Stairs, Lifts, Halls

STAIRS

Statistics from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) tell us that 1 in 7 people will be injured and require hospitalization due to a stairway accident, sometime in their lives. Truly barrier-free houses will have no stairs to contend with, but families may experience changes in member mobility. If you have a house with stairs and wish to make them safer, there are ways to do so.

First, check out stairway lighting. You must be able to see clearly to avoid stair accidents. Overhead lights at top and bottom stair landings are minimum requirements. Lighting can also be added in the risers between stairs, for unshadowed lighting on the steps themselves. Or, light fixtures can be recessed into the walls that enclose the stairs.

Keep in mind that many code-approved standards are only guidelines and are not the optimum possible standards from a safety standpoint. Stair and hall widths of 3 ft. are commonly code approved, but these minimum widths may prove inadequate for meeting special needs. For a person confined to a wheelchair, or with limited mobility, standard code measurements can be confining. Halls and stairways are not only easier to travel through if they are 4 ft. wide, but moving furniture in or out becomes a much more agreeable task if you can fit it around corners.

By the same token, code requirements for stair risers and treads can be unacceptable for safety generally, especially so for those with limited mobility. Common code requirements for tread width dictate 9 in., which is less than the length of most adult feet. This means that you cannot fit your entire foot on most stair treads. Carpeting the stairs can reduce usable tread width to 8 or even 7 in., and this narrow tread invites injury from falling. Build stair treads that are at least 11 in. wide, so you can fit your entire foot on the tread for safety. By the same token, codes may permit a riser height - the distance between steps - of 8 in, maximum. But this comparatively high step can cause a person to stub a toe on the riser. It is much better to limit riser height to 7 in.

Remember, too, that carpeting the stairs reduces the usable tread width by the thickness of carpet and padding. Carpet can be warm and soft underfoot, and can help noiseproof the stairs to sleeping areas. But carpet can also be a safety hazard for those who are unsteady on foot. If you insist on carpeting for stairs, use only tightly-woven carpet with no loops or high nap to tangle with feet and cause a fall. For padding, insist on 1/4-in. thick commercial (dense) padding to minimize falling caused by reduced tread width. Avoid using carpets that have textures or patterns; they may make steps hard to see because they present a continuous background.

Handrails

Handrails for stairs, to be truly useful, should be able to support the weight of an adult without breaking. If you inspect the handrails in your own home, you may find the railing too poorly fastened (with short screws), too thick to grip, or too weak to support your weight in an emergency. For home safety, whatever your physical capabilities, be sure the handrails are of proper size and properly installed.

Handrails often are installed at 32 in. above the stair treads, but 36 in. is a better height for support in the event of a fall. The handrail should be secured with brackets, screwed into wall studs with screws no less that 1 1/2 in. long for wall-board, 2 in. long minimum if the screw passes through plaster. Unscrew existing screws and check to be sure that they are tight, that they are driven into studs, not just into plaster lath, and that you have wall brackets spaced at 4-ft. intervals. The wood rail should be a standard handrail - 1 1/2 in. in diameter. This diameter is large enough to provide good handrail strength, but small enough so that you can clasp fingers and thumb completely around the rail, and therefore have a good grip.

Pull hard upon the handrail to check that it is securely fastened to the wall, not loose or wiggly. If the handrail is set on top of stair balusters, check the balusters to be sure they are not loose. Finally, the end of the handrail should curve inward at the bottom and top steps, to signal that you are at the end of the stair run. Handrails that end too abruptly leave you wondering where the stairs end and can present a real hazard to the occupant.

Lifts

For those who cannot negotiate stairs at all, stairway lifts that travel on a rail are available. A fold-up seat permits occupants to fold the seat out of the way when the stairs are used by foot travelers, and to fold the seat down when a passenger wishes to ride the lift. To find a dealer for these stairway lifts, check the Appendix in the back of this book or look in the Yellow Pages under "Elevators - Sales and Service."

HALLS

All passageways in a home should be a minimum of 4 ft. wide. Codes will accept 3-ft. wide halls, a minimum that was adapted for postwar housing, when one conserved floor space by building at minimum room sizes. But anyone who has ever tried to negotiate a stairway or hall while moving a queen- or king-sized mattress knows that 3 ft. is hardly the desirable width for passage.

A wheelchair occupant can pass through a hall that is 3 ft. wide. But this narrow width will not permit a wheelchair to turn from the hall into a room, through a 32-in. wide door. You can re-move the narrow 32-in. door and replace it with a 3-ft. wide door to let a wheelchair make the turn from the hall through the door. Much better, however, is to build the hallway at least 4 ft. wide, and to keep hall lengths at the very minimum length, to reduce barriers as much as possible.

Floor covering in a hall can be vinyl, hardwood, or tightly woven carpet. Remember that carpet and padding thickness can become a real problem to those who are infirm or use a wheelchair. Choose floor covering carefully for high-traffic areas such as halls.

Written by Gary Branson
Reprinted with permission. Copyright HouseNet, Inc.

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