ADA Signs for Room Identification

Room Identification ADA Compliance Signs Information

ADA compliance includes properly identifying the rooms in your buildings as part of making them accessible to everybody. ADA Sign Depot offers choices of color for the text and the base plate for both standard acrylic ADA room name signs, and stylish brushed aluminum ADA room name signs.

Signs that identify rooms and spaces are to be located adjacent to the door they identify so they can be located by persons who are functionally blind. For the most part, one sign is used by both tactile and visual readers, so there are compromises to assist tactile readers. However, it is possible to use two separate signs with the same information. Tactile room name signs require uppercase characters in sans serif typefaces. The characters can be from 5/8 inch to 2 inches high. The Braille must accompany the characters (below the characters) and must be Contracted Braille (formerly called Grade 2 Braille).

Room number and room name signs are installed 48 inches minimum from the baseline of the lowest raised character and 60 inches maximum from the baseline of the highest raised character. If pictograms (symbols) are used to identify the space (example: restrooms with gender pictograms), they must be in a six inch high clear field and accompanied by a tactile character and Braille label below the field.

ADA Compliance Room Identification Signs from ADA Sign Depot

Section 216.2 of the ADA requires permanent interior rooms and spaces to have compliant signs showing the room's designations, labels, or names. This would include interior signs and labeling for restrooms, room numbers and floor numbers or letters, and room names. Tactile text descriptors are required for pictograms (symbols) that are provided to label or identify a permanent room or space. To be fully compliant each interior room name must be properly signed. Also, multi-story buildings are required to have a tactile sign next to each door inside a stairwell to identify the floor level, stair level and exit level. Some local fire codes have size requirements for these signs. We recommend you always check with your local accessibility and fire code authorities before ordering. Is your retail business meeting compliance laws? Click to view or download a U. S. government handbook on, ADA Compliance for Retail Businesses. Use this helpful 7-page PDF to learn what your retail business should be doing to meet ADA compliance, from your parking lot to your entrances, and throughout the rooms, aisles and restrooms inside your store. Protect your retail establishment from lawsuits, while increasing your new customers and repeat customers by making your retail business ADA compliant.

ADA Compliant Tactile Braille Room Identification Signage

Correct ADA compliant room identification signs are matte finished for non-glare, with high contrast legend (letters) versus background for optimal readability, with tactile (raised 1/32" to facilitate the touch) letters, and Grade 2 Braille. All rooms that are not likely to change function (such as a restroom, kitchen, elevator, etc) should be identified by an ADA compliant sign with the room function name. Other rooms that may change function can be identified by numbers or letters. A flexible solution for such rooms (e.g., classrooms, offices) is to identify the room with its number on the sign and to also include a window where changeable paper inserts can identify the room's current occupant or function. The take-away message: If it's a room that is not likely to change, you are required to have an ADA sign identifying it.

More than 2.5 million Americans are legally blind (visual acuity less than 20/200) and as our country ages millions more will suffer from limited vision caused by glaucoma or macular degeneration. ADA room name or room number signs are required by law for the fundamental purpose of making buildings safe and accessible to all people, including those of us with visual disabilities.

ADA Compliance Signs for Room Identification Made with a Brushed Aluminum Acrylic Base

A lot of the regulations contained in the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) are just plain common sense. The function of rooms should be identified, not just for people who are blind or have low vision. Customers, visitors, guests, employees, students— all of us— benefit from properly identified rooms. And what about emergency personnel? Imagine if fire, police, and first responders enter a building in an emergency situation, and all the rooms have no signs. Which room is the sprinkler control room, or the fire control room, in order to control the building's water sprinkler system? Which room holds the mechanical controls for the elevators, which may have people stranded inside?

While room numbers can indicate floor level and location, room names detail the function of a room, or the occupants of a room. Whether the room identifies a classroom, waiting room, hotel room or restroom or private office, knowing what's behind a closed door without having to open it and look or ask someone passing by, just makes sense. The ADA's regulations bring uniformity and effective standards to room identification signage. From the non-glare and high-contrast rules, to the tactile (raised 1/32") lettering and corresponding Grade 2 Domed Braille requirements. ADA signs are not just for some of us, but for all of us.

Note: Any Sign on ADA Sign Depot, including all room identification signs, can be made using Brushed Aluminum for the base.

Brushed aluminum room name signs offer professional offices or upscale restaurants and retail stores, universities and hospitals an attractive alternative to plastic signs. Brushed aluminum room name and room numbers signs when properly designed and manufactured meet all compliance regulations and conform with modern building codes.

ADA Compliant Room Identification Signs for Schools

Schools, whether high schools or universities, have taken the lead in making their grounds and buildings ADA compliant and accessible for all students. One important part of that effort is to properly mark permanent rooms with ADA room name or room number signs. From classrooms and restrooms to support facilities such as the lunch room, custodian, nurse and administrative offices, ADA compliant signs make schools safer, easier to navigate, and accessible for all. At ADA Sign Depot we enjoy making custom signage for many schools, for here in California and for every other state. We've also developed a versatile room number sign with cut-out window in which the current function of the room, or name of the teacher or other occupant of the room, can be printed on an office printer and inserted into the protected window. Creating a an attractive and durable sign that can be updated each semester for many years to come.