Maybe they are replacing with levers?

I have to have knobs, because the cat can open lever handles and ESCAPE!

It's a move towards universal access--making buildings accessible to people with disabilities.

The knobs will be replaced with the lever-style door handles. And I think that if you really want door knobs, you can still have them--you just might have to replace them for resale or something like that.

In addition to cats, small children who can't yet master turning a door knob can easily open a lever-style door handle as soon as they are tall enough to reach it. Or figure out how to hook a toy magic wand over the lever and pull.

As one poster on the link mentioned, clothing/shopping bags can get caught in the handles. This has happened more than a few times to me when not paying attention. I did change out my knobs for handles in the house due to aging hands. But they aren't the absolute for use. And I have a choice to change what is needed.

Low flow toilets. How many times they are flushed twice for good measure? Voids the reasoning for them.

If they are going to go all the way, a house will need far more to meet their requirement philosophy than just door handles and other items mentioned. Before they are done, push buttons will be required to open doors in addition to handles. They have listed many, but not all, changes being required or discussed for disabilities and environmental considerations. Ergonomic engineering is somehow fitting in here too with new codes.

Somewhere I read that the many texting users are going to have major spine/neck issues in the future due to their bending in an abnormal position for hours. Where this will go?

My daughter is visually impaired and she can list dozens of changes for making life easier. She works as a transition specialist with the blind, teaching independant skills for work, home and public environments. One of the things that eludes her is stove controls on the back of a range. Trying to get to them means leaning over the range top, which is vulnerable should there be something hot or the range is already on, been used recently. On the flip side is range controls on the edge are not for children to have easy access to.

So, where is the line on any part of living? And how did we survive all these many decades?

I can see mandating many of these changes for public buildings, but not for private dwellings. What's next? No two-story homes unless they also have a handicapped elevator?

Chibimini, there's a growing movement for universal access. But everything I've read focuses mostly on making the main floor of a house accessible. That means doorways and hallways of a certain width to allow for wheelchair access, things like levers instead of doorknobs and an accessible full bath on the main floor--one you can get a wheelchair into.

As the population gets older, and more people are planning to "age in place" as they say, these modifications will make for a safer environment. And they will allow someone who needs a walker or wheelchair to remain in their own home, instead of having to move to an accessible facility.

In the long term, it is less expensive to design these features in to a house from the start than to later retrofit them. If done well, the average person walking through the house won't have a clue that there are accessibility features built in.

I think there are some communities in California that now have universal access building codes, but that's all I know about at this time.

I just had a walker for 2 weeks due to foot and shoulder injury so couldn't use crutches and I can say beyond a shadow of doubt leavers can be dangerous. The walker had brakes which had wires which caught on the leavers/handles in my kitchen and sent me flying. I can't imagine having more things to get caught on. Okay so I'm a clutz.

Camlan, I understand that designing for disabilities may be a prudent move, and in fact, as we remodel our ground floor, we are doing just that. But I believe it should be a personal choice, not a committee deciding what is right for us. One size does not fit all.

It's possible at some time Vancouver or California will decide that dark colors impair visibility and rule that all walls must be white. This could go on until all new homes have identical layouts and finishes!

If people do not want certain elements in their home, it should be their choice. They may pay the price later, by having to move when disabled, or limiting the resale market for their home. But if they decide that risk is acceptable, let them take it. If people who want or need levers won't buy a home without them, that is their choice, too.

It was a well-intentioned but totally unnecessary law. The consequences may not have been examined as fully as necessary. As others pointed out, it causes problems for people in different situations -- those with kids, cats, or dogs among them.

Oh well, I'm sure it seemed like a good idea at the time!

technicolor,

My dad is visually impaired, and so many things that he used to be able to do are made more difficult every day due to "new" technology.

Buttons are going away from anything with a plug, as manufacturing costs are lower for touch screens. But this is very difficult for those who don't see well. (if you are over 40 and hate the new Apple I Phone IOS because it is hard to make a phone call now, you have some idea of what I mean). And voice activated menus theoretically sound like a solution, but do any of you like to call up a company and speak commands into a multi layer menu and have to shout into the phone. I think not.

He can't even get the TV turned on and on the right channel any more by himself. It is nearly impossible to do without being able to see the screen. So he has the old kitchen TV on because it has a channel up Button and volume Button on it.

These are the kinds of things people need.

Sorry about the hijack-rant.

Not a rant Julie. Inciteful regarding what many of us may deal with as years add on. Simple example is I now have to put my darn reading glasses on to see the stove button info if wanting to go beyond "just cook". And they are sometimes hard to press or require a dozen inputs to program what I'm after. Even though my career was IT, there is no need for me personally to do anything more than to just answer the darn phone. Now the basic phones have decided they want me to put my glasses on and find the right tiny place to answer.

None of my comments are against the many options and wonderful tech evolutions we have now. I would have loved to be a major part of what is offered. Just missed the timing by a few years.

As Chib said, Personal choice.

I'm not saying that universal access should be a law. Please don't think that.

But personal choice? Take a look at your local building code. You have personal choice in building a house--within the limits of that code. You might want a stairway with no banisters, but code requires them, and requires them to be a certain height and a certain distance from the wall they are attached to. You might not want to mar the walls with too many electrical outlets, but code requires them every so many feet. There's specifications for the height and width of the house numbers you are required to put on your house/mailbox.

But we are used to having to meet building codes. Universal access seems intrusive because it is new.

We've adapted to low-flow toilets (well, mostly), and the GFCI outlets in bathrooms and smoke detectors. We're in the process of adapting to the new regulations for light bulbs. I see most aspects of universal access in the same light.

Camlan, I think we need to decide where the line between safety and personal choice should be. I am all for codes for safety features that cannot be easily changed -- bedroom egress, stair rise and run, wiring, plumbing -- and those that affect public health and truly universal safety -- smoke/fire alarms and toilets. I have no problem with widening doorways and providing a curbless shower.

But while this law may be promoted under the "universal" banner, it really is not. As others have said, levers do not work for a large portion of the population. How do you keep young children safe if they can open any door in the house? I had a dog who could open the child safety locks on kitchen cabinets -- he would have been overjoyed to see a lever on the front door and no UPS man in the area would have been safe!

Yes, a minimally handy person would be able to change out all the levers in the house for knobs, but it would be an expense. And the expense would get larger as new-home builders stop buying knobs and manufacturers cut back on making them.

It is an unnecessary law. If someone wants to plan ahead and specify levers in their new home, let them. If they want or NEED knobs instead, don't make them pay a premium.

I just want to add a note about universal building code. It seems that most of the new codes in Canada come from Vancouver or California which to me is a bad thing as we live way up north. Those southern codes do not take into account frost heaves and other winter issues so guess what foundations tend to crack here because they are not below frost line Oh but it meets code according to the builders. Some code should be situational in order to be safe. Finishes should not fall into that IMO the more things that are legislated the more common sense goes out the window and people stop thinking for themselves.

Are levers really easier to operate than knobs? Seems to me the action on knob sets operates more easily, whereas levers need some arm strength to push down then pull out. My FIL is extremely frail at age 89, but has no problem with door knobs. Levers would throw off his weak balance because of the push down/pull out effort, I'd think. I don't like levers at all, having been poked or gotten snagged on them too many times.

One aging-in-place concession we made was to add two grab bars in our shower/bath when we renovated our bathroom in 1999. My DH was anticipating his orthopedic issues (he's home right now recuperating from hip replacement #2). Our bathroom is rustic, so the thick, matte-finished bars don't look too out of place. And they're handy for hanging washcloths or towels out to dry :)