Thread: WARNING: Major bathroom disaster - disability issues

You've been following our bathroom renovation in the Go to Whoa forum, Moondog's endless questions etc for a while now, and after the last three weeks chaos and upheaval we thought we'd had it nailed. A beautiful, sleek new bathroom that makes the tiny room look twice its size, and was efficient and "classy", as Bloss put it. Two very happy householders.

That is, until I tried to use the bath. I simply can not get into it. The sides are too steeply sloped, the bottom is almost non-existant, the safety mat will not stick to the highly polished enamel (steel bath), and even with a shower transfer bench it's dangerous. We chose this bath solely on the recommendation of an independent living organization who gleefully declares on their site that they are not responsible for the information on the site. WTF?

I'm a designer and know what I am doing. I know my body well, and how my disability affects me, especially in a wet area. I bought appropriate handrails according to AS1428.1 and had them installed according to the standard. I knew that I needed a bath with almost vertical sides and a flat bottom, in fact had been looking for one for months. When we saw this one that said "....wide with a deep flat bowl." we were delighted.

I feel stupid, and mostly we are both devastated that our beautiful new room is useless to us. Even Moondog, who does not have a disability, can barely stand in it because he's got size 13 feet. No WAY is this bath flat, or wide.

Never, EVER trust anyone like that. If you're spending $14k+ on a bathroom, get an occupational therapist to help. I had access to one for NOTHING, no charge to me, and I never thought about it until after the fact.

Hi Cecile
My wife uses a swivel bath seat which sits on the top of the bath and then showers with the hand shower.

We find this much safer and easier then trying to get in the tub even with hand rails

Just a thought. Love your bathroom by the way

Ah. That's terrible. After so much trouble. Do you think you will remove and replace the bath at some point?

It is too good a job to remove really.
I think we will just do what we planned with the ensuite and use the temporary shower I just built in the corner of the laundry until then, but it is Ceciles call on that one.
This is one mistake that we don't want to make ever again and I hope others can learn from it.