Shower or Bath

My Bathroom Construction Story

Rose,

Thanks, we're happy with it too. The hardest part was picking a contractor who could do the work. The guy I picked was great!

I lot of thinking went into this. Everyone has their own unique problem/situation I suppose. Here was ours: We live in a tri-level house. The ground floor has a living room, dining room, and kitchen. No bathroom and no bedroom. But we didn't want to move because we've grown to love our house as now it's a place where the grandkid(s) can come and visit and swim in the pool and it's big enough to get the whole family together for BBQ's and such.

Our master bedroom upstairs has a very small bath/shower. The ALSA rep looked and said we could make it work but it would require a remodel. In addition, there are 9 steps from ground level to the upstairs and I checked into a stair lift for the wheelchair but it would cost $25k.

There are only 4 steps down (30") from ground level to the downstairs. The downstairs had 2 bedrooms and a 1/2 bath (no shower). The best part about moving downstairs is that's where the 60" TV is in the family room! This is of course also the gathering place when we have friends and family over.

My thinking was that I could have access to 2 of the 3 floors. Upstairs was expensive and downstairs is the gathering place. We decided we had to figure out a way to use the downstairs.

The contractor had to make the downstairs bathroom larger, moving walls and expanding it into the bedroom. He jack-hammered the slab and poured concrete and installed the roll-in shower. The shower gives me a 5 foot turning radius which I heard was important. The toilet has a GFCI-protected outlet behind it so I can install the ToTo washlet later. The original plan called for a pedestal sink and the toilet in the corner. Though this is more practical, I decided to compromise on that and swap places. So the issue is there's no place to install grab bars for getting up from the toilet, but there are some portable solutions I've seen for this. The sink is mounted to a granite counter top on a custom vanity. The vanity has a opening underneath so you can roll a wheelchair up.

He combined the 2 bedrooms into one and connected the bathroom, moving the entrance from the family room to the bedroom instead. The bedroom has a nice big walk-in closet. I've never had one of those, they're kinda nice for hiding things out of the way. All the doors downstairs are now 36".

The whole job cost $43k. Not cheap, and it I had to sell part of my retirement savings to pay for it. Actually, now, my wife's retirement savings.

We originally were looking at wood floors for the bedroom, but the cost on slab below grade level was about $7 sq foot for installation, plus the cost of the material. So we went with a glue-down commercial grade carpet. It looks okay but it's gonna be great with the wheelchair I think.

I found a used platform lift PL-50 on craigslist for half price $1500. Someday I plan to cut a hole in the wall to install the lift when I need it. (I'm still walking.)

We're still finishing up the decorating. But we moved in a couple weeks ago.

My wife Heidi went through a major meltdown when they started construction. She's been in denial I think, and this made it all too real. She's had a real hard time with this, and then when we moved in it sort of happened again. All part of the process I guess. I'm just relieved that this is all done and it's one more thing I don't have to worry about anymore.

-Tom

We are just in the process of getting a downstairs bedroom and bathroom done. Again our ot suggested shower with comode chair on wheels. Sounds good. Just like the stair lift, they say the bath will do for a while, but a time will come when they will find it more and more difficult to get in and out of a chair, so while they work for now they wont work forever. We have the stairlift since October, but like they said, getting in and out of the chair, especially at the top of the stairs is getting impossible. I cant wait for the downstairs rooms to be finished so we can stop playing around at the stairs everynight!

Here are some pictures of what we did for our bathroom.

The inside dimensions are 15 feet by 7 feet.

The shower is 7’ by 7’. It works perfectly.

We will be putting in a ceiling lift and track that will take me right from the bed to the toilet and into the shower.

You can see the toilet has been lifted with a toilevator and has a ToTo Washlet.

I resized the pictures so they don't mess up the page - sorry about that! I hope it is better now.

Joel, does that shower chair fit over the commode or do you transfer?

The chair is a combination commode and shower chair. I use it as a commode when I have to go at night but during the day I transfer from my powerchair to the toilet. Hope this answers your question.

sharonca....

I am looking forward to seeing photos of your new bathroom, I'm trying to get some pictures together to show a contractor. If you do load them, can you let us know? thanks a bunch.

We also did a major bathroom renovation...we are really pleased with. Joel..we have the exact same tile on our bathroom floor..great minds think alike. We made one of the sinks open underneath so that my hubby could pull right in when I am brushing his teeth..feedings...etc. One thing I wish I did was put a kitchen faucet with sprayer so it would be easier to wash his hair on those days that we do not make it to the shower. I will eventually take pictures of our shower. We wheel my hubby in...and he stands holding onto the grab bars. We also have a shower chair for the days he gets tired. The most important thing in the shower was the hand held shower head. This has been so helpful.

Joel...I noticed the toilevator...what a great idea!

Our shower is finished. Pic in my profile. The floor for the shower was dropped 2" to make a level entry. Water runs to drain with only splash out without the curtain. Got one now. Bathroom is 8 x 16 minus closet behind shower wall shower 6 x 6.
This is new construction so we blocked the walls for attached grab bars by the toilet and in the ceiling for a track. The door is framed for a cut out for a track. Pic in profile are of a friends track that we used for ideas. It will run from the room and then turn for the shower. The room is 16 x 22 we are using for a den now. This started 6 wks after diagnosed so we are as ready as we can.

Georgia, thanks for giving the dimensions as well as the photos. Very helpful.

Kelly, that's a great idea to have the kitchen type sprayer for the basin. Even without the need due to als, think of all of the toothpaste globs any basin gets!

Interesting information; we're talking about bathroom renovations now.

Pictures of bathroom and bedroom changes

I just finished posting some picture of the changes we made to our bedroom and bathroom to make it more accessible. Also posted some new family photos.

Great pics Capt. Al!

Very helpful!

GlenBrittle said:

Here is a question for those that already have the equipment in place.

What will be better ? A wheelchair accessible shower OR a lift for a bathtub ?

Before diagnosis , we built a huge bathroom with a theraputic tube for two. We have room to install a wheelchair accessible shower.

I am not in a wheelchair yet, but want to plan for that horrible day :-x .

I currently crawl in and out of the tub today . In the future , hopefully a long time from now , this will become impossible.

What , in your opinion will be easier to work with for myself and my wife helping.

Thanks in advance for your viewpoints.

Glen

Click to expand...

I was diagnosed with ALS in June of 2005. I have been in a chair for 6 months. I drive my chair into the showey (6' x 10') that has a seat, 6' wide, 26" tall and 24" deep. The bench seat has 3 water jets on each side, an overhead shower and a handheld sprayer. Of course I need help with all of this, but it is very easy to get from the chair to the seat and back. I can't even imagine trying to get in and out of a tub.