If you’re nearing retirement or are relocating your aging parents to your current home, it is essential to consider the challenges that come with aging to give them a comfortable home life!
One of the necessary improvements you have to make in your house to make it more elderly-friendly is your thermal comfort, or indoor air temperate. Of the general population, elderly people are more vulnerable to climate change. Their bodies react differently to weather-related hazards like heat waves and icy conditions as a result of the thinning of the skin and metabolic rate (physiological changes that come with aging).
In extreme cases, increased heat and cold can affect an elderly person’s health by contributing to the following health concerns:
- Breathing problems
- Heat cramps
- Heat stroke
- Exhaustion
- Difficulty in sleeping
- Hypothermia
Keep these health problems at bay and make your home become a conducive place for retirement. Here are tips on how you can help your aging parents experience lasting thermal comfort in your home:
Keep Your Home Warm in Winter and Cool in Summer
- Set your heating to at least 20°C – 21°C.
- Reduce your energy use by closing off all unused rooms to limit the space you need to heat (a technique called zoning).
- Keep out draughts and prevent your conditioned air from escaping your home. Draught-proof your doors and windows by installing draught seals and excluders. You can also improve your windows’ functionality by installing secondary glazing to prevent heat transfer through your windows.
- Seal off unwanted gaps and cracks surrounding your window frames, door jambs, architraves, air vents, and floorboards. This can be addressed by caulking and using weather stripping.
- Retrofit your home with high quality insulation so you can maintain comfortable indoor temperatures within your living spaces. For optimum insulation that lasts, choose polyester insulation for your ceiling and floorboards.
Practice these simple retirement tips as you discover more ways to care for your aging parents.
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