The Historic District

i think public buildings should offer access to any person regardless of ability and that includes more than push bar or lever door openers...i remember the rumblings that followed the mandated 'handicap' accessibility for new cabins high up in the white mountains of new hampshire because federal funds were used...to my heart's delight, a group of 10 people 'hiked' up the mountain with legs and arms and eyes that were challenged in some way...

as far as private residences are concerned, i would suggest the gubmit back away from this woman right quick! terlits? i do think the low flow ones are a good idea....

...jade

heartwood wrote: terlits? i do think the low flow ones are a good idea....

...jade

I do too but I will do it because I want to and .gov be damned. If they want to trash the tenth amendment they can do it elsewhere.

Welllll... that would be fine, I guess, if every state only used only it's OWN water, but because that's not the case - water is pulled from rivers that feed multiple states, or from aquifers that cross state lines - some national policies regarding water conservation probably do make sense. The Low Flow toilet mandate was added to the Energy Policy Act of 1992 - signed by HW Bush. Annoying though it may be to those of us with older toilets... it does save water. San Francisco estimates it saves some 20 million gallons a year, for example. It's estimated that 40% of the water used in a home is flushed down the toilet, so I can see needing national policies that seek to address that.

Mandating lever door handles on new construction of public buildings, I can see as well (though obviously we are talking about Canada in this bit of news, not the US, and a local, not a national policy).

It's tougher for me to see the "public good" angle on mandating it for private home new construction though. It seems like swapping out doorknobs on a house you just bought would be an easy fix, if you needed it done because of mobility issues. Bigger issues would seem to be removing door & shower thresholds, steps, stairs, widening hallway and doorway widths, creating space allowances under sinks and counter-tops to position a wheelchair, etc. Are those being mandated too? Because otherwise the doorknob thing feels a little arbitrary.

Chris

I'm wondering if the law only covers commercial, industrial, and 'housing units' (aka buildings with multiple areas like apartments, condos, etc). I can't find the actual bylaw online, and the news reports use a variety of terminology (which all have specific meaning in the building code). This would make a lot more sense than applying it to private residences (which would be almost unenforceable).

shazapple wrote:I'm wondering if the law only covers commercial, industrial, and 'housing units' (aka buildings with multiple areas like apartments, condos, etc). .

That WOULD make more sense. I bet you're right.

Chris

those with older toilets can reduce water consumption by displacing some of the water in the tank by placing a brick or two at the bottom...experiment to see how much water you can displace and still have a successful flush....you know what i mean...

...jade

heartwood wrote:those with older toilets can reduce water consumption by displacing some of the water in the tank by placing a brick or two at the bottom...experiment to see how much water you can displace and still have a successful flush....you know what i mean...

...jade

Yup, especially if you have a high-tank you'd be surprised how far you can reduce the flush size! We've got a 1970s replacement high-tank in the guest bath my mom hasn't been able to replace yet (she complained about the waste of water for almost the past 20 years). Last winter when I was living there full-time after the flood I decided to fix the tank (that had been leaking due to an intermittently-working float for years) and try how far I could turn the water level down and still get a decent flush. Well it turns out I can still get a decent flush with measly 5 l instead of the original 9+ (the gauge stopped at 8 l and when overfilled, the water line was well above that), that's about 1 1/4 gallons! A modern dual-flush toilet is usually set to 4/8 l, so the old one actually saves water in comparison.

And those with new shower heads can swap out and/or remove the flow regulating gaskets and get the old high-flow back .

You didn't think they were really gonna redesign them all, did ya? Naw, just trying to sell more of the same, that's all.

http://www.freeexistence.org/highflow.html

I'm with Daniel, "piss off". If they are going after the new home build give the option to the people buying the home. Knobs or levers, same cost, choose. And I certainly hope the code never extends to old homes and even pre-existing homes. I'll be damned if I'm going to remove my eastlake and ceramic door knobs.

Interesting discussion... It would be funny that my centruies old iron thumblatches might be more "compliant" tahn a modern knob... taht would be a funny turn of events.


As far as regulation.. Im of mixed opinion. I do get annoyed when they make rules just to make rules that dont really accomplish much (low flow shower = I just stay there longer, cant restore windows = put in new ones that will be trash sooner and just put more plastic in landfills).

But on the other hand I know there are far too many people out there who would happily burn tires in their yard if we didn't tell them not to; that just dont give a #@*$&*# about the environment or folks health or protecting the environment for future generations that we do need some rules. Energy efficiency standards for appliances and lighting, and mandated recycling come to mind.