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Handicap
Access and Disability Access Home Renovation
There are 9 areas of one's home that can be renovated to make the home
more comfortable, accessible, and convenient for someone with a
handicap or disability.
Those 9 areas are: Audio/Visual, Bathrooms, Doorways, Electrical,
Elevators and Lifts, Flooring, Kitchens, Ramps and Walkways, and Walls.
One of the most important steps in renovating a home for handicap
access and disability access is finding a general contractor who
specializes in handicap renovation and disability renovation.
One such contractor is Michael Rogers of Distinctive Renovations by
Design in Atlanta, Georgia.
In our previous article entitled "Total Home Renovation for People with
a Handicap and/or Disability" we discussed the first 4 of the
aforementioned areas. In this article we'll take a look at
the final 5 areas.
The first of the final 5 is residential elevators and lifts.
Rogers of Distinctive Renovations by Design says "We install interior
residential elevators that meet all state codes and pass all state
inspections. In addition, we install exterior lift systems that are
fully enclosed and provide safe and secure access to 2nd or 3rd story
areas from the outside. A perfect example of this would be a lift
system attached to a 2nd story deck. These lift systems are also
installed to provide emergency egress from a 2nd or 3rd story area."
"Overhead lift systems," Rogers continues, "allow quadriplegic
individuals to be able to safely and securely move from one area to
another, most usually from a bed to wheelchair and back. A total
overhead lift system is installed throughout an entire room or even
throughout an entire house, giving a quadriplegic individual the
ability to move from any one area within the system to another safely
and securely. Overhead lift systems can be voice commanded or manually
controlled. All of our residential elevator and lifts renovation and
remodeling services are focused on the needs and requirements of our
clients with disabilities.
The next area when it comes to handicap access renovation and
disability access remodeling is flooring. Distinctive Renovations by
Design is an expert designer and installer of all phases of flooring,
from engineered hardwood flooring to standard ¾ inch
flooring, stained to the client’s taste, to all carpets and
burburs, inlays and more. In addition, they install non-slip
vinyl and tile flooring in kitchens and bathrooms and on walkways and
ramps.
Another important area is the kitchen. Distinctive
Renovations by Design designs and remodels kitchens to overcome a
client’s height and/or reach limitations. Kitchen solutions
include installing appliances at various levels, either fixed or
adjustable (able to be lowered and raised in order to accommodate other
non-disabled persons who use the area as well), and custom cabinetry
that utilizes pull-down mechanisms to automatically adjust shelf
heights.
Ramps and Walkways are crucial to making a home more handicap
accessible as well as disability accessible.
As far as ramps, Rogers comments "We build and install custom ramps
built from wood, aluminum or concrete and designed to suit each client.
We employ a number of different techniques when designing ramps. Proper
ramps lower and rise by one inch every foot, so if a client has a
36-inch high door at a home’s front entrance, then we will
design and build a 36-foot ramp to ensure the ramp meets all code
requirements. If space is an issue due to the restrictions on ramps
mentioned above, we can install a lift system that safely and securely
will lift the client into the home. A typical lift system requires no
more than 12 square feet for proper installation and use."
"Walkways," Rogers continues, "are constructed of either concrete or
wood and are designed and installed to complement ramps. For example if
an installed ramp does not reach a finished driveway a walkway can be
installed to connect the ramp with the driveway and create a seamless
path from doorway to driveway."
The ninth and final area to consider when undertaking a handicap access
remodeling or disability access renovation is walls. In order
to increase ease of getting around a home walls can be renovated or
moved entirely. Renovating and moving walls requires an
expertise to know which walls are load bearing
and which are not, as well as how to replace crucial load bearing
structures.
To provide his clients with expert handicap access renovation and
disability access remodeling services, Michael Rogers uses Computer
Aided Design (CAD) and provides a 3-D drawing of the existing home and
then incorporates all of the renovations into the design.
Clients receive a summary of changes and a
breakdown of all of the costs so they understand the full scope of the
work in advance.
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