Handicapped shower ideas

[James Spillman]

I have trouble getting into our shower. I'm handicapped. The 4" step is too high for me to negotiate. I would like to get a new shower that I don't have to lift my leg to step into. The problem is that the present shower fits into an area that is only 40" x 40". When I look for accessible showers it seems like they are mostly 40"x60". The bathroom is too small for such a shower. If you know of any manufacturers that make compact showers that would fit this space I would sure like to know where I could get one. Thanks.

[roger wiegand]

A good tile guy should be able to convert your existing shower to a sill-less design. It will be a bit of a mess, as they will probably have to take out and re-shape the existing pan to slope to a linear drain, and depending on what the current floor is outside the shower that may need re-working as well. "Accessible" showers assume meeting the rules for wheelchair access, hence the size.

You may want to consider a more extensive remodel to make space for a chair if you think you or someone in your house might ever need it. Converting your shower will be a big enough job that expanding it at the same time probably won't add appreciably to the cost if you have the space.

The extent to which US home designers ignore the inevitability of aging is rather disheartening.

[Gary Ragatz]

Home Depot sells 38" x 40" sill-less shower pans https://www.homedepot.com/p/Tile-Redi-Redi-Free-40-in-x-38-in-Barrier-Free-Shower-Base-with-Center-Drain-and-Polished-Chrome-Drain-Plate-4038CBF-PVC/204361383 but I imagine that the ease/difficulty of retrofitting one of these depends on where your current shower is located. If on a slab, this might be pretty difficult. But if on a second floor or on a main floor over a basement/crawlspace, it should be doable, with some effort. For the surround, I'm pretty sure there are 40x40 (or thereabouts) standard surrounds available, or you could have a tile guy build one to fit, as @roger wiegand suggested.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

A good tile guy could resolve the issue and he would use a non-glazed tile that would be slip free on the floor. I used such tile in our bathroom as I have balance issues and slipping is a problem.

[Tom M King]

I'd build it in place, like I did for this one, that replaced a green fiberglass bathtub. At 40" wide, you can get by without any threshold. The floor just needs to drain all the water quickly. To drain like that, the floor doesn't have to have a lot of slope, but the less slope it has, the more perfect the floor has to be to the drain.

The picture with the tools is before grout. It shows one of the cheap, cut to needed length, plastic levels I was just talking about in another thread. Several were required to lay a perfect, low sloped floor.

Sorry the pictures are all sideways phone pics.

[Doug Dawson]

I have trouble getting into our shower. I'm handicapped. The 4" step is too high for me to negotiate. I would like to get a new shower that I don't have to lift my leg to step into. The problem is that the present shower fits into an area that is only 40" x 40". When I look for accessible showers it seems like they are mostly 40"x60". The bathroom is too small for such a shower. If you know of any manufacturers that make compact showers that would fit this space I would sure like to know where I could get one. Thanks.I’m not a tile guy, but I deal with this stuff, and aside from access issues the priority should be having a bench in there.

[Bill Dufour]

My moms shower at the old folks home had a rubber fin/dam glued to the floor. it stuck up maybe 1/2" to keep water in. Shower curtain had to hang almost to the floor to contain splashes. You could easily drive a wheel chair over it. it was supposed to last 3-5 years.
Grab bars make nice towel racks and latter they can be used for grab bars as we age.
My shower has pebble floor which seems grippy to the toes when wet. No idea if I am suposeed to seal the grout.
Bill D

[Ole Anderson]

Several solutions here. I'm not a PC kind of guy, (well, maybe I am, just disagreeing how far overboard we have gotten) but for some reason when dealing with issues like this I prefer to refer to the accommodation as being barrier free rather than to the user as being handicapped. For some reason that term seems a bit demeaning to me. Apparently the proper term is 'person with a disability' when speaking of the user. Maybe from my civil engineering years reviewing site plans for a municipality for ADA compliance.

[Ron Selzer]

appreciate this discussion as it now applies more and more to me.
bench definitely will go in the next shower along grab bars
we are kicking around a room addition, master bedroom suite 20x20 to 20x30 using an existing bedroom as entry/bathroom sometime soon probably 3-5 yrs
big plus would be the full basement add to workshop with outside entrance.
Just need to see if I can work long enough to pay for it and if granddaughter moves back in.
Otherwise existing master bathroom gets redone
Ron

[Tom M King]

I've built showers with built-in seats, but after dealing with my soon to be 105 year old Mother, who is partially paralyzed from a stroke, and living with us, we get by easier with a movable seat. They make some nice, study such seats.

