Accessible Bathroom Design: Tips for Aging in Place

Accessible remodelling – including bathrooms for ageing in place – allows multiple ability levels to use and benefit from the space without limitations.

Replace knobs with lever-style handles to reduce the force needed to turn them. Add more lighting and make light switches easier to reach.

Lighting

Lighting can be an essential tool for safer bathroom navigation, helping eliminate shadows that can cast uncertain footing or other trip hazards in the room. Motion-sensor lights that switch on as a person approaches the bathroom – say, for night-time use – can help a person safely find their way in the middle of the night.

Grab bars can aid in transfers and prevent falls, non-slip flooring and shower seats also lower risk, and low thresholds (or no thresholds) allow better access to the bathroom for wheelchair users.

Safety and accessibility elements are easily incorporated in style and aesthetic of a bathroom that is accessible: decorative grab bars that are combined with the toilet paper holder, the towel rack or the soap rack achieve his goal … Further storage solutions might help Creative and low-cost solutions are numerous to add solutions for storage without reducing clearances or creating hazards: decorative grab bars that are combined with the toilet paper holder, with the towel rack or the soap rack might form creative solutions that are able to avoid a reduction of clearances or risk of hazards … some of these creative ways are innovatision of decorative grab bars that are combined with the toilet paper holder, with the towel rack or the soap rack.

Layout

But it takes an ADA expert and an ADA-compliant toilet fixture to design a usable ADA bathroom. There are standards throughout the ADA and ANSI regulations that provide insights into how to create usable spaces, while also creating efficiency.

For instance, a grab bar should be mounted next to the toilet to enable a wheelchair user to reach it. Lever handles instead of knobs on sinks allow access for people with low muscle strength and/or dexterity. Nonslip flooring material prevents slips and falls.

And other elements to keep in mind as you construct the optimal bath include make sure there is ample clear floor space for manoeuvring, and incorporate a walk-in shower. Use a tub space and either install it into an enclosed area with a wide seat ledge on which to sit and pivot your legs into, or as a soaker tub. Tubs often come with a supplemental hand shower head that can be used for perineal and genital washing. Added safety devices such as angled mirrors can aid bathing pleasure for most people, including people-with-disabilities who delight in the positioning help with seeing themselves better, which has the added benefit for injury avoidance by not having to lean further over their washing space.

Fixtures

All kinds of bathroom accessories must be designed to make it as safe and as easy to use for all who use it so people don’t break any bones. Non-slip floors and grab rails reduce the risk of slipping and falling as well as getting up from sitting positions and lever faucets/handles make the use of the bathroom as simpler as possible especially for those suffering from pain or strength/dexterity problems.

Height matters in terms of access, and there are adaptations for disabled people, from ADA-compliant toilets with elevated seats (making sitting and standing easier) to low-threshold showers (which enable easy entry and existance).

Wider-than-standard doorways and passageways allow full-mobility passage for a wheelchair rider who should not need to navigate around objects, Klassen writes. There should be 60-in. clear space to allow rotation in wheelchairs, and sufficient room for an attendant (if one is required for someone who can’t reliably move around under their own power), she notes in her report.

Accessories

Making bathrooms more accessible allows everyone to stay in their homes for longer, and permits residents greater independence and self-reliance, reducing the need for external care. In addition, as we have documented, accessible bathrooms add substantially to a home’s resale value, and are high on the list of items potential buyers look for.

A raised toilet allowing a less mobile person to sit or get up from lying down and sitting makes life easier, as does a roll-in shower without the bath-tub walls to trip over – two very popular choices suitable for many disabled people.

Sinks, bathtubs and showers should be chosen to allow for greater open floor space within the bathroom, providing users with flat and hard surfaces to make it easier to roll over. Electrical outlets and faucets should be situated in height to be accessible to seated users; other accessories include angled mirrors for seated users and single-handle faucets as well as touchless sensory options for use by all users.