door widths - too narrow?

[js.b1]

Heh, Door Width is =3D/=3D Clear Opening Width.

View a doorway. When the door opens, the door "end" still restricts the width. This reduced opening is called the Clear Opening Width.

For a wheelchair you need 750mm Clear Opening Width for Direct Approach.

You can remove this "door end" from the width by using Clear Swing hinges. = These are cranked hinges which pull the door away, Hafele make some at =A32=

9 a pair. There are other makes & solutions out there (some nasty thin rubb= ish overpriced things too as is traditional with anything care related :-)

Very often a doorway will have 1/2" to the wall each side, or even 1". So y= ou can replace the door frame to get yourself up to 775-780mm with a slim f= rame. That avoids replacing the lintel above (or providing one in the first= place, cough).

If you are in a wheelchair, you need someone to DIY and someone who Cares a= nd Loves, you do not need nanny state clipboards. Of course, that is not th= e point of the care industry, with its long drives, country mansions and NH= S to public ripping off. (Hint a =A318 green made in Korea green cushion is= NSH white screen printed and sold to them at =A3488 each, literally millio= ns is being gouged out that COULD go on preventative & curative patient car= e. Likewise alternating air mattresses are under =A3275 yet can be flogged = at =A31750 if you buy one... =A3899 if you buy 3).

[news12paul]

Thanks for all the comments, even if there was rather more about part M and less strident opinion about narrow doorways than I expected :-)

Latest idea - sliding doors, which don't encroach on the room at all. Not sure about their use for bedrooms, though.

[Hugo Nebula]

In order: a) No it's not. b) Disabled access isn't bollocks. c) Whilst Part M is a relevant requirement to determine whether an alteration is material, its application to dwellings is specifically excluded by that part; irrespective of the above, the guidance only relates to habitable rooms within the principal entrance storey of the dwelling, and a WC.

Which is between 750-800mm clear opening width depending on the approach, if applicable.

It may be flat pack going in, will it be flat going out? You still sometimes need the extra width to manouvre tall or wide items.

Too late.

[Hugo Nebula]

In the same way, I would conclude that my breaking into your house is unlawful but not illegal, if the police/CPS don't charge me- "it's not a crime if you don't get caught".

[Huge]

It is when you force everyone to do it at their own expense on the off-chance that a disabled person may need access.

[polygonum]

Absolutely agreed it is not bollocks. But what I have come to realise forcefully is that it is very one-dimensional. The needs of the person near me are nothing to do with ramps and steps, door widths and grab rails. They happen to be things like temperature and heating, humidity and air movement, noise and light. Even the use of the wheelchair symbol as a generic identification of disability - whilst entirely understandable in terms both of it being chosen and by people seeing it

- pushes the focus onto that specific physical issue and seems to ensure that other physical issues are focred into the shadows.

[charles]

as I learned on a course about 20 years ago, only 10% of disabled people use a wheelchair.

[Tim+]

Indeed. Our downstairs loo is tiny and narrow. Utterly useless for anyone in a wheelchair but actually much easier for my late father who had severe balance and mobility problems as he could use the walls and sink for support. In a bigger room he would have needed more assistance.

Tim

[SteveW]

Even more so non-physical issues, such as mental health (my wife is a Community Psychiatric Nurse, so I hear of the many problems her patients encounter).

SteveW

[polygonum]

I realised that my post ignored mental health issues - not intended to dismiss them but outside my experience at these levels.

[The Natural Philosopher]

And the ones that DO, and cant stagger on crutches, need a f*ck site more in a house than the ability to drive a wheel chair round it. It's bollocks not because disability isn't something that needs to be considered, its bollocks because the measures simply are a pathetic sop to the disability lobby and don't address the fundamental problems of disability, at all.

[Fredxx]

Is your argument that you can get a criminal record for fitting the wrong size doors as well as breaking and entering?

In which I case I think you're rather mistaken.

[Tim Watts]

My loo is in an alcove in our small bathroom, meaning to the right is an external wall corner and to the left is the door opening, both just forward of the loo and about a foot away.

When I had my hernias fixed and all forms of abdominal muscle contraction (eg standing up, getting out of bed) hurt like a mother f*** bitch from hell, I was indeed extremely grateful for those two grab points.

Now I know what it feels like to be decrepid - but not anymore thankfully :) Does make you appreciate good health.

[Tim Watts]

The only bit of that side I know of is that "failure to notify" (for building regs purposes) is a non indictable offense which means magistrates court, limited gaol/fine and limited time to bring a presecution.

I am not sure if that means it is a "criminal offence" - anyone comment?

[Chris J Dixon]

Indeed it does. My recovery was, thankfully, surprisingly fast, but I can still remember what a sneeze felt like :-(

Chris

[tony sayer]

Indeed it does. I think those who dream up the wrong regs should spend a few weeks in a chair. I did after a serious accident certainly makes you think of practical things differently!...

[Hugo Nebula]

Theoretically, yes. The differences are about the chances of detection, the likelihood of an action being brought, the level of fines, etc.

IANAL; are you?

[Weatherlawyer]

Upstairs rooms don't or didn't come into disability concerns. But unless a member of the household is disabled, who is going to know or care?

You could just fit a pair of doors. I.e. the door size you want and make the space up with a lump of wood on hinges.