Our shower is 4x6, with no threshold, and we get by fine with it. The bathroom floor is tile too, so if a little water ends up on it, so what. I've seen those collapsible, stick-on thresholds, like at the Assisted Living places my Mother used to live in, but so far, we haven't felt the need for them. I wouldn't build one to start with, with any kind of threshold. You can get the stick-on one later, if you find the need.

We don't have any even small ones between rooms, either.

[James Spillman]

I'm going to have a bathroom contractor come over and give an estimate for what can be done. Unfortunately, work can't begin until September. I hope there are ways to speed up the process.

[Gary Ragatz]

I'm going to have a bathroom contractor come over and give an estimate for what can be done. Unfortunately, work can't begin until September. I hope there are ways to speed up the process.

In the interim, I wonder if there might be a way to create a ramp or maybe a shorter step on either side of the current sill to make it more manageable?

[James Spillman]

Gary, I have a small ramp I've been using and it certainly helps. Part of the problem is the walls of the shower are so flimsy. Grab bars can't be added to them. Because of my balance problems I need something solid to hang onto and the walls of the shower don't give me a lot of confidence.

[Kev Williams]

Behind one or more of those flimsy shower walls should be some wood holding up the rest of the house that some grab bars can be attached to...?

[Jim Matthews]

The Schluter company has this covered. You're not the first to need this, and won't be the last.

Beef up your handrail supports, inside the enclosure while you're at it.

https://www.schluter.com/schluter-us/en_US/curbless-showers

[Aaron Rosenthal]

A very long term friend has had progressively more difficulties with mobility; at this stage he is confined to a wheelchair.
His bathroom was specially configured to accommodate his disabilities, including the no barrier shower area, and the "collapsible" rubber dam.
Unfortunately the rubber dam needs replacing about every 18 months, and the prep for making it stick is persnickety. Replacing it is costly and the area must be cleaned with alcohol and scraped scrupulously. Its a good solution but look at all the alternatives before going that particular route.

[Rick Potter]

I hope I am not stepping on James' thread, but this goes hand in hand...

My shower is tile and I want to install a couple grab bars, but they just don't fit with thee stud spacing. I am leery of plastic moly's, and I don't want to drill out a hole big enough for the toggle type.

I also have one end of a stair rail that has a toggle which has started to get loose enlarging the hole in the drywall.

Is anyone aware of moly's that will hold the weight of grab bars in drywall?

[Tom M King]

Togglers.... will find a link

They really do work as easily as it looks in the video. They were what I used in the shower pictured in the thread. If you can catch a stud, use it, otherwise these things are great. Buy a Bosch 1/2" diamond hole saw bit off Amazon. The cheap ones might get one hole through tile. The Bosch will do one whole shower, and some more.

https://www.amazon.com/TOGGLER-SNAPTOGGLE-Zinc-Plated-Channel-Fastener/dp/B0051IBDKW/ref=sr_1_10?crid=ELPTC09AK51S&dchild=1&keywords=togglers%2C+1%2F4+toggle+anchors&qid=1616674446&sprefix=togglers%2Caps%2C175&sr=8-10

https://www.amazon.com/Bosch-HDG12-Diamond-Hole-Saw/dp/B003TO5F4A/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=bosch+1%2F2%22+diamond+bit&qid=1616674617&sr=8-2

[Tom M King]

A very long term friend has had progressively more difficulties with mobility; at this stage he is confined to a wheelchair.
His bathroom was specially configured to accommodate his disabilities, including the no barrier shower area, and the "collapsible" rubber dam.
Unfortunately the rubber dam needs replacing about every 18 months, and the prep for making it stick is persnickety. Replacing it is costly and the area must be cleaned with alcohol and scraped scrupulously. Its a good solution but look at all the alternatives before going that particular route.

We get by fine without one. After drying off, drop the towel on the floor outside the shower, and a quick wipe takes care of it. I think a lot of people think one is required, but we have not.

[Kev Williams]

My shower is tile and I want to install a couple grab bars, but they just don't fit with thee stud spacing...

Mount it/them on an up-angle, as if you were grabbing a stair railing to go upstairs...

