IN DARLING I'M GOING TO THE BATHROOM.
IF I'M NOT OUT IN 1 HOUR GET THE BIG HAMMER
First Published in Architect & Specifiers Bulletin Feb.2019
Filed at Architecture & Design website Feb,2019
( loo, dunny, bog or shit house in Australia ) access toilet, lavatory, wheelchair toilet, disabled toilet
I'm Hardware or Wheelchair Access Doors & Rescue Hardware For WC doors
IF I'M NOT OUT IN 1 HOUR GET THE BIG HAMMER
First Published in Architect & Specifiers Bulletin Feb.2019
Filed at Architecture & Design website Feb,2019
( loo, dunny, bog or shit house in Australia ) access toilet, lavatory, wheelchair toilet, disabled toilet
I'm Hardware or Wheelchair Access Doors & Rescue Hardware For WC doors
Wheelchair access
doors and rescue equipment in both AS 1428 and the National Construction Code
can be
onerous and costly. This report
provides details for an alternate system for aged care facilities and cottage
work. AS1428 is very specific and expert
advice on the location of doors is required.
NCC Clause F2.5 requires a
‘rescue door’ wherever a doorway is less than 1200mm from a WC pan. Frail aged persons living at home should
also
have rescue doors fitted to all toilets for best practice. Other code compliant manual door and hardware
rescue systems are described below.
rescue systems are described below.
A ALTERNATE SYSTEM - SIMPLY ECONOMICAL AND
BUILDABLE
The ‘Angle-Shoe’
pivot system is for simple
double acting doors (opening both in and out). Refer to the
drawing below. The PAS35 pivots (fig. 1) have been designed
for 35mm doors to 35kg. The door is held
in
the closed position by a pair of magnets with privacy provided by a surface
mounted indicator bolt inside with an emergency coin slot outside. The privacy
bolt and door furniture can be chosen to suit the budget and availability.
For rescue, release the privacy bolt from
outside and open the door outwards. The hardware retails for less
than a total
of AUD$100.00 and all the elements are easy to install. The magnets are made by ‘Delf’, ‘Precision’
and ‘Zanda’ (fig. 2). To retro-fit the pivots into existing cottage work is simple and easy with the re-use of both
and ‘Zanda’ (fig. 2). To retro-fit the pivots into existing cottage work is simple and easy with the re-use of both
doors and timber frames. Howard Styles, the writer of this report,
makes the Angle-Shoe PAS35 pivots in
his Canberra workshop and wishes to declare a
financial interest.
B EXISTING SYSTEMS - PROS AND CONS
1 Lift-off hinges. An inward
opening rescue door with lift-off hinges may be heavy. A tool in a coin slot can
retract a privacy
bolt so the door can be opened-in sufficiently to assess the situation. If somebody has
collapsed behind the door
then lifting the door off the hinge pins is difficult while preventing the door
falling
on the injured person behind it.
The lift-off hinge (fig. 3) has an Australian pattern of screw holes to
match
standard metal door frames. ‘McCallum’, ‘Trio’ and others make suitable
products. Light doors and lifting
handles would make lift-off hinges a much
better product.
2 Outward opening doors comply
and solve part of the problem. Often hydraulic door closers are requested
to
stop open-out doors impeding pedestrian traffic, particularly in corridors in
healthcare facilities. Door closers
can solve the problem but are difficult to
use for the frail aged, wheelchair users and those with walking aids.
3 Double acting pivot doors (which
open both in and out) provide a reliable solution (fig.4). These quality
products are most commonly used in major healthcare facilities. ’Allegion’, ’Stanley’ and others make the
hardware. The pivots and the escape stop are ideal for heavy solid core doors.
The purchase price of the
kit is good value however both the door and the frame
preparation to house the hardware is time consuming
as each component requires
a different template, cut-out, fixing tabs and/or backplates. Casual night
staff
attending to a problems in an aged care facility may not discover the
retractable stop to allow the door to open
outwards for a timely rescue.
4 Surface mounted sliding doors, mounted
internally, may be obstructed by an injured person who has
fallen
against the door. Forcing the door to the open position may aggravate
injuries. Surface sliding doors
mounted
externally are unusual in healthcare facilities. They interrupt wall protection
rails and reduce the
width of the corridors.
All sliding doors for wheelchair access need to be much wider than the
850mm
minimum clear opening width to comply with AS1428. The clearance around
pull handles in the code
determines the door width. In new cottage work careful planning can make
externally mounted sliding
rescue doors an easy low cost option using
lightweight doors & durable sliding door hardware.
5 Pocket doors (cavity sliding doors) particularly
quality rescue doorframe and hardware kits are ideal for commercial
projects (eg. ‘CS Cavity Sliding Doors’).
They do need to be wide to ensure that the handles
comply with
AS1428. The door leaf width will be
close to 1020 wide for a minimum standard size wheelchair door.
They need to be considerably wider than the
required 850mm minimum clear opening width.
A complete kit of
quality parts is best suited to hospitals and other
healthcare facilities where cost planning for these costly products
works
best. For retro-fitting into existing
work substantial demolition is required for cavity sliders. In new cottage
work
cavity sliders can be a good solution for WC rescue doors. Aim for a clear opening of 750mm (Min.
600mm).
6 Reduced swing (bi-fold) doors are
available as a proprietary system (fig 5). The door opening has one
large leaf
and one half leaf hinged together in a bi-fold arrangement with a sliding door
head track. They are
quality products
for top-end hospital work. The doors both slide and pivot to open. They
protrude into the
compartment space by about half the width of the large door
leaf which follows a quarter elliptical path.
Certification by BRANZ indicates
they meet the requirements of the NCC and AS1428. The push/pull/slide
door
motion can be unfamiliar for the frail aged. ‘Allegion' and ‘Spence Doors’
together supply door, frame and
hardware required. Care with handing is
required.
7 Light doors are excellent things. Honeycomb core doors to AS 2688 & AS
2689 are pressed into a light
torsion box of surprising strength, straightness
and squareness. They can resist a lot of
abuse and more
importantly the light doors do not cause much damage to
adjacent surfaces. They can also be replaced cheaply
and easily.
Prepared by Howard
Styles - Door & Hardware Specialist Architect - Canberra - Australia 14 February 2019
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