Taking a shower is a daily activity that most of us take for granted. But for people that are physically challenge, cleaning oneself is not easy for the person concern and the people who help them. With the regular bathrooms, either it has bathtubs, bathtubs with shower or walk in showers. And most of the walls and floors are tiled which is very slippery for people who are physically challenge or confined in a wheelchair.

We built our house base for physically able person. And if you or your family member become physically challenge or in a wheelchair either due to accidents, degenerative disease or old age, you either have to move to nursing home or you can remodel your bathroom to suit your need. Handicap shower stalls or roll in showers are needed to make life easier and provides peace of mind not only to the handicap person but also to the person who is assisting the disabled person.

There are several features that you can add to your shower based on what you need when you are shower remodeling for handicap or physically challenge in mind. You can put shower ramps for wheelchairs, shower commodes either movable or stationary; they are water proof seats and some have adjustable height. These can greatly help the handicap person and the care giver. You can also put handle or grab bars, to help keep the balance of the person when getting in and out of the bathroom or if they decide to take a shower standing. There are adjustable height shower heads which can be use stationary or hand held. Roll in showers or handicap stalls’ water heater is outfitted with anti-scald feature to prevent the person to get burn and keeps the water from getting too hot.

When shower remodeling, it is advisable to use fiber glass instead of tiles for the floors since tiles can be loosen or stick out which can cause accidents with wheelchairs or walkers. To protect your bathroom from water splash, you can install a double door enclosure which allows wheelchair accessibility.

Shower remodeling to install a handicap shower stalls can be expensive which can cost from $1,500 to $3,000 depending on the features you install.

Aside for the handicap shower stalls, you might want to put your attention on your bathroom door especially if you or the person you are looking after needs wheelchair or walker to get inside the bathroom.

The standard size of the door of a bathroom is 24” while the wheelchairs need a minimum 32” to 36” wide clearance depending how you will approach the door while in the wheelchair or walker. You can also lower the lighting switch and replace the toilet seat with special units or install a raised seat with grab bars for balance and support when getting on and off the toilet seat.

Sink is another aspect that you should look into. If you are in a wheelchair, it is easier to access the sink if it is wall mounted instead of sink with vanity cabinet or pedestals. You could also replace the faucets with single lever controls with anti scald features.

With these features, taking care of our self or other person who is either handicap, physically challenge or elderly will be easier and we can prevent accidents to happen in the bathroom.