Visit-Able Homes, Visit-Able Communities
All 67 houses at East Lake Commons are Visitable. We agreed on this value at our first
decision-making meeting
in 1997.
What Is Visit-Ability?
Most homes have steps at every entrance, and bathroom doors that are narrower than other interior passage doors such as bedroom doors.
Visitable homes have
--one ZERO-STEP entrance, at the front, side or back depending on terrain
--32 inches clear passage through all interior doors, including bathrooms
--at least a half bath (preferably a full
bath) on the main floor
Visitable homes are deliberately designed with basic access for residents who do NOT have disabilities. Visitability is a campaign for basic access features to become standard in all new homes, through legislation, voluntary implementation, market forces and strong advocacy.
What Are The Benefits?
Homes
in the community can welcome guests who use
wheelchairs or walkers, or have some other form of mobility impairment.
Mobility-impaired people are not isolated by architecture.
All residents are more likely to be able to remain in their existing homes, rather than having to do extensive, expensive renovation—or move to another house or a nursing home-- if a family members develops a disability though illness, accident or aging.
All
residents find it easier to bring in baby strollers, grocery carts, heavy
furniture......
Sale and re-sale of the homes is enhanced in an era where the senior demographic is growing rapidly and adults are attracted to homes that welcome their aging parents and provide easy-use homes for themselves.
Visitability features cost little up front---unlike the much higher after-the-fact cost of renovation for widening doors and adding ramps.
Visitability is a green issue –widening existing doors and replacing existing steps wastes materials and energy.
Visitability features are easy to construct on most terrain, visually unnoticeable, and allow increased flexibility in selling or renting homes. On new construction, a zero-step entrance can usually be incorporated without a “ramp” by grading so that the sidewalk meets a
(over)
porch. On the 40% of homes built on a concrete slab, the zero-step entrance is extremely easy. On homes with basements or crawl spaces, solutions such as siting the home properly on the lot, using a porch as a bridge to the sidewalk, creative use of small retaining walls, constructing the zero-step entrance from the garage, and other methods can provide easy zero-step entry.
All interior passage doors need to be a minimum of 2'10", which leaves 32" clear space when the door is open at 90 degrees. Although 2’10” doors are not yet commonly available at a home improvement store, they are readily available from the door companies from which builders buy their supplies. 3'0" doors are excellent where space permits. Pocket (sliding) doors are another option to obtain 32 inches of clear passage space. Special attention needs to be paid to the bathroom door because this is the one typically smaller than other doors on house plans.
It’s not essential (although it can be helpful) to have a large turning radius inside a residential bathroom. In a small bathroom, a wheelchair user can roll in forward and roll out backward. But it is essential to have at least a 32" clear path to the commode. The bathroom door can be hinged to swing out rather than in to give a person using a wheelchair enough room to shut the door when inside the room.
For more information, contact
Eleanor Smith, director of Concrete Change, at 404-378-7455, or at
concretechange@mindspring.com. For additional background and construction
information see the website at www.concretechange.org
For information on helping to
promote the first national Visitability bill, the Inclusive Home Design Act,
contact Darrell Price at darrell@accessliving.org