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Accessible Solutions: Ranch Houses

Solving specific accessibility challenges in ranch-style homes.
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Challenge: How can we make our house wheelchair accessible without a ramp that calls the neighborhood's attention to my husband's disability? My husband has multiple sclerosis and will soon have to use a wheelchair. We have lived for a number of years in a 1 story ranch house. The front stoop is two steps up from the driveway and there is a 3" step up from the stoop at the front door.

Solution: Your accessibility problem can be solved by looking at it as a design opportunity to enhance your home. A fairly typical layout for 1950-60's era ranch house subdivisions was the elimination of the traditional front entry walk in favor of a wide driveway. The front door was accessed via this driveway and the traditional front porch was reduced to a stoop. The design result was that the garage door rather than the front door is visually emphasized from the street. The 3" step up at the front door affords weather protection to the interior.

A design solution suggested is to enlarge and raise the front stoop to the height of the interior floor, providing weather protection at the threshold with a new porch roof that will give more visual emphasis to the front door. The new porch can be reached by a gently sloping entry walk from further down the driveway. The "ramping" can be achieved by building up the grade and adding landscaping to enhance the new accessible walkway. This will afford better access for your husband in a wheelchair and a more gracious entryway for visitors. Your only "loss" is the elimination of the short cut from the garage door to the front door.

A porch roof may require a zoning variance if your ranch house is minimally set back from the street. A sketch plan of existing conditions and a possible design solution are shown.

From Paraplegia News, published by the Paralyzed Veterans of America
PVA accepts no responsibility for any errors or omissions in the information published herein and does not endorse any company or any of the products or services advertised on this web site.

Text by Paralyzed Veterans of America
© 2001 Paralyzed Vetrans of America

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