Advice on wheelchair accessible floor plan.
CNR
2 years ago
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Comments (11)
Rachel
2 years agoRelated Discussions
Landscaping for wheelchair accessibility
Comments (12)Hi NTT, I like your basic idea of making your garden wheelchair accessible. I can understand what you mean about not wanting to bring dirt inside on the wheels of your chair. My concern about your plan is that laying the 12 inch pavers may need to be more complicated than your plan. Generally, stones or pavers do not work well simply laid on a lawn covered by landscape fabric and newspapers. Usually, the grass is removed and layers of sand or coarse crushed stone. This allows for good drainage of your patio. Edges of the patio area are formed with timbers that are secured in place with deep stakes. One may also use conrete to pour curbs or edges to secure the sides of your patio. The reason for this is to prevent the paver stones from shifting. Then the pavers are laid on the leveled layer of sand and very fine sand is laid on top and forced between the pavers to hold them in place. Usually a machine is used to compact the sand bed before the pavers are laid and to vibrate the fine sand between the laid pavers. There are good reasons for doing a garden path or patio this way. Using your friend's method, you will have an uneven surface. The pavers will rock, and may eventually crack. The newspaper will degrade and loose dirt will get between the pavers, giving weeds a place to grow. Worst of all, the patio and paths will move, giving you an uneven surface to use your wheelchair on, and there will be very poor drainage. Water and movement can destroy your pavers. I know that in Houston you do not have to worry much about winter frosts making your pavers heave out of place, but you do have very wet times that will make the newspaper and dying grass soggy and slippery. That will mean your pavers move and you may get a wheel stuck in a crack between them. I know that it will cost a lot to hire someone to do a good job laying a patio and paths for your garden, but not doing it properly can ruin your investment in nice pavers and make your yard unusable. Another option for you might be to make nice raised beds that you can reach more easily. These are my favorite gardening catalogs and they have several ways to make raised beds. Gardener's Supply And Lee Valley Tools Here is a link that might be useful: This Old House instructions for pavers...See Morecloset planning for wheelchair access
Comments (5)IMO, day-to-day life in a wheelie is frustrating. Mum was always grateful that she wasn't confined to bed, but I saw the effort it took to do so many things. Take that bureau: assume you want to get a sweater from a lower drawer. Let's also assume you can do this *facing* the drawer (that means you are capable of bending over your lap to reach something ankle-height but several inches away). Roll up to reach the knob, pull open. If you want something that's to the back of the drawer, roll away while pulling drawer open. Roll closer so that you can actually reach the back of the drawer. Remember that rolling either requires two hands for a straight back or forth, or one hand which will cause the chair to turn angled. Remove sweater and put it someplace (not your lap 'cause stuff slides off + you can't bend over) so that you can close the drawer -- remember that many drawers do not close smoothly with a one-handed push, so you'll have to lock the wheels and then push. Unlock to proceed with your agenda. Now you can try the same thing while sitting sideways to the drawer! It's a far more complicated process. None of us have a crystal ball to find out which infirmities will be our lot in the future. We may never need a wheelchair; or we might become lopsided and only able to use one hand in a motorized chair. We may need a walker or we may never need any sort of aid. There's no way to know in advance. My rough rule of thumb while designing my new house is that eveything must be wheelchair accessible, and that if it can't be reached/used while sitting down it won't be useful when in a wheelie. It's amazing how that last limitation affects the kitchen design even more than the bath. BTW, if possible, do design all sinks so that they can be open underneath... it's darned awkward to use a sink while sitting sideways. I really do recommend to borrow or rent a wheelchair and use it for a while (stay sat -- no fair standing over the sink to brush your teeth). First person action is far more enlightening than any other's words....See Morewheelchair accessible bathroom
Comments (3)A member of my family is in a wheelchair; in that bathroom, they put in a sink and vanity that looks like this. The storage in the cabinet is augmented by one of those over-toilet wall-mounted cabinets. It works in a small bathroom and with a small budget. Wall-mounted sinks mount to the frame of the house. There should not be any serious issue with your boys knocking the sink off the wall by merely propping themselves up. The bigger danger is falling if they have to stand up or transfer themselves. Our experience has been that a solid blow to the sink or the toilet more likely will crack the ceramic/china next to the mounting bolts or, depending on where the fixture is struck, it may crack or fracture the fixture itself. I don't know where you are in the whole process of adapting the house, but you may want to allot some extra room for more grab bars and maybe even a vertical pole which can be used during transfers. As for the lighting, you'll have a few options, but we would need to know more about the lighting you have in the bathroom now (or plan to have). Maybe the best solution would be to avoid having to use a light switch at all -- get sensors which switch on lights when someone is in the room and switch them off after a period of inactivity. There also are remote switches like these which might work. Good luck....See MoreWheelchair accessible bathroom plans
Comments (3)well, you want small tiles in a shower floor anyway, for the additional traction that the grout lines give. so I think that's fine for the walker et al. use the same small tiles everywhere on the floor. you might skip the shiniest tile and go for a matte surface or something with a little texture, but otherwise, I don't see a problem. do look at porcelain as well -- a cement-look tile might have a little texture that would add traction....See MoreCNR
2 years agoRachel
2 years agoMark Bischak, Architect
2 years agojust_janni
2 years agobpath
2 years agoLouise Smith
2 years agocpartist
2 years agoCNR
2 years agocpartist
2 years ago
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