A doorway that is too narrow for a wheelchair usually announces itself at the worst moment, when the chair stops at the frame and someone has to be lifted over the sill. The fix can be small or it can be a wall, and the people who sell it will not always tell you which. This page walks the job in the order it has to happen, so that you choose the method from numbers you took yourself.
Local option: New Plan Care gives families in the St. Louis area in-home help so a parent can stay home: companionship, help with bathing and dressing, meals, and overnight care. Call (314) 405-0887.
Measure the opening, not the door
The number that matters is the clear opening: the space left between the stop on the hinge side and the face of the door, measured at its narrowest point. The door's own width tells you very little. Measure at the top, middle and bottom of the opening, because a casing, a worn stop or a threshold can make the narrowest point lower than you expect. Then measure the chair as it actually goes through. Include footrests, armrests, and the width across the wheels or the rims your parent's hands rest on. Write all of it on one sheet and keep it with the house papers, because every contractor will ask for it.
Choose the method before you call anyone
There are three broad ways to gain width, and they cost very different amounts of disruption. You can rehang the existing door with offset hinges or hinges that move the pin outward, which can gain some clearance without changing the wall. You can replace the door and frame with a wider unit or open the doorway without a door, which changes the casing and trim. Or you can widen the opening itself by cutting into the wall, which means a structural check, a header, drywall, paint, and new trim. Ask yourself whether the swing of the door blocks the turn into the bedroom or bathroom, and whether a pocket or sliding door would clear that turn better. A sliding door removes the swing but changes the wall and the hardware. Decide which trade-off your household can live with, then ask for that one.
Get a written scope from each bidder
Compare the scopes, not the totals. Ask each bidder to write down what is removed, what is replaced, who patches the drywall and paints, whether the trim will match the rest of the house, and whether the threshold or floor transition is included. Ask whether a load-bearing wall is involved and who checks it. Ask who pulls any permit, what the lead time is on the door or hardware, and what happens if the wall hides wiring or a pipe. Ask what the hardware warranty covers and who you call when a latch fails. A quote that names a rate but not the removal, the patch and the threshold is only a starting point.
Check the permit question before work starts
Ask the building department for the city or county where the house sits whether the change needs a permit and an inspection. A simple hinge change usually does not. Widening a wall often does. Do not assume the contractor has handled it; ask in writing who pulls it and who closes it out. An open permit or an unfinished inspection leaves you guessing about the work behind the trim, and that guess is harder to settle later.
Plan the install day around the house
Pick a day when the house can work differently for a few hours. Move the bed, the chair and the commode out of the dust path if you can, and agree with the crew on where your parent will sit while the wall is open. Ask whether the crew will close off the room with plastic and whether the other doorway will stay usable. If a hospice visit or a home care visit is on the calendar that day, tell the crew and the visiting team about the work so nobody walks into an open frame.
Test with the chair, the person and a helper
Do not sign off on a door you have only looked at. Test it with the actual chair, a helper beside you, and your parent if they can be moved through safely. Test both directions. Check the clearance at the hinge side and at the latch side, not only in the middle. Watch whether the front casters clear the threshold, whether an armrest catches the frame, and whether the door closes and latches from both sides. If a lock is fitted, test it from the outside with the chair in the doorway. Then test the turn: how the chair goes from the doorway into the room, and whether it has space to reach the bed or the sink without a long series of small moves. Note any spot that needs adjusting and have the installer come back for it before the final payment.
Close the job on paper
Ask for an invoice that matches the written scope line by line, the warranty for the door and hardware, the permit close-out if one was pulled, and the name and number of the installer for later adjustments. Keep one copy with the house papers and the sheet of measurements. The next time a hinge sags or a latch misses, you will know who to call and what they promised.
If you are new to this site and want the orientation first, Start Here is the place to begin. The work above is the same whether the chair is needed now or later, and the measurements you write down today will still be accurate when you need them.