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[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

> In 1990 one million people went to the hospital or morgue from falls down 
> stairs---and kids, elderly with second story bedrooms typically do not 
> survive a fire whose killer heat and fumes rush up a staircase.
> Two-story houses and their staircases are killers no one should allow in 
> family living quarters any more than uncaged thirty-foot Boa Constrictors.

I am currently wrestling with a home design dilemma pertinent to this 
subject. I like a shed roof high toward the sun, with a row of clerestory 
windows above the south greenhouse-porch. Using optimal roof angle to 
capture November-February heat, even with the intelligent one-room house 
depth, perhaps 24 feet maximum, and beginning at seven feet height at the 
north wall, such a roof creates a very high ceiling at the south part of 
the interior. This is a space waste and, perhaps more importantly, 
represents a huge amount of cubic feet that need to be heated and cooled 
beyond what good solar, shade and insulation design provides. One partial 
solution I am exploring is having a loft library-office up there. So, to 
the matter of access. Elevators are too expensive. Stairs take up a lot of 
space and are dangerous if the mind wanders, even if made one-person wide 
and with overkill on the handrails. Both stairs and a heavy library ladder 
are problematical to aged joints. What is the solution?