Lake County Housing Services, Inc.

Universal design is a form of construction that makes homes or buildings accesible for people that have special needs. What has been found is that even those of us that do not have special needs, Universal Design homes makes our lives easier to live in. For an example, extra wide halls for wheelchairs or just for moving furniture. Larger baths for a wide turning radius or just a bath that is more comfortable. Minimum 3'-0" exterior and interior doors for ease of ingress and egress. More than the normal amount of lighting. Larger than normal window sizes for ease of cleaning. Showers that are easily entered. What is really incredible, is that when clients enter a Universal Design home, they don't even notice it was designed and built for someone with special needs! Many more accessible features are built into a UD home and is never noticed by the visitors. As we grow older, why not live in a home that makes life easier today and is already accessible for those events that may occur in the future.