Handicap Bathroom Design
Moving away from the mobility posts for a moment, I want to post an article on something that can make or break the comfort rating of a home when you need to get around it in a wheelchair. That’s the bathroom!
Handicap bathroom design is a hugely important aspect and if you get it wrong, you could end up with a major disaster on your hands. But when its done right, you can have a really useful and usable facility in your home that you’d be more than happy to make use of. So what are the important aspects to getting a handicap bathroom layout correct from a user perspective?
Well, the first thing that you really have to think about is space. By that. I mean not only the floor space available in the room for navigating a wheelchair in, around and out again, but also the space in the air where the user needs to get at stuff. Let’s take that in a more detailed context.
Okay, the floor has to be uncluttered and there has to be room to move a wheelchair around, to turn and get to places like the handicap shower stall, the handicap bath tub if there is one, the toilet, the vanity unit, sink and faucets and any towel racks storage spaces etc. With the facilities, there also needs to be sufficient hand rails solidly anchored into walls and floor so the user can hoist themselves out of their wheelchair and onto the seats. I’m talking the toilet primarily here, as its an awkward manoevre to make, but also a handicap shower seat or seated bathtub. They all need these handrails because its often the only way to move around and transfer to and from the wheelchair.
The air space also needs to be clear in places like the vanity unit. Remember that the user will be in a wheelchair and that their legs will need to fit beneath the unit so they can get in close to use the sink, and the facets need to be easy to use and free enough so that the useer doesn’t need to use any pressure. That’s because there may ne users who don’t have a lot of strength in their arms, hands or wrists. Same goes for the toilet flush and bath/shower faucets.
The handicapped shower unit has to be roll in roll out with no step, so a waste water channel with a grid needs to be fitted at the entrance to stop water flowing out all over the floor. You can also get rubber water retainers that collapse as the wheelchair wheels run over it and spring up again to keep the water where it should be.
Plenty of light is another necessity so the user can see what they are doing! It might look all nice and cozy to have low lights, but if it means the user might have an accident because they couldn’t see what they needed to see, its no good. So be sure to provide strong overhead lighting!
Other than that, handicap bathroom accessories like towel racks should be at the right height so the user can easily reach them, an electric socket for shavers also need to be at the right height as does the mirror to shave into! Cupboards need to be low enough to be accessible with doors that have good handles so they’re easy to open. A place for the toothbrush should also be reachable, as should things like soap dispensers and suchlike.
All in all, if you get your handicapped bathrooms designed just right, then you’ll have a happy user, which is all they want to be, really!