Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Did you even read the thread? There are many legitimate reasons someone might choose a single story house....and laziness is only one of them.
My sister is obese and has plantar fasciitis and an inner ear disorder which causes dizziness. She's in her 60s and uses all of her sick and vacation days for those things. Exercise exacerbates both conditions. I don't have an answer for that.
Actually I live in a three-story house (that is, the basement is completely finished as a living area and is my office) and love it. It is an in-town house where there are essentially no one-story houses, although there are condos in elevator buildings. I will move to a one-story house if I ever need one. Planning ahead is a good idea up to a point... but planning, decades in advance, for an eventuality that I can easily deal with when the time comes makes no sense. (I'm 63.)
My regular house would have been perfect for aging in place--a Cape with a full bedroom downstairs that we used as a family room. Capes are often built so that you can live in the downstairs and finish off the upstairs if you ever feel like it. Ours was already finished upstairs so we slept up there.
After ten years of it I got thoroughly sick and tired of wasting time going up and down stairs all the time just to put laundry away or change my clothes. I started thinking that all on one floor would be more convenient.
Anyway, as fate would have it, we had to sell that home and now we're in a tiny all on one floor beach cottage. This is easy and the laundry room is just off the kitchen.
Next month we move to our last home, an age restricted apartment and it's on the second floor. But once you're in your apartment, everything is there--washer and dryer, no more stairs. I heard that if you ever get so that you can't do stairs, they will install one of those chair lifts for you.
It's good to plan ahead. If you're only 40 or 50 it probably doesn't matter that much and anyway it all depends on how long you're going to stay in that house. If you're in your 60s or 70s, anything can happen. One friend has glaucoma and can hardly see--she has to go to the basement to do her laundry. OTOH, I had a great aunt who was light as a feather and always lived on the second story of a two family house. She never seemed to have any health problems until she reached age 90. Then she went into assisted living until death occurred soon thereafter. Some people say the stairs keep them healthy.
oldtrader: you have one huge house and property. Wonder what part of the country that is...sounds like Wyoming or Montana. Ever think of going to a smaller place?
Oldtrader states he and his wife are in their late 80's - pushing 90. Moving now would put them at greater risk for developing or accelerating any latent age-related cognitive deficits.
Moving to a "smaller" place is a high risk proposition at that age. If you're going to downsize, it should be done well beforehand so that the "new" place is well-familiarized by the time you're at risk for dementia, Alzheimer's, or any other age-related cognitive impairment.
I think it's a bit arrogant to believe that the only way that stairs could be a concern as one ages is due to a lifetime of sitting.
I'm in my mid fifties and my current home has stairs. I dont have any issues with stairs currently and we don't expect to move house anytime soon, but when we do, it will be to a single story home. Concern about stairs is for more than possible mobility issues. We have elderly parents who visit and while they can still manage stairs into their late 70s, it could be an issue at some point - particularly if one of them needs to move in with us in the future. My husband has some vision issues which could certainly become worse as he ages. Injuries or surgeries that become more of a concern as we age (and even happen to active seniors) because healing takes longer.
As for carrying things down stairs, any number of things could cause one to need to use the handrail for stability (including vision and neurological issues) thus limiting what you are carrying to one arm/hand.
Personally, if I'm moving anyway, I'd certainly choose a home I could be independent in longer.
Exactly. My dad was very active. He was a surgeon working more than full-time hours and he played many hours per week of racquetball. But by his mid 50s, he couldn't do stairs because of a neurological disorder.
I swim, I walk but yes I have been having difficulty with stairs even before I started a hormone blocker after breast cancer. The side effects are having a well known horrible effect on my ankles and feet. It's insulting and smug to sit in judgement of others who can't handle stairs as if they are lazy. balance/back issues are also an issue. I am facing 4 more years on these meds and Need to utilize any strategy that makes my home safe. It isn't depressing or rushing towards old age, it's called being realistic and planning for my health and quality of life.
My experience is that all older people get some arthritis. Mine is in my knees and lower back. I can do stairs, but it takes a lot of effort....effort that I do not choose to exert unless I must. I would never buy a house without a first floor master and main floor laundry. I should add that I always led an active lifestyle, so you can't really stave it off by sheer will.
If I had extra bedrooms on a second floor, that would be fine.
You might be fine, OP, or you might not. My dh's 80 year old aunt goes up and down her stairs multiple times a day.
I'm 59. Since I was a child, I've averaged 60+ ski days per year and many years with 100+. I'm no stranger to the orthopedic surgeon. ACL grafts. Meniscus tears. There is no way in the world I'm not going to have arthritis issues when I'm in my 80's. I need to live somewhere I can have a knee replacement with the 6 month mobility problem recovering from that and still be able to sleep in my bed.
I own a single level house. My townhouse condo at the ski resort is 2 levels but I've certainly had days where I slept on the sofa rather than use crutches to get upstairs to the bedrooms.
I'll admit I didn't read all 13 pages of this thread, but thought I'd share anyway. My mother's in her 60s and had been having a lot of pain in her right knee for over a year while living in a place she didn't have to manage stairs. Going up and down stairs was painful, so she avoided it. Then she moved into this three-story house with me, and within a month her knee pain was 90% gone.
Also, I'm only 30, but had been having some stiffness in my knees before I moved here (again had been living in a place without regular stairs). That vanished and I also lost 15lbs just from going up and down so many flights of stairs every day. Stairs are awesome.
We've been in our three story house for 15 years and no amount of stair climbing is going to cure my problem but I am glad it helped your mum.
"Among the specific complaints physicians consider when determining the source of a patient’s lower back pain is discomfort or pain in the low back that presents or worsens while climbing stairs"
I'm 65 and, while I can still climb the stairs, I can tell a difference from 10 years ago. I've had cardiac problems for 21 years and I expect it to get more difficult with time. My husband has a harder time climbing the stairs and he has a very bad ankle. We also have to climb up-n-down to go to the pantry or do laundry (and, no, those things cannot be moved inside). We have family members that cannot visit because they can't do the stairs; in fact, just yesterday a friend with diabetes had trouble coming up.
My 86-year-old brother can do it but he doesn't have knee problems. Unusual for someone that age to not have knee problems, though. He isn't typical of people that age, so he is not a good example.
The OP is 50 and may do fine another 20 years, but I'd bet that he/she will feel the difference down that road, and the doctor is an idiot. Of course, doc doesn't want to tell someone what lifestyle to plan for, but working hard physically all one's life can create climbing difficulties later just as it would for someone who's been sedentary. It is not "nonsense" to want to move into a single-level home ~ only problem there, is that such homes are seldom built anymore.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
but I am glad it helped your mum. 
