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Own
a Universal Design Home
The Universal design home offers features that
make a home easy to inhabit and visit. Whether it is strollers,
grocery carts, wheelchairs, 330-pound football players or
heavy furniture and equipment, all will move easily in a home
that's easy to live in or visit. A home that includes universal
design features also enhances the sale and resale value of
the home.
An Universal Design Home features a zero-step entrance that
allows easy access from a driveway, sidewalk or other firm
route into the central living area. It also offers easy use
with no less than one bedroom, kitchen, some entertainment
space and a bathroom with sufficient maneuvering room for
a person using a wheelchair... all on the main floor.
It allows for easy passage throughout the central living
area because every room has an entry with at least a 32-inch
clear opening.
The Universal Design Home program is designed to encourage
builders of single-family homes to voluntarily implement Universal
Design features. Since Fair Housing regulations cover multi-family
dwellings with four or more units, Universal Design Home limits
certification to single-family detached homes, attached homes
of less than four units and townhouses.
Construction Guidelines for Universal Design
Home Features
The Main Floor
The main floor of an Universal Design Home includes a full
bathroom, one or more bedrooms, a kitchen, and some entertainment
space such as a living room or a den. There must be an accessible
path throughout with no steps between rooms.
Interior Passage Doors
There is a requirement that every room must have an entry
with at least a 32-inch clear opening, including bathrooms.
These 32 inches of clear space, from door stop to door stop,
can be achieved with either a 2'10" door or a 3'0"
door. If desired, the door to the bathroom can be hinged out,
like a closet door, to provide more interior space. Closets
are not required to meet the 32-inch clear passage standard,
but this can be an added advantage where feasible.
Sufficient Maneuvering Space in Bathrooms
A five-foot turning radius is NOT required to meet Universal
Design Home standards. Sufficient Maneuvering Space requires
that a rectangular space no less than 30" by 48"
be available adjacent to the tub, the commode and the sink.
These imaginary rectangles can of course, overlap. Therefore,
this standard is readily achievable in most existing full
bathroom and powder room plans, even small ones, particularly
when the bathrooom door is hinged to swing outward. A wall-hung
or pedestal sink may facilitate designing 30" by 48"
clear-space rectangles adjacent to fixtures because the rectangle
can extend into the toe room beneath the sink, providing useable
space. |
