Saw the article entitled Creating a Barrier-Free Home – General Household Modifications by Suzanne Ponciroli in the April 5, 2010 issue of Living MS
We recently remodeled our one-story home, with a heavy emphasis on accessibility. Wood floors make rolling easier (we used laminated flooring), grab bars in the shower are essential and the shower chair is an attached flip-down model. I agree that levered door handles are easier to work than round knobs, and door openings should be at least 36" wide. We made a few other useful modifications: We have several 36” pocket doors; I have cantilevered grab bars on each side of the commode; we made two 45o corners on the inside of a 90o bend in the hall; removed an “S” curve on entering our master bedroom; and installed ramps to both the porch and garage. We put an automatic door opener on the door from our utility room to the garage. Although this was a bit pricey, it is neat and I am glad to have it. We did not lower the kitchen countertops, as I am not the primary user of these facilities. However as this makes it necessary to slide forward in a wheelchair and bare skin needs to be avoided as it can "stick" to a wheelchair, pants and long shirttails are necessary. I agree that getting out of bed without anything to pull on is difficult. Getting up is facilitated by parking my wheelchair (with the brakes on) at bedside. I also have a lift chair in our TV room to avoid falling into, and to make getting out of, a chair easier. I have a Pride Z-chair that I use indoors and a Solo IV scooter that I use outdoors.
Per the Friendly Living Spaces article in the August-September 2007 issue of InsideMS, I got a couple sets of the offset hinges. They are a good-news/bad-news story. The good news is that they recess an open door so do indeed recover about 2” of the door opening that is usually taken by the edge of the door. The bad news is that most door handles require that the door is offset about 2” from a wall if the door opens against a wall (which it usually does). The result is that with offset hinged the door may no longer be parallel to the wall, and the 2” gained in the opening may be “lost” at the handle (unless a nearly-flat handle is found). Another problem that I didn’t anticipate is that a considerable amount of the wall adjacent to the open door is visible with offset hinges, and it is not with standard hinges. Another problem is that offset hinges are several times more expensive than standard hinges. The bottom line is that a >36” door with standard hinges would be better. Another good option would be a pocket door as there are no hinges and the jamb is minimal. (My comments in this paragraph were excerpted in the Spring 2008 issue of Momentum.)
We recently remodeled our one-story home, with a heavy emphasis on accessibility. Wood floors make rolling easier (we used laminated flooring), grab bars in the shower are essential and the shower chair is an attached flip-down model. I agree that levered door handles are easier to work than round knobs, and door openings should be at least 36" wide. We made a few other useful modifications: We have several 36” pocket doors; I have cantilevered grab bars on each side of the commode; we made two 45o corners on the inside of a 90o bend in the hall; removed an “S” curve on entering our master bedroom; and installed ramps to both the porch and garage. We put an automatic door opener on the door from our utility room to the garage. Although this was a bit pricey, it is neat and I am glad to have it. We did not lower the kitchen countertops, as I am not the primary user of these facilities. However as this makes it necessary to slide forward in a wheelchair and bare skin needs to be avoided as it can "stick" to a wheelchair, pants and long shirttails are necessary. I agree that getting out of bed without anything to pull on is difficult. Getting up is facilitated by parking my wheelchair (with the brakes on) at bedside. I also have a lift chair in our TV room to avoid falling into, and to make getting out of, a chair easier. I have a Pride Z-chair that I use indoors and a Solo IV scooter that I use outdoors.
Per the Friendly Living Spaces article in the August-September 2007 issue of InsideMS, I got a couple sets of the offset hinges. They are a good-news/bad-news story. The good news is that they recess an open door so do indeed recover about 2” of the door opening that is usually taken by the edge of the door. The bad news is that most door handles require that the door is offset about 2” from a wall if the door opens against a wall (which it usually does). The result is that with offset hinged the door may no longer be parallel to the wall, and the 2” gained in the opening may be “lost” at the handle (unless a nearly-flat handle is found). Another problem that I didn’t anticipate is that a considerable amount of the wall adjacent to the open door is visible with offset hinges, and it is not with standard hinges. Another problem is that offset hinges are several times more expensive than standard hinges. The bottom line is that a >36” door with standard hinges would be better. Another good option would be a pocket door as there are no hinges and the jamb is minimal. (My comments in this paragraph were excerpted in the Spring 2008 issue of Momentum.)
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