Guides
Preparing a Home for Hip or Knee Replacement Recovery (2026)
What to set up before hip or knee surgery: a raised toilet seat, grab bars, a shower seat, a firm chair, a main-floor bed, and what is worth making permanent.
Updated 2026-10-15. Reviewed against our editorial standards.
Most of what a home needs before a hip or knee replacement is cheap and fast: a raised toilet seat (or a comfort-height toilet), grab bars in the shower and beside the toilet, a shower seat and a handheld sprayer, a firm chair with arms, a bed on the main floor if stairs are a problem, rugs and cords gone, and lights on the night route to the bathroom. All of it fits in a week. The permanent changes (a curbless shower, a main-floor bathroom, a second handrail on every stair) are worth doing now if this surgery is the first of two, or if the person plans to stay in the house.
Ready to talk to a certified aging-in-place remodeler? Tell us the surgery date and the layout, and get matched for grab bars and railings.
Hip precautions in plain English
After a hip replacement, many surgeons give "hip precautions," rules for moving while the joint heals. The common list from the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS): do not bend at the hip past 90 degrees (sitting upright is the limit), do not cross your legs, do not twist or pivot on the operated leg, and avoid low, soft seats. The list depends on the surgical approach, and most rules relax after 6 to 8 weeks. Your surgeon's rules override anything here. A knee replacement has no position rules, but a low seat is still hard to leave.
For the house, that means nothing the person sits on should be low. The AAOS describes the chair: a firm seat 18 to 20 inches high, a firm back, 2 arms. A reacher and a long-handled shoehorn take the bending out of dressing.
The bathroom
For the recovery: a raised toilet seat with arms, grab bars beside the toilet and in the shower, a shower seat with rubber feet (no arms if it sits in a tub), a handheld sprayer, a non-slip mat, and a tub transfer bench if there is a tub wall.
The grab bars are the one item to have installed professionally: hardware costs tens of dollars, installation runs about $85 to $300 per bar (Fixr, 2025), and a towel bar is not a grab bar. The ADA mounts bars 33 to 36 inches to the top of the grip; at home, ask the occupational therapist (OT) to mark the spots. The permanent version is a comfort-height toilet (the ADA seat is 17 to 19 inches) and a curbless shower conversion, $2,500 to $9,000 in national estimates.
The stairs
Before discharge, the hospital expects the person to manage 2 or 3 steps with a walker. A full flight is harder, and the standard advice is to live on one floor: a bed in the living room, a bedside commode if the only full bathroom is upstairs, stairs once a day at most. Long term, that is a main-floor bedroom and bath.
Where the stairs stay in use, put a rail on both sides. The residential code requires only 1 rail on a flight of 4 or more risers, 34 to 38 inches above the step edges, continuous and returned to the wall; an older adult on a walker needs 2, because the weaker side switches on the turn. A stair lift ($3,000 to $20,000, straight rails far cheaper than curved) is not a recovery purchase; buy one if the stairs were a problem before the surgery and will still be one after.
The entry and the kitchen
One or 2 entry steps with a rail on each side are usually manageable with a walker. More than that means a rented modular ramp, or a permanent ramp or step-free entry ($875 to $5,000 in national estimates) when the need outlasts the recovery.
In the kitchen, clear a path wide enough for a walker, carry nothing (a walker basket does that), keep daily items between waist and shoulder height, and freeze meals ahead. Long term, kitchen modifications are the lasting fix.
Timeline
2 weeks before. Book the grab bar installer and a second stair rail. Buy the raised seat, shower seat and sprayer. Choose the chair and move the bed downstairs if that is the plan. Pull every rug and cord; plug in night lights. Ask the surgeon's office what equipment they are ordering (walker, commode) and what you are buying. Practice the toilet and shower with the walker.
The first week. Someone stays in the house. Stairs once a day, lights on, floor dry. Take the OT home visit if offered and write down what is not working: that is the quote request for the permanent work. If the person is coming home sooner than expected, see our hospital discharge home prep guide.
Who pays
Original Medicare Part B covers durable medical equipment (a walker, a commode, a hospital bed) when the doctor orders it; you pay 20% of the approved amount after the deductible. It does not pay for grab bars, shower seats or home changes, and raised toilet seats are generally treated as convenience items. Some Medicare Advantage plans add a bathroom safety allowance; see Medicare and Medicare Advantage.
Everything else is usually paid directly, which with a surgery date on the calendar is the point: no pre-approval, your choice of contractor, done before the person comes home; see paying out of pocket. Long-term care insurance may cover grab bars and a shower conversion with pre-approval; veterans should ask about VA grants.
Mistakes to avoid
- Buying the big items before the OT has seen the person at home. Bars, seats and rails first; the rest after.
- Trusting a towel bar or a suction-cup bar. Both pull off the wall under a falling adult.
- Treating the second surgery as a separate project. If the other hip or knee is next, make the bathroom permanent now. If a fall has already happened, start with our after a fall guide.
Ready to talk to a certified aging-in-place remodeler? Share the surgery date and get matched with a remodeler serving your area.
Questions people ask
What do I need at home before a hip or knee replacement?
A raised toilet seat or a comfort-height toilet, grab bars beside the toilet and in the shower, a shower seat with a handheld sprayer, a firm chair with arms, a bed on the main floor if stairs are a problem, every loose rug and cord removed, and night lights between the bed and the bathroom. Most of it can be done in a week.
What are hip precautions?
Movement rules many surgeons give after a hip replacement while the joint heals: do not bend at the hip past 90 degrees, do not cross your legs, do not twist or pivot on the operated leg, and avoid low, soft seats. They depend on the surgical approach, so the surgeon's list is the one that counts.
Can someone use stairs after a knee or hip replacement?
Hospitals expect a patient to manage 2 or 3 steps with a walker before discharge, and a full flight is harder for the first weeks. Most hospital checklists say to live on one floor if possible, or to limit the stairs to once a day, with a secure rail on both sides.
Does Medicare pay for a raised toilet seat or grab bars after surgery?
Original Medicare Part B covers some durable medical equipment, like a walker or a commode chair, when a doctor orders it; you pay 20% of the approved amount after the deductible. It does not pay for grab bars, shower seats or home changes, and raised toilet seats are usually treated as convenience items. Some Medicare Advantage plans include a bathroom safety allowance.
Should we install a stair lift before the surgery?
Not for a recovery alone. A stair lift makes sense when the stairs were already a problem before the surgery and will still be one after it. For a recovery, set up a bed and a bathroom on the main floor and add a second handrail.
How high should grab bars be?
The ADA standard for public bathrooms is 33 to 36 inches to the top of the bar, which is a sensible default at home. The better answer is to have the occupational therapist mark the exact spots for the person who will use them, then have the bars anchored into studs.
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