Bathroom modifications

The bathroom is one of the most important rooms in the home. It is used continually during the day for different washing and grooming activities, however it is also a room full of hard and slippery surfaces. For this reason bathrooms are often modified for people with mobility, balance or other health problems.

What can be done

Out of all of the rooms in a typical home, the bathroom is the one that can be modified and adapted to the greatest degree. The changes can be as simple as adding impact absorbing matting to replacing the entire bathroom suite with a full disability bathroom.

The good thing about a bathroom is that every utility can be changed or adapted to make it more usable for anyone who has difficulty using and un-modified bathroom.

Bathing

A big problem for many older people, or those with arthritis or any skeletal or muscular restriction, is taking a bath. One solution is to remove the bath and replace it with a shower. The shower can then have a fixed or removable seat added and the body washing process is made easier and safer.

The other alternative is to stay with a bath tub, but to make it more entry friendly. This can be done with a bath lift or by having a bath with side door entry (walk-in). Bath lifts can be purchased that work with most standard bath tubs, or as special single unit bath lift tubs.

Walk-in baths are the other solution, however you have to enter and leave the bath when it is empty.

Toileting

The same problems that some people have when sitting down and getting up from a chair are also repeated when they use a toilet. Naturally, the consequences of this are both greater and more troublesome in the bathroom than in a normal living area, however solutions are available.

Toilet seat variants include high level seats, where the typical squat position is much more elevated, and motorised seat lifters. In the case of the toilet seat lifter, the seat rises and tilts in a similar manner to a riser recliner chair. This means that the physical effort of sitting and standing is removed and using the toilet is made much easier.

Washing

Washing using a wash basin can also be made easier. One very obvious way is by using a seat or buffet in front of the basin. However having an elevated wash basin (raised on plinth panels) removes some of the need to bend over. These plinths can be used individually or in multiple units to raise a wash basin up to a comfortable washing height.

In many cases the use of a bathroom seat or a bathroom step (or steps), i.e. a single or double step that may have Grab rail, can be used as a removable solution, or a solution in a bathroom that is also used by able bodies people.

A number of companies specialise in modifying and adapting bathrooms for restricted mobility and disability use. These companies can often come up with highly effective ways of making bathrooms much safer and easier to use places for people prone to falling.