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BS: Grab bars physically challenged or aged
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BS: Grab bars physically challenged or aged |
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Subject: BS: Grab bars physically challenged or aged From: gnu Date: 11 Mar 13 - 10:00 AM Good info. Type "grab bar"; match exact. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Grab bars physically challenged or aged From: Bill D Date: 11 Mar 13 - 12:54 PM ??? Gnu... that page is about Canadian Housing & Mortgages. "This section of our Web site is your one-stop shop for all free and priced publications, reports and other CMHC resources." |
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Subject: RE: BS: Grab bars physically challenged or aged From: Pete Jennings Date: 11 Mar 13 - 01:23 PM Still celebratin' yer birthday, gnu? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Grab bars physically challenged or aged From: katlaughing Date: 11 Mar 13 - 03:20 PM look on the left...i think there was a link to home health aids |
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Subject: RE: BS: Grab bars physically challenged or aged From: gnu Date: 11 Mar 13 - 03:46 PM Worked for me when I tested the link. No work now. Hit the "search" in the upper right corner. I you weren't on the beer, Pete, you woulda figured that out from my post. >;-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Grab bars physically challenged or aged From: Rapparee Date: 11 Mar 13 - 09:33 PM We recently remodeled a bathroom and placed grab bars where we thought they should be -- not under the shower head, for example. They are NOT just for us old folks -- anyone can fall or need something to grab. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Grab bars physically challenged or aged From: gnu Date: 11 Mar 13 - 10:20 PM GREAT point, Rap. Why Anyone would not install such safety quip when building or otherwise just seems odd to me. There are a lot of more ideas - I design my houses to do LOTS of *things* now or in future. Milk and mail delivery "chests" accessible from INSIDE the house. Provision for a vertical lift between levels.... my aunt was aghast when I consulted on her new house. "I am not in a wheelchair!", she said rather pissedoffedly. That was about 25 years ago. Seemed like a great idea two years ago but she spent the money on architectural features. BTW, we engineers simply do NOT like architects. There are exceptions but I won't get into that. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Grab bars physically challenged or aged From: Pete Jennings Date: 12 Mar 13 - 07:13 AM Hic. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Grab bars physically challenged or aged From: GUEST,maeve... not quite home yet Date: 12 Mar 13 - 07:51 AM gnu- As you know, we're installing several grab bars (possibly including teak boat rails) as we build our post-fire home. Kitchen work surfaces are at varying heights. The object is to make the new house so accessible anyone will feel safe and comfortable without feeling singled out. We've planned for a front door ramp, stair risers are all easy for our elderly relatives to manage, doorways are wide, and interior doors are all pocket doors. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Grab bars physically challenged or aged From: gnu Date: 12 Mar 13 - 08:26 AM Lots of good stuff at CMHC, maeve. Pete... drinkin already? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Grab bars physically challenged or aged From: Rapparee Date: 12 Mar 13 - 09:09 AM We can put a ramp to the front door. What we can't do is widen the interior doors or change the width of the stairs to the lower lever to install handrail (but I'm working on that). Lights on stairs, solid handrails, grab bars, 36" wide doors -- it's not just for the handicapped and the aged any more!!! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Grab bars physically challenged or aged From: katlaughing Date: 12 Mar 13 - 11:19 AM this a timely thread for us as we work to make things safer and more accessible. my rog already had grab bars in the bathroom and outside by the front door. rog added handrails on both sides of the hallway. the biggest problem is getting me off of the toilette! if rog is here no problem. he's getting a set of arms which fix securely to the wall behind the toilet. As i get my strength back and the cast off my rthand, we won't need them, but they'll still be useful. and, it adds value to our house. maeve, your house sounds beautiful!! gnu. i'd want one of yours.:-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Grab bars physically challenged or aged From: Mr Happy Date: 12 Mar 13 - 02:05 PM Are grab bars for tents available? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Grab bars physically challenged or aged From: wysiwyg Date: 12 Mar 13 - 04:59 PM Grab bars for tents would be a quad cane or walker. ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Grab bars physically challenged or aged From: gnu Date: 12 Mar 13 - 05:24 PM Happy... if someone could think up a solution... $$$. kat... my home designs start with the orientation of the home on the property which requires an analysis of the local weather and surrounding land topography and land use. I do it when I design an airport so why not when I design a house? Anyone can put a wheelchair ramp to a door and configure the door and entry to accommodate a wheelchair but it sucks when you get the wheelchair inside and you don't have the storage of it planned for at THAT POINT. Simple stuff but VERY few homes constructed today consider such things. That REALLY astonishes me. I have lobbied to have our codes changed but industry is always "Slap em up as cheap as possible and sell em for as much as the market will bear." The only thing that has been done in such regard is something I fought tooth and nail against... the new energy requirements are sickening. These laws serve the manufacturers of heat recovery ventilators and new tech windows and others. They would be okay if the standards of the required equipment were also regulated STRINGENTLY with options available for operating modes but... right... enough of that shit... I am retired. And I have an old (YOUNG old) house so I don't care anymore. Few people would hire me after word got around about my designs. I was bad mouthed by builders, real estate companies and even government types. That's when I started using references BEFORE any further contact. When questioned by a prospective client I would say only this... all of your electrical receptacles should be installed with the grounds above the hots like they do in hospitals because it's safer. You hire me, that's what you get. Hire anybody else and they will be installed the other way. No difference in price. It's your call. Gee... I an soooo glad I am retired! