Blog #5 – Thresholds
Attention to every detail is
key when building an accessible home. A few years ago, I participated in the
construction of an accessible home for a family with two young men in
wheelchairs. I was not involved in the
design, because I came to the project late, but I was actively involved in the
actual construction. Although my
intention was to give back to the community, I actually received more (in the
form of knowledge) than I gave. One of
the small but critical aspects of accessible design is the threshold at
exterior doors.
Thresholds in all commercial
applications are required by law to be not more than ½” high and all commercial
doors are designed to meet this standard; however, residential doors have no
similar requirement. A large supply
company had been approached to participate in the project and offered to supply
windows and doors below cost. I ordered
the double doors for the front entrance and installed them early on so that we
could secure the house. Shortly after
installation, one of the young men came to the home and found it nearly
impossible to enter through the front door, because the threshold was too high
– it was a standard height threshold and was high enough to flip the
wheelchair. Clearly this needed to be corrected.
I did some research and found
that adaptor kits were available. The
kit consisted of an ADA compliant threshold (1/2” high) and a U-shaped piece
that fit on the bottom of the door and would adjust to close the gap created by
lowering the threshold. This is a simple
and easily installed modification to existing exterior doors; however, there
was another issue. These were DOUBLE
doors, which have an astragal – the piece that slides into the threshold and
keeps the stationary door stationary.
Unfortunately, there was no adaptor for the astragal and when the
threshold was lowered, the astragal was too short. The simplest solution was to remove the
double doors and replace the existing door jamb with a unit that included an
accessible threshold. The double doors
were reinstalled and the new threshold works fine.
I contacted the company that
was supplying the remaining exterior doors and requested that they be delivered
with ADA compliant thresholds, which look exactly like standard units, but with
a lower profile. Installation was
uneventful and the wheelchairs rolled smoothly over the thresholds.
I learned two things from
this experience: a) you must specify
ADA compliant thresholds when ordering exterior doors for an accessible home,
because, even if the door company knows they are available, it may not be
intuitive to include them, and b) if you are remodeling or otherwise working
with standard thresholds, adaptor kits are available, except for double doors.
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