What is the most common ADA signage mistake?

Applying tactile characters and braille to signs that never required them, while missing them on signs that did. Directional and informational signs are scoped by 2010 ADA Standards 216.3 to visual characters only. Signs identifying permanent rooms and spaces (216.2) and exit doors (216.4.1) are the ones that require tactile signs. Buildings routinely pay for braille on corridor arrows and have none on the stairwell doors.

Do we have to replace every sign if some are wrong?

Almost never. Corrections sort into three buckets: signs that can be remounted at the correct height or location, signs where only the tactile and braille insert needs to change, and signs that have to be refabricated. Remounting is the largest bucket in most buildings, because height and location errors are more common than fabrication errors.

Our signs were installed at 60 inches to the center. Is that a violation?

Not automatically, but it has to be measured. The 2010 Standards require the baseline of the lowest tactile character at 48 inches minimum and the baseline of the highest at 60 inches maximum (703.4.1). A sign centered at 60 inches often puts its top baseline above 60 inches. Measure to the baselines. Some centered signs land inside the range and some do not.

Is a glossy sign really a failure?

Yes. Section 703.5.1 requires characters and their background to have a non-glare finish, alongside the light on dark or dark on light contrast requirement. Gloss is an independent failure and it is not cured by strong color contrast. It is also one of the cheapest things to get right at the specification stage and one of the most expensive to correct afterward, because it means new faces.

Can we put braille next to the text instead of below it to fit a narrow plate?

Not on general signage. Braille is positioned below the corresponding text, and below the entire text block where the text is multi-lined (703.3.2). Adjacent placement is permitted only on elevator car controls, which also use a reduced 3/16 inch separation. If the plate is too narrow, the plate is the wrong size.

Every sign in our building is compliant but people still get lost. Why?

Compliance and usability are different problems. The 2010 Standards govern how a sign is built and where it is mounted. They say nothing about whether your numbering runs in a consistent direction, whether the same department is called the same thing on every sign, or whether the directory language matches the door language. Those are wayfinding decisions, and a building can fail all of them while passing inspection.

Who is responsible for mounting heights on a construction project?

Settle it in writing before installation, because it is the most common gap on a punch list. Where we install, the approved shop drawings carry the mounting height and location for every sign type and we own the result. Where a general contractor or a facility team installs, we provide the same dimensioned drawings and a per opening location schedule so the responsibility is documented rather than assumed.

ADA Sign Mistakes & How to Fix Them

These are the failures we find when we survey a building, roughly in order of how often they turn up. Each lists what the 2010 ADA Standards require, with the section number, and how to correct it. The full reference is the ADA signage requirements guide.

1. Braille on signs that never needed it, and none where it was required

What we find. Contracted braille and raised characters on every directional arrow, on the lobby directory, and on informational notices. The same building has no tactile sign at the exit stairway doors.

What the Standards say. Directional and informational signs need to meet only the visual character requirements of 703.5. Raised characters and braille are not required on them (2010 ADA Standards 216.3). Signs identifying permanent rooms and spaces require tactile characters and braille (216.2). Doors at exit passageways, exit discharge and exit stairways are identified by tactile signs (216.4.1).

The fix. Sort the package by category before touching a dimension. The overspend on directional signs is sunk and does not have to be removed, but it should stop repeating. The missing egress signage is the real exposure, and usually a short list.

2. Mounting to the superseded 60 inch centerline

What we find. Every sign set to 60 inches at the center of the panel, often installed recently by someone experienced.

What the Standards say. The 60 inch to centerline figure is 1991 ADAAG 4.30.6. It applied only to permanent room and space identification signage, and it is superseded for new construction and alterations. Signs installed to it and not altered on or after March 15, 2012 fall under the Justice Department safe harbor and do not have to be remounted (28 CFR 36.304(d)(2)(i)). The 2010 Standards require tactile characters 48 inches (1220 mm) minimum above the finish floor measured to the baseline of the lowest character, and 60 inches (1525 mm) maximum measured to the baseline of the highest (703.4.1).

The fix. Measure to the baselines. A short single line plate centered at 60 inches often still lands inside the range. A tall multi-line plate usually does not, because its top baseline rises above the maximum. Remounting is inexpensive. Refabricating because nobody measured is not.

3. A door-mounted sign where the Standard calls for the wall

What we find. Room plates adhered to the pull side of a single door, or to a door held open all day on a magnetic hold-open, usually because the wall beside the door is glass, a corner, or occupied by a card reader. A related version: a correctly mounted sign nobody can stand in front of, because the approach sits inside an opening door’s arc.