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Grab bars physically challenged or aged From: Rapparee Date: 12 Mar 13 - 06:48 PM Why do builders insist on putting heating vents or other heat source under windows? Especially windows which don't have a very high R-factor? But even windows with a high R-factor lose their insulating value over time. But I ain't no engenear nor ary a arkitex so I don't know nothin'. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Grab bars physically challenged or aged From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 12 Mar 13 - 07:20 PM I've been thinking about a re-designed crapper. Add a spring, like they have in Jack-in-a-Box, and a lever to pop you up..... Why do they put the furnace near one wall, so that many of the heat conduits are long? The pipes need overcoats. Hard to keep the house at a comfortable 80 F. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Grab bars physically challenged or aged From: JohnInKansas Date: 12 Mar 13 - 08:59 PM The majority of toilets in the US homes are what was called a "low boy" design when the stylists introduced them ca the early 1940s, with the seat sometimes as low as 14" from the floor. This low seat can make it extremely difficult for someone with even slight weakness in the knees (or elsewhere) to get up off the pot. The "handicapped" ceramics used in some public restrooms may be as high as 24"(?) or a little more and are significantly easier to rise from but may be uncomfortable to "think" on for some, and are difficult to find at suppliers who sell to home markets. They also can be very expensive since they're often made from "extra thick" ceramic (to resist vandalism). Most consumer outlets (Lowes, Home Depot, etc) will have "standard high" fixtures that raise the seat to about 18" or 19" and the change often is enough to be very helpful. I swapped one "low" for a "standard" in our previous house, and that was the first change made when we moved into the current house. An additional benefit that may apply in some cases is that the current newer fixtures (the ones we've used) have been very efficient low-flow models that save about 3 gallons per swoosh over the ones removed. You could "try out" whether a change of a couple of inches would be helpful by flipping the seats up, lay a couple of short 2x4s (thin way is 1.5" thick) across the hole and put a flat board on top of them to let your person-of-limited-mobility see if the change will be enough to be helpful. Just make sure the boards aren't too slippy and have a helper standing by when you try this though, since the "seat" won't be really stable unless you get "crafty" and make something more complex and that's more secure. We've found this change more effective than just trying to add grab rails due to existing "surrounding accessories" and although it's about $100 (+/- $20?) if you don't have to pay labor to an installer we think it has been worthwhile. YMMV since every "personal limitation" is a little different. John |
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Subject: RE: BS: Grab bars physically challenged or aged From: Gurney Date: 12 Mar 13 - 10:46 PM I put some toilet grab=handles in for a friend, one horizontal beside the pan, a longer one vertical at a slight stretch forward on the other side. He pronounced them 'perfect.' Helps to have walls there, though. Wish I could find a long shower tray (here) to make the shower doorless. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Grab bars physically challenged or aged From: JohnInKansas Date: 12 Mar 13 - 11:29 PM In the US, there are "standards" for the installation of grab bars, and they give the very good advice that a grab bar is of little use if it's not fastened to something that will stay there when needed. For the most part, the bars are mostly an assist to balance to prevent a fall. In the case where someone does slip, and tries to use the bar to keep from falling (or to land more gently) it's easy to put the bar up where it can come off the wall just when you need it. In cases where a "sturdy bar" is to be frequently used (as for lifting off a potty?) just "screwing something to the wall" is unlikely to be very permanent and may not be particularly safe. The normal recommendation is that a bar should be installed only with screws at least 3" long that go directly into a "stud" in the wall. For some applications installing into the plasterboard using the stronger kinds of anchors* may be helpful, but in some places probably violates the "regulations" and could be considered a "non-compliant" feature you'd have to(?) disclose to potential buyers when you try to sell. (But having an inspector/appraiser who would recognize the "defect" is probably also unlikely.) * Mollly bolts are one of the better things to use where you can't hit a stud. Toggle bolts are often suggested as being a little stronger, but in many cases the wallboard won't really support the higher loads claimed. A possibly helpful reference is at Using Wall Anchors, but be careful about taking the load capacities of any of them at face value. John |
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Subject: RE: BS: Grab bars physically challenged or aged From: katlaughing Date: 12 Mar 13 - 11:42 PM thanks, john...please tell lynn hello and she is missed |
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Subject: RE: BS: Grab bars physically challenged or aged From: JohnInKansas Date: 12 Mar 13 - 11:47 PM kat - Lin has discovered Farcebook and has friends who talk to her about dead relatives, so she's sort of "unsocial" for anything else. I'll pass on the message though, if I find a break when she'll talk to me. John |
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Subject: RE: BS: Grab bars physically challenged or aged From: katlaughing Date: 13 Mar 13 - 10:09 AM well, i'm into dead rellys, too. maybe i'll look her up once i get healed up. hope you're not starving. *bg* |
