Bathroom Remodeling Ideas For Handicap – A few years ago my father lost one leg due to vascular disease, and two short years later he lost the other. My father actually continued to work until the pain in his feet became so bad that he could no longer function and a few months later he was missing one leg below the knee. My parents live in a bungalow house (one story), so their house didn’t need many changes to live in. There was one exception to this and that was the bathroom area. There were several things in their current bathroom that made it very difficult for my father to shower and maneuver. At the time I didn’t know how to design a handicap bathroom, but I did a lot of research and came up with some solutions and a design to help my parents!
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Bathroom Remodeling Ideas For Handicap
My father used a prosthetic a lot the first year he still had one leg and didn’t do too badly with the available bathrooms. However, he had to pull his shower chair half in and half out of the shower to use it, and therefore couldn’t close the shower door, which created a big mess every time he showered.
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The old shower door had to be left open to accommodate the shower chair and wheelchair transfers, which made a big mess
The following year, 2018, he lost his other leg, this time above the knee, to the same disease. He still walks with two prostheses, but he uses the wheelchair much more when he is in the house. It was time to improve the functionality of his master bathroom.
The whole family helped to do this renovation for my parents. My brother-in-law and my uncle did the lion’s share of the renovation work. My sister’s boyfriend, who was a plumber, donated a couple of his weekends to help us with the plumbing. My husband and I helped as best we could with the work and I also took care of all the design and ordering of the materials for mom.
We got organized and completed the entire bathroom within 4 weeks! (This seems absolutely amazing to me right now as my current bathroom remodel is entering its 12th week!)
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My parents have been using the new bathroom for a few years now and it works perfectly for my dad. And I think the best part is that you would never know it was a bathroom designed for wheelchair users. I tried to keep function in mind, but still make sure it was beautiful for my mother, something I would be proud to have in my own home.
A few years later, my mother asked me if I would also take over the toilet because the vanity there was so high that my father couldn’t really use the sink.
The sink in this toilet was too high for my father to easily reach from his chair
I decided to update her powder room to make it more accessible, and that also happened to be my first One Room Challenge.
Small Accessible Bathroom Remodel
As part of my very first One Room Challenge, I renovated the toilet for my parents!
First, there are ADA guidelines, which refer to the official rules when it comes to things like spacing, space in front of or next to things, doorway widths, and similar things. When we renovated my parents’ bathrooms, we couldn’t meet all the accessible bathroom design guidelines because we had limited space to work with. However, I had the advantage of being able to ask my father what specific needs he had regarding space and convenience.
For example, in the powder room, ADA requirements require a grab bar on the side of the toilet to ensure safety in the bathroom and facilitate transfers from the wheelchair to the toilet. However, my father had been using the bathroom without a toilet for some time and didn’t feel he needed a bar there, instead of the side of the sink. If he needs it in the future, it’s an easy addition.
Additionally, the powder room is a small bathroom, but according to the guidelines, it is not large enough to accommodate wheelchair turns, so it is a fully compliant bathroom. My dad isn’t a big guy though and his wheelchair is quite small so it’s fine for him.
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Although this toilet is more spacious than most, it does not have enough floor space to accommodate wheelchair rotation, according to ADA guidelines. However, my father has a relatively small seat and can therefore turn around here.
In order for my father to easily operate the sinks while sitting, they had to be a little lower and have some space at the bottom so he could get closer to them. The vanities that were previously in my parent’s house were all extra tall (36 inches) and had cabinets on the bottom, so he had to really stretch to reach them.
The vanities in this house were all 36 inches tall and had cabinets on the bottom, making them hard to reach.
In our own bathroom, we solved this problem by designing some custom cabinets. I designed a double vanity style vanity with slightly lower legs so my dad could roll right on top. I talked to my mom about the storage space she would lose with this option and we decided to add a central counter tower for storage as well as some drawers between the sinks.
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In this bathroom, we really only needed a sink to be accessible. However, we felt that with only one bathroom it would look like a handicap accessible bathroom and we wanted it to look a little more design oriented. That’s why we chose symmetry and my parents say they have a lot of storage space in this design.
We have paid attention to both the ground clearance and the height of the sink. We wanted the vanity to be low enough for him to use, but also have enough room underneath so he could roll his chair right under it. This ultimately meant that we also had to purchase some extra shallow sinks.
The new vanity is lower and open at the bottom, so dad can get very close to the faucets and use the vanity easily.
We also used long handles as towel racks on the front of the vanity instead of placing a hook or ring on the wall where they would be hard to reach.
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For the powder room, I got a marble console sink from Wayfair that was the right height and had clearance at the bottom for the wheelchair to get closer.
The powder room sink didn’t have that much room at the bottom, but it was enough for my dad to use.
So that dad can see clearly while shaving (and combing his hair… haha, just kidding, he doesn’t have one!!), I got some mirrors in the bathroom that are upside down for him and flatter for me are Mother must use standing.
Another point to consider is the height of the toilet. My parents’ house had standard lower toilets, which made the transition from wheelchair height to chair difficult. In both bathrooms, we have replaced the toilet with comfort-height toilets, which sit a little higher and make access easier.
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A “comfort height” toilet is slightly higher and makes it easier to transfer to wheelchair height
We talked to my dad about where the best horizontal grab bars, etc. This made the grab bars much more secure and allowed us to place them exactly where he needed them.
The door to my parents’ bathroom opened into the room and the shower was behind that door. To shower my father, he had to go into the bathroom, turn around and close the door in the limited space that was inside and close. Then he had to open the shower door and used a shower chair that he had to put half in and half out of the shower, so he could slide on it and the shower door had to stay open. As you can imagine, this was awkward and water got everywhere.
During the renovation, we were able to open the wall on the inside of the bathroom and put a sliding door in the room.