What the Standards say. At a single door, the tactile sign goes on the wall alongside the door at the latch side. At double doors with one active leaf, it goes on the inactive leaf. At double doors with two active leaves, it goes on the wall to the right of the right hand door. If there is no wall space at those locations, the nearest adjacent wall is used (2010 ADA Standards 703.4.2). By exception, a sign is permitted on the push side of a door that has a closer and no hold open device (703.4.2 Exception). The same section requires an 18 inch by 18 inch (455 by 455 mm) minimum clear floor space, centered on the tactile characters, beyond the arc of the door swing between the closed position and the 45 degree open position.

The fix. First check whether the sign is on the push side of a door with a closer and no hold open device. If it is, it is permitted and can stay. If not, relocate it to the latch side wall or the nearest adjacent wall. Where a card reader owns that space, the sign moves and the reader stays: the sign has a code requirement, the reader has a preference. Clear floor space gets caught on the floor plan, not in the field: check it at survey for every opening, especially tight vestibules and pairs where both leaves swing.

4. Braille beside the text, above it, or repeated line by line

What we find. Braille set alongside the text on a narrow plate, or a separate braille line under each line of a multi-line message.

What the Standards say. Braille is positioned below the corresponding text, and where the text is multi-lined, below the entire text block rather than below each line (703.3.2). It is separated 3/8 inch (9.5 mm) minimum from any other tactile characters and 3/8 inch minimum from raised borders and decorative elements. Elevator car controls are the exception: 3/16 inch (4.8 mm) minimum separation, and braille permitted directly below or adjacent to the corresponding characters.

The fix. New faces. This one cannot be remounted out of, which is exactly what the shop drawing submittal step exists to catch.

5. Lowercase or decorative type on tactile characters

What we find. Title case room names and a serif or script face on tactile plates, usually chosen to match a brand standard.

What the Standards say. Raised characters are uppercase (703.2.2), sans serif, and not italic, oblique, script, highly decorative or of other unusual forms (703.2.3). Raised character height is 5/8 inch (16 mm) minimum to 2 inches (51 mm) maximum measured from the baseline, based on the uppercase letter I (703.2.5), with a 1/2 inch (13 mm) minimum permitted only where separate raised and visual characters carry the same information.

The fix. Separate raised and visual characters are the design answer, not a compromise, and the same layout also allows the tactile characters to drop to 1/2 inch (2010 ADA Standards 703.2.5 Exception). Build a dual format plate: a compliant uppercase sans serif tactile line with braille, plus a separate visual message in the brand typeface. The brand survives and the tactile line is correct. Visual characters may be upper, lower or mixed case (2010 ADA Standards 703.5.2) and need not be sans serif, but they cannot be italic, oblique, script or highly decorative (703.5.3), and the brand face still has to meet the visual character width, height and stroke rules (703.5.4, 703.5.5 and 703.5.7).

6. A glossy finish

What we find. High gloss acrylic, polished metal and laminated prints that look excellent on a sample board and fail in a corridor under overhead lighting.

What the Standards say. Characters and their background must have a non-glare finish, and characters must contrast, light on dark or dark on light (703.5.1). The Standards state no numeric contrast percentage. A specification demanding a particular contrast ratio is quoting a recommendation, not the Standard.

The fix. Specify matte or satin faces at the front end. After the fact it means new faces, which is why finish belongs in the submittal review.

7. A pictogram field that is too short

What we find. A restroom or accessibility symbol shrunk to fit a standard plate, with the text descriptor crowded beside it instead of beneath it.

What the Standards say. Where a pictogram identifies a permanent room or space, such as a restroom, the pictogram field is 6 inches (150 mm) minimum in height and no characters or braille may sit inside it (2010 ADA Standards 216.2, 703.6.1). A text descriptor is required directly below the field, meeting the raised character, braille and mounting requirements (2010 ADA Standards 703.6.3). Informational pictograms such as the International Symbol of Accessibility do not need a text descriptor (Advisory 216.2).

The fix. Size the plate to the field, not the field to the plate. The 6 inch minimum is a field dimension, so a modest symbol inside a generous field complies. This is a common casualty of value engineering a package down to one plate size.

8. Numbering that is compliant and still unusable

What we find. Every sign correct to the Standard, and staff who still walk visitors to the conference room. Numbering that changes direction between wings. A suite called by its tenant name on the directory and its number on the door. Two rooms labeled Conference B.

What the Standards say. Nothing. The 2010 ADA Standards govern how a sign is built and where it is mounted. They do not govern whether your building can be navigated.

The fix. This is a room identification and wayfinding problem, solved on the floor plan before any sign is fabricated. One numbering logic, one name per destination carried from the directory to the decision point to the door, and messages assigned to decision points rather than to whatever wall was empty. Compliance is the floor. A building that works is why anyone bought signs.

Getting this checked

We survey buildings across Lake County and return a marked up floor plan, a message schedule and a corrections list with the section number next to each item, separated into what must change and what is optional. Send drawings if you have them, photos if you do not. Tell us what you are working on.

Common ADA Signage Mistakes