Most modern homes are built with a standard concrete walkway on all sides of the home to help prevent home owners from tripping, as well as to provide an even surface on which to stand or set a ladder to perform common home maintenance, such as painting, cleaning gutters, etc.
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Since hospitals and insurance companies regularly report that home injuries caused by tripping are the #1 cause of trips to hospital emergency rooms, I thought it would be useful to help you see some actual trip hazards. For the purpose here, we're going to exclude interior and exterior stairs since they, almost by definition, are trip hazards.
First, though, think about how you walk. Although it's common to say that you put one foot in front of the other, do you really? Only in a general sense. Since your feet are side by side, it would be very unusual to put one foot directly in front of the other, so when you create a walkway, you need to take that fact into account.
Notice that a standard concrete walkway (Figure 1) is wide enough to allow a normal walking pattern:
Figure 1
Figure 2 shows a walkway that is wide enough, but it has breaks in it which are filled in with vegetation, creating a trip hazard every three feet or so.
Figure 2
Figure 3 shows a walkway that is wide enough, but it has vegetation, gravel, and bare soil, all of which will create a mess when it rains, creating trip hazards.
Figure 3
Figure 4 shows a dirt walkway with stones laid across it and vegetation growing in it, both creating trip hazards.
Figure 4
Figure 5 shows more vegetation in the walkway and gaps between the even surfaces, creating trip hazards.
Figure 5
Figure 6 shows a rear patio with uneven bricks and gaps between the bricks, creating trip hazards.
Figure 6
Figure 7 shows a large tree in the walkway, creating a head banger and a trip hazard.
Figure 7
Figure 8 shows a walkway with both even and uneven sections, creating trip hazards.
Figure 8
Figure 9 shows some stepping stones merely thrown onto bare ground, creating trip hazards.
Figure 9
Figure 10 shows a walkway where the concrete pads are too far apart and don't allow one to walk in a normal way, creating trip hazards.
Figure 10
Figure 11 shows a walkway that is too narrow and with uneven bricks and gaps between them, creating trip hazards.
Figure 11
Figure 12 shows a river rock walkway, creating trip hazards.
Figure 12
Figure 13 shows inconsistent placement of flagstone, creating trip hazards.
Figure 13
Figure 14 shows a walkway that again doesn't allow one to walk in a normal way, creating trip hazards.
Figure 14
Figure 15 shows a walkway using different materials, creating trip hazards.
Figure 15
Figure 15 shows a walkway using different types of concrete pads, creating trip hazards.
Figure 16
Figure 17 shows a pretty good attempt at creating a walkway that allows one to walk in a normal way, but they are spaced too far apart, creating trip hazards.
Figure 17
Figure 18 shows a damaged, deteriorated walkway, creating trip hazards.
Figure 18
Figure 19 shows a notice to the owner of a home that I recently inspected notifying him that California law and city law requires the homeowner to repair curbside sidewalks, something that I didn't know.
Figure 19
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Some of Russel's other blog entries
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- Concrete cracks: Lesson One
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- Not responsible for advice not taken
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Russel, informative and intelligent as always - keep them coming and Thank You! The examples (photos) were particularly helpful here!
TM