Vancouver's new building code bans doorknobs

Oh noes! We’re making it easier for the elderly and people with disabilities, what kind of society is this?!

Where’s all the drama about no wall sconces protruding more than 4" from the wall when mounted less than 80" from the floor? Jeepers, handicapped accessible toilets everywhere as well, ugh!

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You can pretty much do whatever you want on your home, but in order to sell it you’ll need to comply with code. Kind of like smoke alarms. They need to be installed to sell the home but you can always take them out while you live there.

There’s a good secondary market for glass knobs, but they actually run pretty cheap, fifteen bucks each or so. I expect the same with knobs, if they cost more than ten bucks you’re getting rooked.

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The issue of having a handle that looks like you should pull, when you actually need to push, has been a favorite frustration in the design world for a long time. Donald Normans “Design of Everyday Things” is a wonderful read on that and similar topics.

The short story is that doors can be designed to be accessible and ergonomic without creating weird “looks like you should pull but actually should push” situations. As Norman puts it, if something as simple as a door requires an instruction manual (“PUSH” or “PULL” signs), then it was designed poorly from the start.

As for the code itself, I’m not surprised - International Building Code (used in the US for commercial buildings) has, for a long time, not permitted the use of doorknobs in most circumstances. Fire safety and accessibility codes typically require “single action release” door handles. Levers are the cheapest form of this, since they can be installed in the same place that a doorknob used to be installed, but even better are “release bars” or “release pads” that you just push on and they open. It is more accessible, and safer in a fire, but those typically require the door to have been designed to accept a mortise lock assembly, not a regular lockset.

The US is pretty slow about adapting commercial safety codes to residential, but I’m not surprised that a municipality in Canada is doing so. I would expect to see the same things happening here in the next few years.

And as for cats making your life miserable - well, what did you expect when you bought a cat?

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Apparently Vancouver city hall has already been approached by collectors looking to buy up the very attractive brass CHV-monogrammed door knobs that have been removed throughout the building.

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THE GOVERNMENT IS COMING TO TAKE AWAY YOUR DOORKNOBS!!!

Hey, cool. BBS says “body is invalid, please be more descriptive.” Was that comment too short? Or was it really too short on adjectives? Hell, I believe sometimes nouns can do all the heavy lifting and I think Ernest Hemingway agrees.

And now I find it won’t let me delete the useless paragraph above, because “body is invalid, please be more descriptive.” I guess pithy is the new… something.

In the States, yes – but in Europe it seems more or less random whether a door to the outside opens outwards or inwards.

no knobs is pretty common in US codes as well. in commercial or public buildings. not always enforced.

The government is coming to take away your doorknobs!!!

Edit: The non-capitalized version worked just fine for me. I assume it throws up an error if you capitalize everything.

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They’ll get my doorknobs when they pry my cold… oh, wait a minute, that sounds pretty easy.

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I’ve “run into” this problem too. I always thought it was due to differences in building codes. In NA, doors to public places almost always swing outwards. In case of an emergency, everyone can bum rush the door, push on it, and scoot outside. It’s so common, it becomes a habit. In Europe, there is less consistency. The habit becomes to mistrust which way the door swings.

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Crash will get into anything he can, guaranteed. Doors with levers, bags containing food (especially salty snacks), and anything he can leap up and perch upon.
Yesterday, I had to pluck him off the inside folding shutters that sit across the window over the kitchen sink. Not an easy task, considering he’s about 18 pounds, and strong like a pitbull.

I really should record some of his tomfoolery and post it on the bbs.

One small request:

Please use handles that can be rotated both downwards AND upwards. Thanks!

  • Tall People
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We can always throw the old door knobs at the marauding snakes…

Escaping Python

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I was under the impression that recent updates to the ADA made doorknobs’ days in the USA numbered as well.

Last time I was in Home Depot I saw round door-opening devices being sold that could either be grasped and turned or simply pushed inwards with one’s hip to operate.

Yep - you beat me to it, too. Except, it was my dog. My dog who would cheerfully gnosh on any stranger foolish enough to even look at his home!

@jhbadger Doors of establishments that have an occupancy greater than 60 persons are required to open in the direction of exit/egress–think large restaurants, malls, office buildings, transit stations, movie theatres, etc.–but other doors (including small retail, for example) are permitted to open inward. I think most houses/apartments open inward, don’t they?

I look forward to perpetually bruised hips from the damn levers, although they are much easier to use when you’re carrying stuff.

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No, not everywhere in the US. Fire exits on large buildings, but most residential doors open inward. Doesn’t make much difference to a pet with a level handle, though!

Eh, I didn’t find it sensationalist. “Canadian city enacts heavy fines on doorknob installations” would be sensationalist.

My city banned disposals (though I think they had to unban them, not sure). Stuff like that happens all the time. If there’s a simpler way to say it, I don’t know about it. XD

Affordances. Anyone responsible for buildings, renovations, control-panels, software, etc. that does not make proper use of them should be consigned to an eternity in the special hell where everything is counter-intuitive, even when you consciously adjust for the fact that everything is counter-intuitive.

Seriously, people. I Do Not Care if the door looks more ‘symmetrical’ with pull handles on both sides. Unless it swings both ways, it damn well better have a handle on the pull side and a plate on the push side.

Occasionally necessity forces your hand; but every time you have to add a label telling the user how to operate some trivial object, that’s a sign of your personal failure, and a stain of shame and sin that will never wash clean.

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That’s the problem. What could hurt more than being judged by the only person you like and respect?

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