2 Ways To Deal With Doors To Make Them More Accessible

When it comes to your home and wheelchair access, there are several issues. The first one you need to worry about is making sure that the wheelchair user can get to the house. That can be handled by getting a ramp from the driveway or street and then to the house. The next hurdle that needs to be handled is to make sure that the wheelchair user can actually get into the house. That means that you are going to have to figure out what to do with all the doors going into the house and then the doors that are inside the house. What are some things that you can do to help with the doors to make them more accessible?

Widen Them

One thing that you can do is to make sure that the doors have been widened. The recommendation is that the doors should be 36 inches from inside jamb to inside jamb. In most homes that have been constructed in the past few years, the doors should be set that wide. However, older homes may have doors that are too narrow. And it's important to note that the 36 inch wide door may not be wide enough, depending on what kind of wheelchair is being used. That's because a power wheelchair or a wheelchair that is necessary to support someone who is a quadriplegic can be wider and heavier than other wheelchairs because it needs to support additional accessories. It's important to measure the chair and then add a couple of inches on either side to make sure that there is enough room for hands and arms to get through the door when the chair is being wheeled through the door. 

Open Them

Another way to that you can make sure that the doors are more accessible for a wheelchair user is to get automatic openers to install on doors. That way, all that happens is a person is going to need to hit a button and the door will open up. The nice thing about the doors is that the automatic opener doesn't mean that the door isn't going to be opened when a person just wants to turn a knob or push a door open. Companies like DOORS FIXED RIGHT, INC. carry various door opener options. 

Making your house accessible for a person who is using a wheelchair is necessary to let that person stay in their home longer. Fixing the doors can make that easier. 

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