Proper Setup Of Handicap Shower Stalls

You can convert your existing shower to a handicap shower stall. It will take a little work, but it can be done. The most important factor besides accessibility is for the safety and well being of the person using it.

Let’s look at how that shower needs to be accessible. The biggest problem with a home shower is making it easier for someone to get into it. If the current shower has a threshold at the bottom of the shower, how is someone in a wheelchair supposed to get in there? It will be difficult for the wheelchair to go in. How do you fix this? You will need a barrier free shower pan in order to accomplice this.

A barrier free shower pan or base is made for this. This shower base will allow the wheelchair to be easily maneuvered into the shower. There are handicap shower pans that are flush to your floor so there is no barrier. The pan drains either towards a center drain, or to a drain at either end of the base. If you are fairly handy, you can do this yourself. If you are not confident, then hire someone to do it. You probably won’t have to replace the entire shower, just the base.

Handicap shower seats

Using a shower seat will increase the safety of using the shower, plus it will make shower use much more pleasant. You can either roll the wheelchair into the shower, and then shift from the wheel chair to the shower seat. There are several diffrent types of shower seats available to you. The first type is one that is removable. This chair can be placed in the shower when needed and removed when not in use. One of the more popular types of shower seats is a teak shower bench. Not only does a teak seat look great, but they also hold up well for shower usage.

Another type is a mounted shower seat. This is a seat that is mounted in the shower. It easily folds up when not in use. When installing a mounted seat, make sure that you are able to screw the seat into a stud behind the shower wall.

Grab bars

Grab bars are very important in a handicap shower. This will allow the person to move about with more confidence and maybe not need someone to help them while showering. There should probably be 3 in each shower. One should be placed near the shower seat, another at the entrance and a third one near the showerhead itself.

These are just a few things to consider when making a handicap shower.