How much room do you need to turn around?

A doorway wide enough to get through is only half of it. Once you're in the room, you have to turn, and a room that lets you in but not around is a room you back out of. This is the measurement that decides whether a bathroom works with a walker, and it's decided by where the walls go, which is the first week of the whole project.

Here are the numbers, where they matter, and how to check a room you already have.

The numbers

The published standard for a wheelchair to turn around is a clear circle 60 inches across (STD). Five feet, with nothing in it: no toilet, no vanity, no door swinging into it. The same standard allows a T-shaped space instead, 60 inches each way with arms at least 36 wide, which is how a wheelchair turns in a hallway by backing into a doorway (STD).

For a walker, there's no published circle, but 48 inches of clear floor lets most people with a walker turn without lifting it or shuffling (PRACTICE).

Alongside the turning circle, the standard asks for a clear floor space 30 by 48 inches in front of anything you use, so there's somewhere for a body and whatever moves with it to stand or sit while using the sink, the toilet or the counter (STD).

Those three figures, 60, 48 and 30 by 48, are most of what you need.

Where it matters most

The bathroom. The smallest room in the house and the one with the most fixed objects. Stand in the middle and see whether a 60-inch circle fits without the door swinging into it. Most don't. The usual fixes are a door that swings out instead of in, a pocket door, and a wall-hung sink or vanity with nothing under it, so the circle can extend under the basin.

Inside the front door. You come in, close the door behind you, and turn. If the entry is a narrow hall with a closet door opposite, that's two doors and no circle.

Beside the bed. On the side you get out of, there should be room to turn from the bed to the door with a walker beside you. That's a furniture decision as much as a wall one.

The kitchen. Between two facing runs of counter, the published minimum is 40 inches, and a U-shaped kitchen needs a 60-inch turn at the closed end (STD). 42 is more comfortable for a walker (PRACTICE). Islands are where this goes wrong; the aisle around one is often 36 and then nobody can pass with a chair.

The hallway. A straight hallway only needs to be wide enough to go along, 36 inches (STD). It's the turn from the hall into a doorway that takes room, and a 36-inch hall into a 32-inch door is a three-point maneuver every time. Wider hall, wider door, or a door at the end of the hall instead of the side.

How to check a room today

Cut a piece of string 30 inches long. Hold one end on the floor at the point where you'd turn and swing the other end around. If it clears everything, you have a 60-inch circle. If it hits the toilet, the vanity, the door, or the bed, you've found the object that decides the room.

Then measure the 30-by-48 rectangle in front of the sink, the toilet and the counter. A bath mat is about that size, which is why a bath mat is a good tool.

When it closes

The turning space is decided by the walls, and the walls are decided on the drawing. It costs nothing to put a wall a foot to the left before the drawing is approved. Once the walls are framed, the plumbing is in and the tile is down, the circle is whatever it is, and the only things left to move are the door and the furniture.

That's the order to work in. Walls first, on the drawing. Then door swing and door type, which can change until the frame goes in. Then fixtures with clear space under them, chosen before the order. Then furniture, which you can move any day.

What to say

To the architect, before the drawing is approved:

"Please show a 60-inch turning circle in the bathroom and inside the entry, clear of the door swing, and 30-by-48 clear space in front of the toilet, sink and the seated section of counter."

To the contractor, on an existing bathroom:

"If the door swung out, or became a pocket door, and the vanity was wall-hung, would a 60-inch circle fit? What would that cost?"

The list this belongs to

Turning space belongs to the drawing stage, the cheapest week, alongside door widths and which floor the bedroom is on. The free guide, The Decisions Your Renovation Makes Without You, lists what closes at that stage and the three after it. Short, large print. Sign up and the download is yours.