Posts Tagged ‘UD = EZ’

Tweetle UD

Todd Hawkins

 

Dec 12 |06:49

Follow us @BuilderFish on Twitter

I learn best by breaking down the complex into smaller parts so I decided to teach Universal Design on our Twitter page by posting daily UD tips (i.e. limited to 144 characters for those who don’t tweet). Follow us by clicking here or the graphic to the right>>>>>>

I don’t want you to miss if you aren’t on Twitter so I’m pasting below the tips I’ve tweeted so far and will try to remember to provide here every so often.

  • Every owner and renter should learn about Universal Design because UD makes home life easier and more flexible.
  • Universally designed homes are  naturally multigenerational/flexible (e.g. people of any age or ability can use a zero step entrance).
  • Every home should have at least one zero step, flush threshold entry with 36″ door.
  • In a Lifetime Home, no outlets should be lower than 18″ to prevent stooping. You should easily reach both standing or seated.
  • Universal Design and “aging-in-place” (a phrase I hate) are also known as Better Living Design.
  • There’s no real point in having a curbed shower, and shower drains do not have to go in the middle of the floor.
  • Lever door handles are more efficient and flexible to use than traditional doorknobs. Plus kids cannot destroy as easily.
  • Universal Design is inherently multigenerational. UD is easiest and convenient for people of all ages and abilities, therefore multi-gen.
  • UD is kid-friendly, not only for “aging-in-place”. In Brazil, Universal Design is preferred by their younger population.
  • Among solutions for creating zero step entry: via garage, gently sloped earthen ramp or inset rim atop basement wall.
  • Real estate investors should adopt UD to make their props convenient, efficient and more marketable to a larger pool of buyers or tenants.
  • Socially sustainable housing starts with you sustaining yourself by being able to stay in your home no matter what.

If you’d rather learn everything in one place and/or assess your property inside and out, don’t forget to visit the Lifetime Home Survey, which we update quarterly.

 

Lifetime Home Survey UPDATED

Todd Hawkins

 

Jan 19 |09:04

 

Recycle your house into a Lifetime Home

This is the first revision of the LTHS since I posted the original in October. (Click “What is a Lifetime Home?” if you have no idea what I’m talking about.)

Changes include:

  • new products we’ve discovered and/or are now using
  • replacing any mention of fluorescent with LED lighting
  • multiple embedded hyperlinks to source material, additional information or manufacturers/vendors

There are numerous active links (anything underlined blue, all dot-coms as well as the green title of the document) to make the surveys convenient and save you time Googling. Click the underlined text and you’ll be taken to that web site. If you rest your mouse pointer over blue underlined words, you should see the web address to which you’ll be re-directed when you click those words. Email me and I’ll forward as raw PDF attachments if it’s not working.

Remember, because I’ve added and deleted since the original, the line items have changed. Please reference the version date at the top and specific line item if you have a question so we’re on the same page.

Click this link or see the Lifetime Home Survey tabs on the home page of this blog or main site to download the mini- and full version PDFs.

Questions or comments?

 

Epic Fail at Zero Steps

Todd Hawkins

 

Jan 11 |11:29
Wexford_graded_lot

What a missed opportunity. Do you see it? Notice what might’ve been?

Instead there will be exterior steps to every entrance when, with only a dash of forethought and proactive design, there could’ve been zero steps and a flush threshold entrance at each entry point on the main level. Instead of step-free ease, residents and visitors will climb to a doorway on an essentially flat lot in a new neighborhood of mostly level parcels.

This is how inaccessibility becomes baked in from groundbreaking, due only to lazy design and construction. This sows the seeds of future ramps, which are the worst “cure” for correcting an at best inconvenient and at worst prohibitive entry into any home (i.e. imagine using a walker or wheelchair, and in bad weather).

Alternately, there could’ve been no steps and a wide, roll-in entrance for maximum convenience, safety and ease for anyone of any age or ability, carrying stuff, pushing a baby stroller, pulling luggage or lugging groceries. What would the movers prefer?

 

Erasing Steps

Todd Hawkins

 

Dec 14 |15:40
Ud_lot_prep_sloping

 

How do you eliminate exterior steps to an entrance? Shortest answer assuming new construction, site work in combination with moving the house up or down. For retrofits, you’re limited mostly to moving dirt or finding an alternative entrance (like through a garage, carport, etc).

 

The lay of the land determines your options and, in either case, you simply need to plan. If you’re dealing with more than a three foot rise, then it’s going to be tough but not necessarily impossible.

 

Otherwise, you grade for a gentle slope to the door, which might include a switch-back and/or retaining wall (think pavers for landscaping), not less than a 1:20 ratio (i.e. maximum slope of 1 inch rise per 20 inches) over the pathway, known as a “walking ramp” or earth berm because it doesn’t require railing or curbs. (The slope of literal ramps shouldn’t be less than a 1:12 ratio.) But higher the ratio the better assuming the lot isn’t ideally flat.

 

Sometimes it’s instructive to describe what’s typically done and visualize the opposite. So let’s pretend a house built atop a full basement. Typically the builder digs a hole, pours a basement, plunks the floor joists atop the basement walls, constructs the house and builds steps up to the front door.

 

Inset_rim_for_floor_joists

 

Same scenario except plan for a zero step and flush threshold entry, we gently grade, flatter the better, to the door. One method of “lowering the house” is using an inset rim atop the foundation walls, which only amounts to pouring an extra course of concrete, and placing the floor joists WITHIN the basement walls atop the inset rim.

 

Finally, every situation has its own problems to solve but we’re not talking rocket science. Simply slapping up steps everywhere is lazy design and construction and can be avoided in support of maximum convenience and safety if the designer and contractor merely pull on their thinking caps.
 

Lifetime Home Survey

Todd Hawkins

 

Oct 25 |11:17

 

I was on a mission and took six months developing the Lifetime Home Survey (LTHS), which was born of a single negative comment following a post class, feedback form. Without ever knowing his name, I still picture the disgruntled attendee with arms crossed, an engineering type who frowned the entire presentation.

His comment? “Didn’t give specific measurements!” I purposely avoided getting technical to reduce the likelihood of audience slumber; but, after reading Mr. Unhappy Engineer’s feedback, I vowed, “Metrics you want, measurements thou shall get!”

Call me obsessive compulsive but, with Mr. Unhappy Engineer’s scowl burned into my mind, what began as a simple checklist grew (out of control?) into a whole house assessment. I referenced 17 documents and architect teammate Charles Hendricks proofread the final product, what we believe to be THE most comprehensive Universal Design home assessment resource currently available on the web.

More Information