[Rick Potter]

Tom, thanks for the Toggle heads up. I will be ordering some.

Kev, good tip on the angle, but in my shower, I will be hanging towels on them, so... I do think I will do that next to the toilet though.

[Ron Selzer]

As Rick said on an angle. Have one across from toilet on an angle mounted Jan 2015 getting ready for knee replacement. Most people don't even see it as there is a towel rack above and below it. Hang the x-large bath towels on there and the bar is cover yet ready accessible by swiping sideways on the top towel. I have a grab bar and the wife doesn't have to look at it
Ron

[Curt Harms]

I’m not a tile guy, but I deal with this stuff, and aside from access issues the priority should be having a bench in there.

SWMBO has this issue but is able to deal with sill 12" off the floor. A good grab bar is essential for her. We had a hard time finding the grab bar lengths we wanted. It turns out that 3/4" copper tubing works nicely for the bar part. She uses a shower chair though with 40" that might be snug.

[James Spillman]

We had a bathroom contractor come over Friday. He looked at the room and told us he could build a 40"x 60" accessible tile shower with a seat and grab bars. He would have to reroute a heat duct and replace a window with glass block. Also, floor would have to be retiled. We are waiting for the cost of the project, which we should get tomorrow. My guess--$10,000. Also, work won't start until Oct. He said after being in this business for 35 years he has never been busier. He attributes that to Covid checks and a change in people's priorities because of the virus.

[Mel Fulks]

I would buy a plastic curtain ,and not allow removal of the window.

[Thomas McCurnin]

Please visit John Bridge Tile Forum for ideas and suggestions. Typically, the whole bathroom floor is treated as if it was a shower floor. That is to say, from each of the walls to the drain, there is a pre-slope 1/16th of an inch per foot, a rubber, pvc, hot tar, or plastic type water proof membrane which follows the preslope, and a two part clamping drain, which sandwiches the membrane between the two parts, then the tiling substrate, usually a fairly dry mix pounded into place. The membrane should go up the walls about 18". I'm doing this by memory, so I may have some details wrong, but that's how I remember doing them for Habitat for Humanity way back when.

[Jim Becker]

We had a bathroom contractor come over Friday. He looked at the room and told us he could build a 40"x 60" accessible tile shower with a seat and grab bars. He would have to reroute a heat duct and replace a window with glass block. Also, floor would have to be retiled. We are waiting for the cost of the project, which we should get tomorrow. My guess--$10,000. Also, work won't start until Oct. He said after being in this business for 35 years he has never been busier. He attributes that to Covid checks and a change in people's priorities because of the virus.

This undoubtedly will not be an inexpensive project because of the additional considerations for water movement, etc., but the end result will be great for your situation. If I were building a new residence from scratch, I'd consider this type of arrangement even without a physical need simply because it makes a lot of sense.

I do agree somewhat with Mel that I'd be concerned with replacement of a window with glass block, especially if it's the only non-fan ventilation source available in the bathroom. But if it's not something that can be relocated, it may be necessary to do that as well as beef up the assisted ventilation in the space. Every project is different...

[James Spillman]

We received the cost of the project yesterday. Boy, was I wrong. It will cost $20,000. We are going to look to see if we can get someone at a lower cost. We'll probably alter the plans to see if we can reduce the cost. It's very hard to find someone who isn't busy. Several firms I called said they are fully booked and are no longer bidding on work.

[Jim Becker]

Yea, that's been an issue for a long time now...firms are really busy. It really hurt small jobs at first, but has crept up to medium size jobs like yours now, too. I hope you can find a resource sooner than the fall and at a better cost, but if you need this for your personal safety, you're likely going to have to go with what you can get in the current market.

[Thomas McCurnin]

Yes, if the room is too small for an off the shelf accessible shower, then it has to be custom.

Everything torn out to the walls, that's one day. Preslope and drain rough in, thats one day. Drywall and membrane, that's one day. Then setting bed, that's one day. Then tile, that's one day. Then grout, that's one day. Then add doors and grab bars, that's one day.

This is a big job.

The good news is that these types of bathrooms are highly desirable and will add value to the home. They are popular in Europe.

[Tom M King]

I think I had less than a grand in materials, and a week of mornings work, in converting that one that I posted pictures of. I just bought the tile from Lowes, and ordered bars, and other stuff off Amazon.