Wheelchair Accessible Exterior Doors

The width of doorways in a home usually measure around 23 to 27 inches.

Wheelchair accessible exterior doors. These size requirements significantly reduce the number of styles available and can make it difficult to find a door that will suit the home it is intended for. The smooth surface should extend the full width of the door. Openings more than 24 inches deep shall provide a clear opening of 36 inches minimum. Door openings can sometimes be enlarged.

Accessible patio doors are important for people with temporary and permanent physical handicaps and good for homes in general. Clear openings of doorways with swinging doors shall be measured between the face of the door and the stop with the door open 90 degrees. Raised thresholds must be beveled with a slope no greater than 1 2. Doorways as required by the americans with disabilities act ada accessibility standard should have a clear width of 32 inches from the door s face to the opposite stop.

The bottom surface of doors and gates on the push side must be smooth to a height of at least 10. Adapting a home for wheelchair accessibility if the doors are too narrow in your house they can be widened through remodeling of walls and entryways. Wheelchair accessible doors make moving between spaces easier for people who use wheelchairs crutches or other mobility aids. Canes wheelchairs and other mobility devices can snag on projections on door surfaces.

Hallway width for wheelchairs. Round door knobs and traditional locks should be replaced with levered handles and keyless locks which make entering a home less challenging. Most entrances to stores and businesses use 36 inch wide doors that are wide enough to be accessible. Wheelchair users usually require a wheelchair accessible door which is no less than 32 inches 813mm in width.

This range however isn t wide enough for individuals on a wheelchair. Any spaces created by the addition of kick plates should be capped. The push side of new swinging doors and gates that are within 10 inches of the finish floor or ground must have smooth surfaces. Clear width door openings shall provide a clear width of 32 inches minimum and a maximum of 48 inches.

However some older doors are less than 36 inches wide and may not provide enough width 32 inch clear width when fully opened. You may need to remove the door unit and doorway trim in order to be able to properly resize the doorway. This facilitates access since mobility aids including wheelchair footrests are sometimes used to push or prop open doors.