The universal design homes I have been in have 36" doors.

Our new house will have 34 inch doorways and the front door is 36 inches. I checked that because this will be our "forever" retirement home. I checked on the Internet to be sure this would accomodate aWheelchair just in case.
It said 32 inches would allow wheelchair access but larger would be easier.

36" minimum. I work with wheelchairs w/36" doorways and they still get scuffed up pretty significantly. Definitely the widest you can go to guarantee the necessary room for wheelchairs.

Around here, 34" was not a standard size, so it was either a 32" or 36" unless we wanted to pay a lot more.

Anne

If you need to do standard doors because of budget, do 36'' for interior doors, and a 42'' entry. 42''-48-'' halls preferred also. You also need to factor in a 60'' turning radius within each room. It does no good to have a door you can get through but still be unable to use the facilities within it. The kitchen also needs special design considerations, but if you will be living there long enough for one remodel to occur, you could address those at the remodel time. As long as you have a decent layout, the good bone structure can be adapted later.

Wider is always better. Why not use standard 36" interior doors?

Good luck with your project.

This isn't as easy as just saying, "Let's make the doors wide enough for a wheelchair". Consider:

- What's easier than a large door? NO door. Obviously you want a door on your bedroom and bathroom . . . but look for places where you can ELIMINATE unnecessary doors; for example, extra doors in overly-compartmentalized bathrooms are a nighmare for people with walkers or wheelchaiars. Or, a compromise: Pocket doors, which you can leave open if mobility becomes a problem in the future.

- If you find your doors aren't large enough, you can switch the hinges and get an extra 2" or so -- what're they called? Swing away hinges?

- Remember that oversized doors take away space from furniture placement. If you're building a compact plan, this may matter to you.

You are unlikely to end up using a wheelchair full-time, yet that's what people seem to plan for. More likely scenerios:
- You're more likely to lose mobility due to the natural aging process rather than an accident.
- You're more likely to need a cane than anything else.
- You're more likely to need a walker than a wheelchair.
- You're more likely to use a walker in the house and a wheelchair when you leave the house.

- If you're using a wheelchair or wheelchair just for outings, do you have a spot by your everyday entrance where you can store your apparatus? These are big items to leave laying about.

- If you're in a wheelchair only temporarily (or only for outings), you're likely to have an inexpensive manual chair; whereas, if you're in a wheelchair permanantly, you're probably going to spend on an electric chair. The electric chair is more narrow and needs less doorway space.

- Walk-in closets and pantries are very popular, but will you be able to maneuver inside them if you need a walker or a wheelchair? Don't skimp on floorspace.

- Garage doors matter too: If you end up in a wheelchair, you'll probably downsize to one vehicle. If you have ONE big garage door instead of two small ones, you'll be able to park in the middle of the garage and make use of the extra space to enter the vehicle.

- Even if your garage entry is zero-degree entry, install grab-bars on both the inside and the outside. My grandmother had them, and they made an amazing difference for her.

- Your floors may be more important than your doors -- they were for my grandmother, both for her walker and for her temporary wheelchair. A change from linoleum to carpet can cause a fall. Keeping your floors 100% flat is worth some effort.

- Steps are an extension of your floors. Put effort into having at least one covered entrance (preferably your most convenient door, probably the one from the garage) that has no steps.

Thanks everyone-lots of good points. The only doors that concern me are into my craft room(but we could just take the door off there) and our bedroom.The rest of the floor plan is open space.We are on a sloping lot with the garage leading into the main floor(with master bedroom, craft room, kitchen, great room,laundry room and dining room). My husband's office and guest bedrooms will be downstairs. Framing starts next week so if we need to make those kind of changes they need to be done now. Thanks again.