A little bit means a lot

Lately, because I can't use my walker I've been using the power wheelchair to get around the house much as I have used it to get around outside.  This has taught me to be a much safer driver and has also taught me the value of just a small distance.

Probably the largest problem negotiating my way around the house has been getting through doorways.  My chair is 25.5 inches wide whereas our doorways are 29, 31, and 32 inches wide.  That should mean I have from 2.5 to 6.5 inches clearance room.  This picture shows the doorway with the door swung open.  The 28 inches has lost .5 inches on one side because of molding and 2 inches on the other side because the door is still blocking the way.  So now my  clearances are 0 to 4 inches.

All I need to do,  you say, is widen all the doorways.  That's true and I'm in the process of doing that unintentionally with my chair.

Invention to the rescue!  Turns out that one of the major door hinge makers also make an offset hinge that recovers all of the space taken by the door.  As part of their Christmas gift to us Jessica and Jon installed three sets of hinges this week.  They're marvelous!

Look below at how the offset hinge moves the fulcrum back and to the side, effectively moving the door from the doorway. There are, of course, situations where these won't work but for the majority of cases, they're marvelous.

	Old Hinge	New Hinge
Space taken up by door
Inside view
Outside view