Why does my wheelchair not fit through a door that is wider than it?

Two errors that point the same way. The door leaf is not the opening — the stop and the open leaf take typically 50 to 75mm out of it, so a 760mm door is often a 695mm opening. And a chair measured across the wheels needs about 50mm more than that for the hands on the rims. A 700mm chair therefore needs around 750mm, and a 760mm door does not provide it.

What is the cheapest way to widen a doorway?

Usually swing-clear hinges. They move the leaf clear of the opening when the door is fully open, recovering almost all the hardware loss. They fit an existing frame, cost very little, and often remove the problem without any building work.

How long does a ramp need to be?

At 1 in 12, every 100mm of height needs 1.2 metres of run — so an ordinary 200mm step needs 2.4 metres. Anything much higher also needs flat landings part way, each adding its own length, and that is usually what decides whether a ramp fits at all.

Does this tell me whether a home meets accessibility standards?

No, and it deliberately never says so. It compares measurements against figures you choose. Codes vary by country and by the age of a building, they contain exceptions, and meeting a number is not the same as complying with a regulation. That determination needs someone qualified, on site.

Is any patient information involved?

None. Everything here is a building measurement or a piece of equipment. There is nowhere to enter anything about a person, and the CSV contains measurements only.

Home Access Measurement Planner

Q: Which gradient should I use?

That is a judgement rather than a rule, and it is an input here. 1 in 12 is commonly cited for short ramps where someone is assisting; unassisted use generally wants shallower. Set it to whatever you are working to.

Q: Why is the smallest dimension the one that matters for turning?

Because turning through 180 degrees needs the circle to fit in both directions, so a long narrow room does not help. Where a full circle will not fit, a three-point turn often will and needs considerably less — frequently the difference between a bathroom that works and one that has to be reversed out of.

Doorways, ramps and turning space, measured against figures you choose — with the arithmetic shown. Because the door is not the opening, and a single step is a surprising amount of ramp.

Not a compliance check This compares measurements against figures you set. It is not a statement about building regulations, accessibility standards, or whether anything is safe. Codes vary by country and by the age of a building, they have exceptions, and “meets the number” and “compliant” are different claims. That determination needs someone qualified, on site.

Will it go through the door?

Working in

Door leaf width

Measured clear opening (if you have it)

Lost to stop & hinge

Equipment width

Hand clearance

How long does the ramp need to be?

Height to climb

Run available (if limited)

Gradient, 1 in…

Is there room to turn?

Space width

Space depth

Turning circle used

Room by room

The door is not the opening

This is the measurement that catches people, and it catches them after the equipment has been ordered.

A door described as 760mm is the width of the leaf. The clear opening — the gap something actually passes through — is narrower, because the door stop projects into it and the open leaf sits in the way. On standard hinges that is typically 50 to 75mm, so a 760mm door is often a 695mm opening.

Meanwhile a wheelchair measured at 700mm across the wheels needs more than 700mm to pass, because the hands on the rims sit outside the wheels. Allow 50mm and the real requirement is 750mm.

So a door that is nominally wider than the chair does not admit it, by 55mm. Both errors point the same way, which is why they compound instead of cancelling.

The cheap fix nobody mentions: swing-clear hinges move the leaf out of the opening when the door is fully open, recovering almost all of the hardware loss. They cost very little, fit an existing frame, and frequently solve the problem without any building work at all.

A single step is a lot of ramp

At 1 in 12, every 100mm of height needs 1.2 metres of run. A 200mm step — one ordinary step — needs 2.4 metres, which is longer than most front paths are deep.

Anything much above knee height also needs flat landings part way along, and each landing adds its own length on top of the ramp. That is usually the constraint that decides whether a ramp fits at all, and it is worth finding out before the conversation gets as far as quotes.

The gradient itself is a judgement rather than a rule: 1 in 12 is commonly cited for short ramps where someone is assisting, and unassisted use generally wants shallower. Set it to whatever you are working to.

Turning is about the smallest dimension

A long narrow room does not help. Turning through 180 degrees needs the circle to fit in both directions, so the limiting figure is always the shorter of the two.

Where a full circle will not fit, a three-point turn often will, and it needs considerably less — which is frequently the difference between a bathroom that works and one that has to be reversed out of.