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Living room remodeling for a hearing disability

Open floor plans are great when doing a living room remodel for a hearing disability. Read on for other ideas.

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Wide, open floor plans are ideal for the hearing impaired. Consider them when doing living room remodeling for a hearing disability. Photo by ®DS on Flickr.It's not difficult to plan for common room remodeling. Hearing-impaired remodels, however, require special consideration and sometimes special expertise. As with most living room remodeling for a hearing disability, you'll have to do some preliminary planning with furniture and accessory placement as well as with physical changes.

Once you've completed your remodel, though, your home will be more livable not just for the person who is hearing impaired, but for the entire family.

Find qualified contractors! Ask about living room remodeling for a hearing disability!

Start by carefully planning your living room remodeling. A hearing disability does not require as many special features as some other disabilities, but you have to be especially sensitive to things like furniture placement.

People with hearing disabilities need visual cues that let them know when someone's at the door, or when a fire alarm has gone off in the house. A strobe light is a very effective way of indicating these things, especially alarms. Look for a light that uses differing pulses to indicate different alarms. Install it where furniture and walls won't block the light.

Another option is using a special device attached to a plug-in lamp that makes the light flash when the doorbell rings. Test everything before permanent installation. Some items need line-of-sight to work. Others may use a home network or physical connection for functionality, so you need to be certain nothing interferes with electronic communications. 

If you're doing a physical remodel of your home to accommodate a hearing disability, opt for simple open spaces with few nooks and corners. It is critical that you have great visibility. Open remodel plans featuring kitchens, dining rooms and living rooms that flow together make it easier for people who are hearing impaired to see televisions and visual alerts while in the kitchen or notice a pot boiling over from the living room.

Look for a residential renovation contractor who has experience remodeling for people who are hearing impaired, or at least one who has done remodels for people with disabilities. These contractors will be more sensitive to your needs and will generally come to you with ideas and points you had not thought of.

Make sure you talk to your local property tax assessor's office and permits office before having any work started, and especially for major projects. In some communities, a remodel for accommodating disabilities, including a hearing disability, is easier to get permits for and will not result in a reassessment of your property's value.

For more ideas, talk to organizations that work directly with hearing-impaired and deaf populations, like Easter Seals or the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. New assistive devices are being invented every day to help deaf and hearing-impaired people. These organizations can ensure you don't forget any details for living room remodeling for a hearing disability.

When you're working on a living room remodel for a hearing disability, it doesn't have to be hard. Use Reply! to find great contractors with the right kind of experience. They'll do your renovation right the first time.

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Photo credit: ®DS via Compfight CC.