Ask Jon Eakes

Last Updated: Saturday, March 23rd, 2013, Created: Monday, January 15th, 2001

Retrofitting a bathroom for accessibility.

Jan needed to do some serious renovations at her mother-in-law's house because the she had a stroke and was suddenly less mobile than she was before. So the bedroom was moved to the main floor and a new bathroom was built to go with it.

She put Pergo floating hardwood floors right through from the bedroom into the bathroom without any sill or obstruction between the two. In the bathroom, the glue on every joint would keep the floor itself waterproof, and then the edges all around were caulked water tight to avoid any damage below. The door was a sliding door.

People with reduced mobility often have problems getting up from the toilet -- you can purchase significantly higher "handicap" toilets, actually designed for use with wheelchairs. The problem is that they are expensive and there is little choice in the toilet style. And when you move, you have to replace the toilet for the people who will live there next. Jan found a fantastic gadget called the Toilevator. It is simply a raised platform specifically designed to lift the toilet up off the floor, and extend the drain. When you move, you drop the toilet back to its original position and take the Toilevator with you. LCM Distribution in Calgary sells Toilevators.

There was no way that Jan's mother-in-law was going to get in and out of a bathtub, so she installed a Walk-in Shower from Mirolin Industries. This is a spacious thing complete with a fold-up seat and a very strong and well placed grab bar and a slip resistant floor. The water barrier on the floor is barely higher than the floor for easy access. Even her Contessor shower fixtures had the special feature of separate temperature and pressure controls, so the right temperature can be set permanently.

Keywords: Accessibility, Adaptation, Bathroom, Disabled, Floor, Floors, Shower, Toilets, Wheelchair

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