A ramp gets someone to the door. It does not get them through it.

What is accessible entry modifications?

Accessible entry modifications make the act of arriving at and getting through a door work: somewhere flat and sheltered to stand, a door that opens without a struggle, a lock that can be operated with cold or weak hands, light where the key goes, and a threshold that does not catch a wheel or a toe. These are separate from the level change - a ramp or a zero-step approach solves getting to the door, and does nothing about any of this.

Signs you need accessible entry modifications

• Someone stands in the weather working the lock because there is no shelter and no light
• The storm door or the main door is heavy enough that opening it from a walker or a chair is a struggle
• The landing outside the door is only just big enough to stand on, with nowhere to put a bag down
• Keys have become hard to grip, turn or find
• The threshold catches a front castor or a toe every time
• Parcels are left on the ground and cannot be picked up
• The person has stopped going out, and getting back in is the part they mention

Seeing something not on this list? Browse aging in place problems by symptom →

How accessible entry modifications actually works

1. 1

   Stand on the landing and do what they do

   Arrive with a bag in one hand and a stick in the other. Find the key, unlock, pull the door open, hold it, get through, close it. That sequence exposes the actual problems, and most of them are about having no free hand and nowhere to stand.

   Watch forA contractor quoting from the driveway. The failures here are only visible from the position the person occupies at the door.

2. 2

   Get a flat, sheltered place to stand, and make it big enough

   A generous level landing outside the door, ideally covered, changes the entry more than almost anything else. It gives room to manoeuvre a walker or a chair clear of the door swing, keeps rain off the person and the lock, and gives somewhere to set a bag down.

   Watch forA landing sized so that the door swing occupies all of it. Someone using a walker has to back up to open an outward door, and if there is nowhere to back up to, the door does not open.

3. 3

   Deal with the door itself: weight, width and swing

   Clear opening width when the door is fully open is what a chair passes through, and swing-clear or offset hinges can recover useful width cheaply on some doors. Weight and closer tension matter as much: a storm door with a strong closer can be effectively impossible to hold open from a seated position.

   Watch forA storm or screen door left in place unexamined. It is often the actual obstacle, and removing it or changing its closer is one of the cheapest fixes available.

4. 4

   Change the lock and the handle before anything else

   A lever handle instead of a knob can be worked with a forearm or a closed fist. A keyless lock - code, fob or phone - removes the whole business of finding and turning a small key with cold hands. Both are inexpensive, quick, and undo-able, which makes them a good first move.

   Watch forA keyless lock chosen without a plan for dead batteries, a power cut or a forgotten code. There should always be a physical override and someone else who can get in.

5. 5

   Light the approach and the lock separately

   A light over the door lights the door; it rarely lights the keyhole or the path. Motion-triggered lighting along the walk, plus something directed at the lock itself, is the combination that works. Contrast helps too - a door and frame that stand out from the wall are easier to judge.

   Watch forA single bright floodlight aimed outward. It lights the yard and dazzles the person approaching, leaving the doorstep in deeper shadow.

6. 6

   Sort the threshold at the door

   The sill is a weather detail as well as an obstacle, so the answer is usually a low-profile threshold designed for the purpose, a bevelled transition, or a threshold ramp - not simply removing it. Getting this right stops the last small catch that trips people right at the doorway.

   Watch forA ramp or wedge bedded in sealant across a door's drainage channel. Water then goes into the floor structure rather than outside, and the repair is far more expensive than the threshold was.

7. 7

   Give deliveries and mail somewhere to go

   A shelf or ledge beside the door at waist height, a parcel box, and mail that does not land on the floor. It sounds trivial and it removes a daily bend-and-lift, plus the need to put everything on the ground to open the door.

   Watch forA mail slot in the door as the only arrangement. Picking post off the floor behind a door is one of the more awkward regular movements in a house.

What does accessible entry modifications cost?

Most of this is inexpensive - hardware, lighting, a shelf, a threshold. Costs rise when the landing has to be enlarged or covered, or the door opening altered. Doing the cheap items first often reveals that the expensive ones were not needed. The Cost Guide has ranges by item.

See the full accessible entry modifications cost guide - by material, size and region →

If the number is the problem, here are the ways people pay for it →