A room-by-room walkthrough you can do in one afternoon

How to use this checklist

Walk the house with your phone and this list. Look, write, photograph. Do not fix anything as you go — the moment you start moving furniture, the walkthrough stops and the afternoon disappears.

Write what you see, not what you conclude. The stair rail runs two thirds of the way down and stops is a useful line. The stairs are dangerous is not, because nobody can act on it.

Ask your parent about each room rather than surveying around them. How do you get in and out of the bath is their answer to give, and their answer is the one an occupational therapist will want to hear.

What happens next is a conversation, not a shopping trip. Take the finished list to your parent first, then to whoever is the right professional — an occupational therapist for how they move around the house, a handyman or an electrician for the building itself, the doctor's office if you were told to report anything.

Date the list and photograph it. Repeat it twice a year, and keep the old copies so the changes are visible.

The walkthrough: 30 things to write down

Work from the street inwards, one room at a time, and finish with the things that belong to the whole house. Write a line for every item, even when the answer is fine — a blank line six months from now is impossible to read.

Photograph anything you write down, and stand in the same spot each time you repeat the walkthrough so the pictures can be compared.

Two columns are enough: what you saw, and who could do something about it. That second column is what turns thirty observations into four phone calls and one conversation with your parent.

Do not put a cost or a solution in either column yet. That comes after somebody who knows houses, or somebody who knows how people move around them, has read the list.

• Outside — the route from the car to the door: surface, steps, and whether the light works
• Outside — the handrail: which side, how far it runs, whether it is loose
• Outside — whether the house number is readable from the street at night, which is what an ambulance crew needs
• Outside — whether there is a key safe, where it is, and who knows the code
• Outside — the threshold at the door, and the mat on either side of it
• Hall and stairs — the stair rail: one side or both, and whether it runs the full length
• Hall and stairs — any loose or worn carpet, and which step it is on
• Hall and stairs — whether there is a light switch at the top and at the bottom
• Hall and stairs — what is being stored on the stairs
• Living room — the chair they use most: how high the seat is and how they get out of it, in their words
• Living room — cables, rugs and anything else on the route between that chair and the door
• Living room — whether the phone and a light are reachable without standing up
• Living room — whether the floor lamp is stable if it is leaned on
• Kitchen — what is stored above shoulder height and what is stored below the knee
• Kitchen — whether a step stool or a chair is being used to reach anything, and what kind
• Kitchen — the state of the stove knobs, the kettle and the toaster, and whether anything is switched off at the wall
• Kitchen — whether there is a flashlight, and whether it works
• Bathroom — whether there is a grab rail, where it is, and whether it is screwed into something solid
• Bathroom — the height of the toilet
• Bathroom — how they get in and out of the bath or shower, described in their own words
• Bathroom — whether the mat has a grip backing, and whether the floor is slippery when wet
• Bathroom — whether the door locks from the inside, and whether it can be opened from outside
• Bathroom — what the water temperature setting is. Write down the number and ask a plumber before anyone changes it
• Bedroom — the route from the bed to the bathroom in the dark, and everything that is in it
• Bedroom — whether there is a light and a phone within reach of the bed
• Bedroom — the height of the bed, and what is on the bedside table
• Whole house — where the fuse box, the water shut-off and the gas shut-off are
• Whole house — smoke and carbon monoxide alarms: how many, which floors, and the date on each battery
• Whole house — the heating: whether it works, when it was last serviced, and who to call
• Whole house — where a spare set of keys is, and who else holds one

Questions