Placement for grab bar(s) in tub/shower combo
julieste
9 years ago
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Babka NorCal 9b
9 years agojulieste
9 years agoRelated Discussions
Shower/Tub Grab Bars: Where? How Many?
Comments (7)As far as grab bars go my gut take on all of them is this; They look to industrial and remind me of public toilets - for the most part, cheap and hospital like. I sourced an excellent supplier here in Canada that can custom make them for me in any size. These custom grab bars are pricy but worth the money. I also received a package from GreatGrabz showcasing their complete product line and this company has some tasteful good looking grab bars - Are all these ADA approved - I'm not sure. Can they stable you if you slip or loose your balance? I bet yes. I install extra blocking for all my clients in the 50 - 70 year age range and we discuss this in concept stage. There is no need to install grab bars until you need them, but at the first sign of dizzy spells, new medication or an injury a grab bar can not only keep you in your home longer - it can save your life. Order your grab bars so that they, your glass door handle and towel bars all look the same - this adds to the upscale look and a cheap grab bar doesn't cheapen the whole ensuite. If your building a shower bench it's nice to pull up with a grab bar as you get older. I made the mistake of installing my last one on a 45 degree angle and this is not to code. I offered to change it (my cost) but my client loves it as is. I can't get my 83 year old Nana to allow me to install more grab bars in her shower (I fixed a botched install a number of years back when she hired a Medical Supply Store to upgrade her Burnaby home.) - she wants them when she is old she says.... :) If you can upload a picture of your bathroom layout it will be much easier to advise on best location. The ADA guidelines are very specific and have been time tested for sure. Extra grab bars or hand held location for getting in and out are key. If you have a shampoo niche a place to grab and hold on will reaching for shampoo is a good idea as well. If you want the best - remove the curb, build a wet room with level access shower entry, add in grab bars and built it right the first time. If you build your next bathroom to last into your golden years you will be so happy you spent the extra $5,000 grand or so to make it perfect. I have replaced showers with 4" curbs that clients could not step over - think about that a 4" curb in your shower is to high to get in. To shower with this bad hip involves being driven to the local pool to shower in a public wet room. Not me... I'm 41 and building my curbless shower as we speak. For younger and older couples alike who have the time and desire to shower together - Grab bars can only open up new options in bathing department - I'll leave this where it belongs - with your imagination! Here is a link that might be useful: Great Grabz...See Moreshampoo storage in tub/shower combo
Comments (0)I'm trying to figure out what to do about this. I pretty much have no where for the recessed niche kind of thing because I have a lot of pocket doors in my bathroom walls. I also don't think I want the little corner shelf kind of thing because I want an uncluttered look and there's going to be a bunch of other stuff in there. At one end will be the handheld shower and that long cord and potentially a slide bar plus all the controls and on the side will be a horizontal grab bar. At the other end of the tub will be some kind of towel rack because it's one of the two places we can hang a towel and I want a place to hang two damp towels to dry. So what I was thinking is that I'd like some kind of shelf above this towel rack at the end of the tub. I also like that this wall is not one that you see when you walk by the bathroom so you don't see this "clutter" every time you look into the bathroom. I saw someone here had a combo towel rack with a glass shelf above and I kind of liked that idea. Could either be a combo or a towel rack and separate shelf above. DH doesn't like the idea of the glass shelf. He saw some wire basket like thing and wanted that because water can drain through it. I didn't really care for that - like the clean, simple lines of the shelf. Today I saw one of these wire rack type things at a showroom and they told me it was not for use in a tub/shower area. So now I'm thinking of telling DH his idea just won't work. Is there any other option I should be considering - for a shelf that would go across the short end of the tub/shower combo - above a towel rack? Or is there some other option I haven't yet considered that would make for a clean, uncluttered look?...See MoreGrab bar in alcove tub
Comments (6)I just spent a long time going over pictures of grab bar placement for our new tub. I didn't spend a lot of time on the ones on the back (long) wall because we didn't put one there. Like the OP, the grab bar is a "one day it may be useful" thing. In any case, the recommendations for the long wall were almost all diagonal placements to assist users both sitting and standing. Some grab bars come with a textured surface to help with the slippery surface. In our tub/shower, we were torn between placing a vertical bar at the faucet end of the tub or the foot. Most illustrations (google "grab bar placement") show either one at both ends or faucet end only. We discussed it a bunch and did a survey of whoever we happened to be talking to and finally decided to go for the foot end. The reasoning is that once you get the shower going, you really don't want to enter the tub at the end directly into the spray. So that's where it is. Long decisions for something that seems easy on the face of it....See MoreDesigning master bath, is shower/tub combo good enough?
Comments (22)The shower footprint room in even a 36” wide tub is pretty small. Much smaller than in a 36” shower. A shower only is a much nicer experience, where you don’t brush elbows against walls, or have your bum bump a curtain or door when bending over to wash your toes. It is also less slippery, and safer. If I were the husband in this situation, I would not be happy that I was being reduced to a second class showering experience in my home. He may not know it, but that is what would be the result. It would be a second class tub experience for you as well. If you like a tub, you are probably pretty frustrated with how shallow they can be, and how little of your body gets submerged. That is the big drawback of a tub shower. It has to be shallow enough to step over to use as a shower. A genuine deep soaking tub can fix that. One with a deck surround can give you a place for your towels, books, glass of wine, etc. It improves the experience for you. Settling for less will happen enough in a build. I‘m not saying build a owner’s bath larger than your family room with his and her complete separate masters. But any owner’s bath that does not cater to each user’s preferences, is not a owner’s bath for a custom home. Even entry level new build tract homes have separate tubs and showers for the main bath. Because it is expected for the main bath....See Moreenduring
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