into that sort of thing. Help the Aged maybe or the local council?

Ditto for insulation too. In some areas grants and council schemes are available to fund things like that. It’s certainly worth checking out before you have to fund it all privately.

Thank you Great

She doesn’t qualify for any help financially

However, as a point of interest, I think she knows some people who are but they wouldn’t get funding for something as specific as room insulation. I think they got the easy stuff like loft insulation, which mum has already.

She is mobile now but we wondered if it was worth adapting the house in a planned way rather than waiting to see how we cope in an emergency. There’s a longevity issue in her family with everyone hitting 90!

Hopeful bump...

I think the works you are describing would cause a huge upheaval and could take weeks and be very expensive. A neighbour converted their single garage into a playroom and it cost £6000 approx, I would imagine a bathroom would cost more than this. My in-laws of a similar age could not cope with the constant to and fro-ing of workmen, the noise or the mess. The council did an assessment of their property and provided a few things, handrails etc though they did have to pay. Stairlift?

She will need to improve the insulation in the garage - floor walls & ceiling (this is a building regulation requirement)
Electrics in garage may need moving.
Is her heating system big enough to support another bathroom?
She will require building regulations for plumbing, drainage, insulation and ventilation
She may need planning permission - you will need to check this locally.
Costs will vary wildly depending on location, what the existing building is like, service connections, what she wants in the bathroom
Insulating the main house - if it has a cavity wall, cavity wall insulation may be a good place to start. Otherwise internal insulation or exterior insulated render are both available but you need to make sure there is also adequate and appropriate ventilation to avoid problems with condensation and mould.
I know how hard it is to do this stuff with elderly relatives - getting people round for my mum who has dementia is really hard but I think you need to get some people round to quote. I always prime them first with all the information so I weed out time wasters
Even if she isn't eligible for grants there may be a local elderly handyman service - the one we use for my mum is run by a charity who can sort out vetted tradesman if it's too much for their volunteers. Ask through Age Care or local council.

Thank you
That’s thought provoking, I did to realise we might need planning permission

Stairlift as an issue because the stairs are split, And go round corners, so to speak.

There’s no cavity wall to insulate, so to speak.

She was under the impression this might be easier than I thought, but sadly I think she’s being over optimistic.

Thank you!