Accessible Home: Planning a Basement Escape Route in Your Home
By Rossetti, Rosemarie; Action Magazine,Publication Date: September 4, 2007
Article discusses wheelchair access to and emergency escape routes from a home basement. Wheelchair access solutions mentioned include elevators, stairway lifts, and vertical platform lifts. Wheelchair accessible exterior basement doors are recommended as a useful emergency exit. The author, who uses a wheelchair following spinal cord injury, describes the accessibility features she is planning for the basement of a national demonstration home she is building, the Universal Design Living Laboratory (http://www.udll.com). Wheelchair access will be provided by a National Wheel-O-Vator (http://www.wheelovator.com) limited-use elevator. A Cummins Onan (http://www.cumminsonan.com) natural gas-powered standby generator will be installed for operating the elevator in the event of a power outage. The egress solution chosen is the ScapeWEL Window Well System, consisting of a 5-foot by 4-foot slider ScapeVIEW Series 6000 Foundation Window and a high-density polyethylene ScapeWEL Window Well featuring a terraced step design.
Assistive Products Discussed: WHEEL-O-VATOR VERTICAL PLATFORM LIFT (MODELS RE, BC, HBC, CDE, HCDE, PCDE, & HPCDE)
Published by: United Spinal Association (Website:http://www.unitedspinal.org)
Link to text: http://www.unitedspinal.org/publications/action/2007/09/04/accessible-home-planning-a-basement-escape-route-in-your-home/
