Newark's Experienced Aging-in-Place Contractor

A College Town Where Long-Time Residents Are Growing Older

Newark occupies a distinct position in Delaware. Known nationally as the home of the University of Delaware, the city has an identity shaped by its campus, its Main Street corridor, and a student population that cycles through every four years. But beneath that youthful exterior, Newark has a substantial population of long-time residents who have lived here for decades. Former university faculty and staff who settled into neighborhoods near campus in the 1970s and 1980s. Families who raised children in the developments west of town and never left. Retirees who chose Newark for its walkability, its cultural offerings, and its proximity to medical care at ChristianaCare’s campus in nearby Christiana.

These residents are now in their 60s, 70s, and 80s. The homes they moved into as young professionals were not designed for the realities of aging. And as mobility changes, the question shifts from whether modifications are needed to how quickly they can be completed.

Accessible Solutions serves Newark and the surrounding communities with the full scope of aging-in-place services: modular ramps with rental options starting at $300 per month, bathtub-to-shower conversions, roll-in showers, grab bars and handrails, stairlifts for straight and curved configurations, doorway widenings, first-floor bedroom and bathroom additions, and durable medical equipment delivery and setup.

Historic Neighborhoods Near Campus and Downtown

The streets surrounding the University of Delaware campus and Newark’s Main Street corridor are lined with homes that reflect a century of residential construction. Along Orchard Road, Amstel Avenue, West Park Place, and the blocks between Elkton Road and South College Avenue, you will find Craftsman bungalows, Cape Cods, two-story colonials, and duplexes dating from the 1920s through the 1960s. Many of these homes have been occupied by the same families for 30 to 50 years — families who are now confronting the accessibility limitations that come with housing built in a different era.

The patterns are consistent. Front entries sit three to five steps above grade with narrow concrete walkways leading to the sidewalk. Interior hallways measure 30 to 34 inches wide. The single full bathroom occupies the second floor at the top of a straight, steep staircase. First-floor half-baths, where they exist, are too small to accommodate any mobility device. And the charming original features — hardwood floors with raised thresholds between rooms, heavy wooden doors on period hardware, radiators occupying floor space in tight hallways — all create obstacles that accumulate as mobility declines.

Our approach in these homes starts with understanding what the family needs today and what they will likely need in the coming years. A grab bar installation this year might be followed by a stairlift in two years and a first-floor bathroom conversion after that. We plan for the full trajectory, not just the immediate request, so each modification integrates with the next rather than requiring rework.

West Newark and the Route 896 Corridor

West of downtown, Newark’s character changes. The developments along Route 896 toward Hockessin and the communities around White Clay Creek feature newer construction — single-family homes, townhouses, and planned subdivisions built from the 1980s through the 2010s. Timber Creek, Christianstead, Nonantum Mills, and the neighborhoods off Papermill Road represent a different modification profile than the older housing near campus.

These homes typically have wider hallways, open floor plans on the first level, attached garages, and master bedrooms on the upper floor. The challenges are subtler but no less real. The master bathroom has a soaking tub with a high wall and a separate glass-enclosed shower stall that provides no support for a person with balance issues. Every exterior door — front, back, and garage entry — has two or three steps with a decorative railing that cannot bear weight. And the staircase to the second floor is the only route to the bedroom, the master bath, and the laundry room.

For families in these neighborhoods, modifications focus on converting the master bathroom for safe daily use, installing ramp access at the most-used entry point, and adding a stairlift or planning a first-floor master suite when the staircase becomes the primary barrier. Because these homes have more interior space and newer construction, modifications are often less invasive and faster to complete than in Newark’s older housing stock.

Proximity to ChristianaCare and Medical Resources

Newark sits within minutes of the ChristianaCare health system’s Christiana Hospital campus, one of the busiest hospitals in Delaware. Residents recovering from joint replacements, strokes, cardiac events, and other procedures at Christiana are regularly discharged with mobility limitations that make returning to an unmodified home unsafe.

The discharge timeline creates urgency. A patient may have days of notice before returning home, and the family scrambles to figure out how to get a wheelchair up the front steps, how to make the bathroom safe, and where to put a hospital bed if one is needed. This is precisely the scenario our warehouse infrastructure is designed to address.

Our Middletown headquarters stocks modular ramp systems, grab bar kits, bathroom safety equipment, and durable medical equipment ready for rapid installation. Newark is a short drive from our facility, and we routinely coordinate with hospital discharge planners to ensure that modifications are in place before the patient arrives home. Rental ramps provide immediate exterior access while the family evaluates what additional work may be needed over the following weeks and months.

The University Connection and an Aging Workforce

The University of Delaware is Newark’s largest employer, and its workforce spans generations. Faculty members who joined the university in the 1970s and 1980s are now retired but remain in Newark because the community is where their social networks, healthcare providers, and daily routines are rooted. Administrative staff who spent careers at the university own homes throughout Newark’s neighborhoods and face the same aging-in-place decisions as any long-time resident.

This population tends to be well-informed, proactive about planning, and interested in solutions that maintain the character of their homes. They ask detailed questions about materials, methods, building codes, and long-term durability. They want to understand the difference between a contractor who can engineer a structural modification and an installer who bolts a product to a wall.

That distinction is central to how we operate. Accessible Solutions holds a Delaware contractor’s license because this work frequently requires structural knowledge. When a bathroom conversion in a 1940s Newark bungalow reveals rotted subfloor joists, we replace them. When a first-floor bedroom addition requires relocating a load-bearing wall, we engineer the solution. When the electrical panel in a 1960s ranch cannot support a stairlift circuit, we upgrade it. One company handles every element of the project from assessment through completion.

Personalized Assessment With No Cost and No Obligation

Ray Petkevis conducts every home assessment in Newark personally. He walks through your home with your family, evaluates every entry point, measures hallways and doorways, inspects bathrooms and bedrooms, and identifies the specific barriers that affect your family member’s daily life. His recommendations are based on the actual construction of your home, your family’s current and anticipated needs, and every available funding source including Delaware DSHP+ Medicaid, VA benefits, and Medicare coverage for qualifying equipment.

There is no charge for the assessment. There is no sales pressure. The visit produces a clear, written recommendation that your family can act on immediately or file away for when the time is right. For Newark families preparing their homes for the next chapter, it is the most productive hour you will spend on the subject.