Adult Family Home Specifications & Modifications

Opening or maintaining an Adult Family Home in Washington means meeting DSHS licensing requirements — accessible bathrooms, widened doorways, grab bars, ramps, fire safety, and specific room specifications. We design and modify homes to pass inspection and serve residents safely.

This is a specialty with very little competition and clear rules. Washington's DSHS sets construction and safety standards for licensed Adult Family Homes: bathroom accessibility, doorway widths, egress, smoke and fire protection, and resident-room requirements. We know those standards and build to them — widening doorways, modifying bathrooms for wheelchair access, installing ramps and grab bars, and documenting the work for your licensing inspection.

What's included

• DSHS-compliant accessibility modifications

  Bathrooms, doorways, ramps, egress and fire-safety items modified to the standards in chapter 388-76 WAC and the building code's adult family home section (WAC 51-51-0330), documented for your inspection.

• Widened doorways and hallways

  Interior doors residents pass through widened for wheelchairs and walkers, with lever hardware and the clear, unrestricted path from bedroom to bathroom and common areas that DSHS requires.

• Roll-in showers and accessible bathrooms

  Curbless roll-in showers, accessible toilets and sinks, and blocking in the walls so grab bars are anchored to structure, not drywall.

• Ramps, grab bars, and handrails

  Ramps at the entry and the emergency exit, handrails on both sides of ramps and steps, and grab bars at tubs, showers and each side of resident toilets.

• Fire safety and egress upgrades

  Interconnected smoke alarms in every resident bedroom and on every level, mounted fire extinguishers on each floor, emergency-exit hardware and egress windows that meet the sill-height and opening requirements.

• Documentation for licensing inspection

  Photographs, drawings and permit records organized for the local building official's approval and the DSHS licensing inspection.

How it works

1. 1
   Free advice visit

   We walk the house room by room against the licensing checklist — bedrooms, bathrooms, doors, exits, alarms — and tell you what passes, what doesn't and what it costs to fix.

2. 2
   Scope and drawings

   A written scope and, where the work needs a permit, drawings for the local building department.

3. 3
   Local permit and building-official approval

   WAC 388-76-10700 requires the building to be inspected and approved for use as an adult family home by the local building official before licensing; we pull the permit and schedule that inspection.

4. 4
   Build

   Doorways, bathrooms, ramps, egress and fire-safety work by our own crew, sequenced to keep the home usable.

5. 5
   Documentation for licensing

   Permit records, photographs and the as-built details organized for the DSHS inspection.

The same ten-step process runs every project we build — see how we work.

What it costs

The scope sets the price: a home that needs one roll-in shower, a few widened doorways and grab bars is a very different project from one that needs a new egress window in a basement bedroom, a ramp and a bathroom added to meet the toilet ratio. The free advice visit prices your actual house against the checklist, item by item, so you know the cost of licensing before you commit.

Timeline

1. Assessment

   Room-by-room walk against the checklist and a written scope.

2. Permits

   Building, plumbing and electrical permits where the work requires them.

3. Construction

   Bathrooms and doorways first (they take the longest), then ramps, egress and fire-safety items.

4. Building-official approval and DSHS inspection

   Final inspection by the local building official, then the licensing inspection with the documentation ready.

Permits and codes

Licensing construction checklist

What DSHS looks at in the building itself under chapter 388-76 WAC. Measurements below are quoted from the current WAC text; where the rule is descriptive we describe it the same way. Requirements differ by when the home was first licensed, so we confirm which version applies to your house.

• Accessible bathrooms

  At least one accessible indoor flush toilet that meets WAC 51-51-0330 for each five persons living in the home (residents and household members), with sinks with hot and cold running water, and each resident able to reach a toilet and bathing facility without going through another person's room (WAC 388-76-10780). In practice that means roll-in or curbless showers, clear floor space at the toilet and sink, and lever faucets.

• Doorways and the path of travel

  Every resident, including those using wheelchairs and walkers, must have direct, unrestricted access from the bedroom through doors, hallways and corridors to the bathrooms and common areas (WAC 388-76-10685). Every bedroom and bathroom door must open from both sides, and for homes licensed after September 20, 2026, interior doors residents pass through must be at least 27 inches wide (WAC 388-76-10715).

• Grab bars and handrails

  Grab bars securely fastened per WAC 51-51-0330 at tubs and showers and on each side of any toilet residents use, and handrails on each side of steps and ramps, for homes licensed or bathrooms added after November 1, 2016 (WAC 388-76-10730). We install solid blocking in the wall before the tile goes on so the bars anchor to structure.

• Ramps and emergency exit

  At least one exterior door is designated as the emergency exit; in homes licensed after January 1, 2016 it needs a lever handle on both sides and hardware that lets residents exit when locked and re-enter without a key or special knowledge (WAC 388-76-10715). Ramps serving that exit and the entry get handrails on both sides, and in homes licensed after November 1, 2016 must comply with chapter 51-51 WAC with a running slope no greater than 8.3 percent and landings at the top, bottom and every change of direction (WAC 388-76-10865).

• Egress windows in bedrooms

  At least one window in each resident bedroom with a sill no more than 44 inches above the finished floor, a clear opening of at least 5.7 square feet (5.0 at grade level), a minimum opening height of 24 inches and width of 20 inches, openable from inside without keys or tools (WAC 388-76-10795). Bedrooms must be outside rooms with natural light (WAC 388-76-10685).

• Smoke alarms and fire protection

  Interconnected smoke alarms in every resident bedroom, in the immediate vicinity of bedrooms and on every level, so one alarm sets off all (WAC 388-76-10805); an approved five-pound 2A:10B-C fire extinguisher on each floor, mounted between 4 and 60 inches from the floor and serviced annually (WAC 388-76-10810).

• Resident bedrooms

  Usable floor space of at least 80 square feet for a single-occupancy bedroom and 120 square feet for double occupancy, excluding closets, toilet rooms and vestibules (WAC 388-76-10690), and the option of a lock on the bedroom door.

• Evacuation

  The home must be able to evacuate all residents to a safe location outside in five minutes or less, through the designated emergency exit, along a path that doesn't pass through other bedrooms and without elevators, chairlifts or platform lifts (WAC 388-76-10865) — which is why bedroom location and exit hardware are construction decisions, not just operating ones.