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[w3526602]

Hi,

More OT stuff, but maybe it's something of which we should all be aware.

My search was for EMERGENCY EXIT FROM BUNGALOW BY WHEEL CHAIR USERS. I get the feeling that the spiel that follows relates to public or commercial premises.

As you have probably guessed, my specific interest is in getting Barbara out of our bungalow. The previous (and original) owner of this bungalow (built in early/mid 1980) seems to have had all the windows and external doors replaced by uPVC units. Unfortunately, she seemed to have chosen the "cheapo" option, with the door frames having four sides ... there are three inch high "upstands" across the bottom of the doors when open. NOT wheelchair friendly.

My builder solved that problem on the front door, by removing the entire frame, moving it out three inches, then dropping by nearly three inches, so that the top of the bottom cross-rail is just a smidgen  above floor level. The door just clears a rubber backed door mat.  He then lifted brick paved drive to match.

The rear exit kitchen door is more complicated, as the side window is integral. Similarly, the conservatory door, only more so.

Many yonks ago, driving home, I spied a crowd of rubber-necks watching smoke pouring out of a front door. I forced my way through the crowd (as you do), and ran in through the front door, through into the kitchen, where I found a curtain, behind the gas stove, on fire. I used a conveniently places saucepan, bubbling on a gas ring, to put the flames out, and departed on my toes, back through the front door. As I climbed back into my car, I could here the fire engine coming. The fire station was about half a mile away.

I doubt that I spent more than 20 seconds in the house, but my throat and lungs hurt for several days. I won't do that again.

To the point ... our bungalow is timber-framed, with a suspended wooden floor.  If, somehow, a fire started between Barbara and the front door, she would be unable to exit through the front door.

Comments and/or suggestions, please, on a plain brown postcard.

602

PS... I've just realised/noticed that all our light switches are 1.35 metres above floor level, Barbara needs her stick to switch them ON/OFF. There is something in my mind, from my self build, that switches should be at 1.2 metres. But its been nearly 40 years since I needed to know that, and things are getting vague. Anybody?

[w3526602]

Hi,

That was 1.3 metres between floor and centre of switch. I have now done a Google ...

Switches should be between 900mm and 1100mm above the floor.

Sockets, including TV arial and telephone points, should be at least 400mm above floor level.

There was no mention (where I looked) about the height of switch sockets above kitchen work tops.

It didn't say where the switch/socket "datum" is.

602

[coffeeblack]

i am in the new build game...

Disabled access is specified by part M of the building regs. In a nutshell the front door has to have 775mm clear opening including any handle when the front door is open. This requires a 1m structural opening to accommodate the frame.

power sockets in kitchens are a bit more vague, norms are 150mm above worktop, 300mm min distance from a sink, 100mm from hob.

[w3526602]

Hi Coffeeblack,

Thanks for swift reply.

Hmmm! the front door itself is 800mm wide, but there is a 20mm rim around the inside of the frame, so the hole is actually 760mm wide.

But more dramatically, when the door is opened through 90*, the thickness of the door takes another 50mm off the width, but as the door overlaps the rim, the effect is only 30mm intrusion. that give us a clear gap (calculated) of 750mm.  My tape measure says its 770mm.    Whatever, both figures are a smidgen under your 775mm. Put that one on the "back boiler".

The kitchen door gap, into the conservatory, measures at 640mm.

The conservatory door, out into the garden, measures 690mm.

Both kitchen and conservatory doors are immediately followed by a step down, but its the frame across the bottoms of both doorways, that prevent Barbara's power-chair passing through. In the three years we have lived here, Barbara has never been in the conservatory, nor the back garden. She could still walk, sort of, when we moved here.

OT (slightly) ... when Barbara suddenly became incapable of walking through the front door, Social Services provided a ramp with a flap to get over the three inch threshold. Their first attempt was a ramp with a 1:5 gradient. Barbara's buggy's anti-tip wheels grounded on the ramp.  The Social Worker, and fabricator returned the following day, with a second ramp ... gradient of 1:7, which did work. But I was not happy on it, and my knees have deteriorated much further, and I would now be VERY unhappy on it. I believe the maximum gradient for domestic use is !:12. ?  Academic, as we have paid our builder £8,000 to lift the brick drive in a very gentle slope, and brick pave the front garden. Does anybody remember the car shunting scenes, in the TV series Butterflies? If anybody wanted to get their car out of the front garden, everybody else had to move their cars.  We haven't got enough cars to re-enact that scene, but even if we did have enough cars, it wouldn't be necessary.

[coffeeblack]

a building only requires one disabled entrance and it doesn't have to be the front door, for example bifold or french doors could be used.

Ramps are a problem especially if its steep, a zig zag can be done if its very steep and you have the space.

Very hard and costly applying modern rules to old buildings.

[Simon K.]

I still think you need to berate your GP and get both of you properly fixed. Their lack of care has been woeful. It's what you paid your taxes for.

Simon.

[Wittsend]

I agree ^^^

Something's not not right here.

My mother (when she was alive) got loads of help.

[w3526602]

My mother (when she was alive) got loads of help.

Hi Alan,

Between two and four care workers call four times a day, change whatever purpose build clothing that needs changing, and make us both a snack. In and out in 10 to 15 minutes. One keeps on about our daughter not doing anything ... she's a bank manager, and might take a break off the phone to make me a cup of coffee, while my Grandson walks Wilkie. She visits Saturdays, walks Wilkie and makes us a meal, and does some housework. That is the only time she is available for conversation.

I spend most of my time (when not otherwise occupied) lying on the bed beside Barbara, watching TV.

602