How Wide Is Your Door?

In the last couple of blogs, I’ve detailed what’s necessary for a safe entrance. Spacious, clear, easy-to-navigate entryways get you indoors. Now that you’re inside, how do you stay safe?

One of the requirements for a truly safe home is having wide enough passage from room to room regardless of your physical condition. For the most part, we tend to take door widths for granted. But what if you use a walker? What if you or a family member has an accident and needs crutches or a wheel chair for a period of time?

Are all your doors wide enough?

Standard Door Versus Safe Door

Google door widths and you’ll find site after site talking about standard door widths ranging from 24 to 36 inches.

Now go check your doors.

Chances are – a door at least 32 inches (the ideal width is 36”) is rare and it’s likely you have none that wide at all. In fact, traditional construction mainly uses 28-inch doors and surprisingly, new construction hasn’t changed that. So unless you happen to have rooms with double doors, you don’t have doors that adapt to you and the other residents of your household.

So let’s assume your family’s in good shape with no door width issues. How about your visitors? Visitablilty – a national trend in home design – approaches home design to enable anyone with mobility impairments to visit your home easily. Supporters of this movement want to change new home construction practices so that virtually all new homes can safely accommodate everyone who steps inside the house.

That’s great for new construction. It doesn’t address what to do if your home is already built with doors that are tool narrow for easy passage.

Stay tuned for my next blog on how to widen doors and what kind of costs you can expect.

Live easy,

~Jeanette