Great bathroom designs

[Lord Chatterley]

Since this topic has just come up in the wheelchair section I thought I would raise the matter here where it belongs - could anyone recommend some good bathroom/wc designs/adaptations etc.?

[Burgerman]

Big.

Just like adapted kitchens. The most important thing is space. No point doing expensive adaptations in any room (or house) thats too small. Just good money after bad. First and foremost some serious thought about whaere you live and even what area or town you live in.

[ex-Gooserider]

Agreed on the space, and there are guides on how much is officially considered "enough". IIRC, the standards call for a minimum 60" diameter circle of unobstructed space.

In terms of design, my personal opinion is that a roll in shower is the only way to go... I have an Invacare Mariner commode / shower chair, the model with the wheelchair size wheels. As a manual chair it stinks, but it is enough to get around a little bit in. My morning routine is to wake up, transfer from the bed into the shower chair, and push myself into the bathroom over the commode. I then do my bowel program, and when done roll into the shower. After I'm done in the shower, I roll back into the bedroom, grab my clothes out of the closet and toss them on the bed. I then transfer back into bed, get dressed, and then get into my regular chair... Other than what I call the daily chair dance, It is pretty straightforward, and needs little in the way of assistance from the GF.

The shower is a hand held, with a couple of notes...
1. put the water outlet for the shower pipe at about 3-4' up from the floor not at the usual ~6' height - If you put the outlet down low, then a standard length hand held shower hose will let you reach under the shower chair to get the nether bits, while still reaching high enough for an AB to get a normal height shower. If your outlet is at the usual height, like ours, then you need to find an extra long shower hose.

2. Use a TUB faucet, not a shower faucet - this gives you the tub outlet down low to set the temperature with, rather than having to dodge the cold spray while waiting for the hot water to reach the faucet... Also the tub outlet is handy for filling buckets and so forth....

Also, the more of the floor you can have slope towards the tub drain, the better......

ex-Gooserider