Blog #3 – Natasha’s Bathroom (Con’t.):
Last week, we described how
Whiteley & Whiteley redesigned a Jack and Jill bathroom to increase useable
floor space for wheelchair accessibility.
This week we will review the amenities within the bathroom – vanity,
toilet, etc. The job went smoothly, but
we did have some challenges along the way.
Whiteley & Whiteley has
designed several homes and remodels to accommodate wheelchairs, but most of
them were designed for aging parents or adult children. We had, in the past, carefully measured for
optimum vanity height and found that we always ended up at the ADA standard ( 34”),
so we stopped measuring. This time, when
Natasha rolled up to the vanity, we had a problem; Natasha is 7-years old and
significantly smaller than our previous clients, so the standard ADA vanity was
four inches too high. The solution was
to cut down and rebuild the vanity to accommodate Natasha. Lesson learned, always measure. Natasha has some difficulty raising her arms,
so we placed the faucet on the side of the lavatory, making it easier to
reach. Her grip strength is also an
issue, so we provided a “touch” faucet – touch it anywhere and the water
flows. Natasha and her sister spent
about an hour washing their hands over and over the first day.
The existing toilet was
“comfort height,” so we didn’t need to replace it, but Natasha’s parents wanted
it fitted with a bidet. The bidet had
two issues: it had to be the right size, because she would fall through the
standard bidet, and it required electricity to operate. We were able to do some Internet research and
find a bidet designed for children. We
needed to relocate some light switches and lighting fixtures when we
reconfigured the floor plan, so we asked the electrician to add a receptacle
next to the toilet. This is much easier
to do when the walls are open and before the drywall sub-contractors come
in. Pre-planning is everything.
On the topic of pre-planning,
if you are opening up the walls and/or moving electrical fixtures, keep in mind
that light switches and receptacles should be placed lower and also toward the
front of the vanity. You may notice that
most bathroom receptacles are located on or near the back wall. You will need to instruct the electrician to
locate the electrical fixtures where they can be reached or he will place them
in the “usual” locations.
We needed to add grab bars
around the toilet but when we opened the space, we eliminated the walls that
might be used for grab bars. Now
what? The grab bar industry has become
very creative and we were able to find grab bars that store against the wall
when not in use and swing down when needed.
I describe them as working like a railroad crossing gate. We installed one on each side of the
toilet. You can buy these grab bars with
a built-in toilet paper holder, so we installed one with toilet paper and one
without.
When installing grab bars,
keep in mind that they will be supporting a person’s full body weight. If possible, the best method is to install
blocking in the framing so that you are screwing the grab bar directly into the
wood framing and spreading the load over a larger area. If this is not possible, a few different
styles of toggle bolts are available to fasten the bar and spread the weight
load across a larger area. These are
available at any large hardware store.
Natasha’s parents didn’t want
to remove the existing tub, because they plan to build a new fully accessible
home in the near future and didn’t want to invest the money in a shower system. If you are building a new home, a roll-in
shower is easy, but how do you retrofit a roll-in shower in an existing
bathroom? It’s surprisingly easy, as
well. Several companies make pre-fab
shower systems that fit in the 60” space designed to enclose a standard size
tub. You simply remove the existing tub
and tile surround and take the space back to the studs. You may need to move the drain pipe. If the
floor is concrete, this will require saw-cutting the foundation, which is not
as difficult or dangerous as it sounds.
A professional plumber can coordinate this for you. The pre-fab shower stalls typically come in 5
sections – a floor pan and four wall segments.
Once the floor pan is installed, the other pieces snap into place and
you have a roll-in shower. The front lip
of the shower typically has a soft rubber strip designed to yield when the
wheelchair rolls over it. The rubber
strip prevents water from draining onto the bathroom floor.
The final touch in this
bathroom was the adjacent closet. Remember,
the closet door was always inside the bathroom and we just relocated and
enlarged it. We brought Natasha into the
bathroom for this last step and measured her reach for the clothes rod. (We learned to always measure from the
vanity!) Once we knew how high to make
the lowest rod, we built out the closet.
As a result of this remodel,
Natasha can get herself ready for school in the morning. She can wash her face, brush her teeth, comb
her hair and dress herself. Her parents
need to get up 15 minutes earlier every morning, because Natasha takes more
time to do it herself, but her independence makes it all worthwhile.
