8 ways to make a safer bathroom at home

Anybody who has ever used a bathroom at a restaurant has seen what we call an ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) bathroom: a bathroom that is more graciously sized and can be used comfortably by anyone, regardless of ability. ADA bathrooms are bigger — either a well-sized single-occupant bathroom, or the “big stall” — and sinks do not have vanities underneath so a wheelchair can roll up to it.

It’s great these are more available in public places nowadays, but what if you need to alter your own bathroom at home? There’s a large range of things you can do to an existing bathroom, from simply adding a bench to your shower all the way to a total renovation to make the room larger.

At SPACE, we don’t think inclusive bathroom design only revolves around aging or disability. Accessible design interventions can make life easier for everybody: children or adults who are shorter; people who are on crutches because of an injury; a parent corralling a child; a person bathing their feisty 100-pound dog who rolled in an excellent mud puddle in the back yard. Everybody (except the dog) wins. And just as importantly, we’ve proven over and over again that accessible, safe bathrooms can be beautiful.

 

What can I do to my bathroom at home to make it more accessible?

 

1. Grab Bars

This is one of those things you see in restaurant bathrooms near the toilets. They’re also handy to have in the tub/shower area. You’ll see loads of suction-cup grab bars on Amazon and at the hardware store, but they can only stick to very smooth materials, and we wouldn’t count on them to reliably support a 250-pound load. It’s best to attach them to the walls by anchoring them firmly into studs behind the tile or drywall. Grab bars have come a long way aesthetically, and many faucet manufacturers — including Moen and Kohler — make grab bars to complement their faucets. If you install these before feel you really need them, these prettier grab bars can double as a towel rack.

2. Faucet Handles

Upgrading the handles on your sink and shower faucets is another way to make the bathroom friendlier to your body. The best kind of handle is a lever, so no knobs or crosses. It can be a single-handle faucet, or a widespread faucet with a handle each for cold and hot water. People with arthritis or those who lack grip strength can easily turn on and off lever handles. Levers are also helpful for someone holding a child or wrestling that dog in the shower. You should use these at both your sink and in your shower or tub. We’re showing a widespread fixture in the picture, but they make these in centerset style, or single-hole style. It’s a pain to add holes to the counter if you want to go from centerset or single hole to widespread, but you can always go from widespread or centerset to single hole by installing an escutcheon plate to cover the other holes.

3. Handheld Body Sprayer

A handheld body sprayer (also called a hand shower) can make life easier for everybody, both for bathing and cleaning the shower. Adding a handheld to an existing shower system can be a big job — depending on what you have now, you may need to add a new valve behind the wall along with an additional handle or trim — but there are a few products on the market that can simply replace your existing shower head with a handheld like the one in the image. The rail makes the height adjustable, and you can pop off the handle if you need to. Extra-long hoses are available if you need one.

4. Shower Seat

A seat or a bench in the shower is a convenience for people of all ages. It’s a good spot to sit to wash your feet, get a leg up to shave your legs, or a place to sit while you scrub the dog. Ideally, it would be a built-in bench, but if you aren’t redoing your shower, a wall-mount folding bench meets ADA standards. Like grab bars, this would need to be anchored into studs behind the tile.

 

5. Bidet Seats

For people who struggle with mobility, bidet seats are an effective way to get thoroughly clean without stretching or bending. Bathroom tissue rationing during COVID flooded the market with lots of readily-available bidet seats, and they have remained popular. Installing a bidet seat can be a simple DIY project, while fancier units require an electrical outlet behind the toilet and a good plumber. We’ve heard good things about the Brondell Bidet Toilet Seat for an easy installation. We’ve been fans of Toto toilets for years for their features and reliability (they put them in QuikTrip bathrooms for a reason), but their Washlet bidet seat system with a heated seat, air-deodorizing fan, and heated water spray is the Rolls Royce of toilets.

6. Bigger Moves: Lose the Tub

If you don’t use your bathtub, or if stepping over the side of the tub is becoming a safety issue, you can have the tub removed and replaced with a shower with a low- or zero-threshhold entry. The image above is one of our renderings that shows a bathroom without a bathtub, and it instead offers the resident a roll-in shower with a built-in bench.

7. Bigger Moves: Replace the Floor

Polished (or shiny) flooring is the most slippery. Upgrading to a matte-finish tile — particularly in a small format — is the safest. Smaller tiles have more grout lines, and those help slip-resistance. Remember, flooring should go under your vanity in case you ever replace it, so you may want to pair a floor replacement with…

8. Bigger Moves: Update the Vanity

Replacing the traditional cabinet-on-the-bottom vanity with an elegant wall-hung sink or a vanity with a cutout under the sink to accommodate a wheelchair or a vanity stool will ensure you can use your bathroom comfortably for years to come. The above image is one of our renderings that illustrate a wall-hung vanity that is open below the sink. You can get a decorative p-trap and supply lines (all of the exposed pipes that are usually hidden in a vanity), so you will still have a beautiful look. Or you can add an apron to hide the plumbing if you like that look better.

This list is just the tip of the iceberg. If you’re pondering a change to your bathroom, give us a call at 3145344168, or send us an email at info@spacestl.com.

Over and out from SPACE.