Seniors with mobility issues and those with physical disabilities need bathrooms that are designed specially for their manoeuvring and navigating needs. By making designs that accommodate creative adjustments and installations of specialist items, bathrooms for the elderly are being fashioned with safety, ease of use, comfort and easy accessibility in mind.
With the elderly, there are quite a few movable items and danger zones to avoid, and the bath tub is the greatest culprit. The bath tub is a common element that has been the cause of many nasty bathroom accidents.
So, to create safe bathrooms for the elderly requires some form of bathroom remodeling works, for example, replacing the tub with an easily accessible walk-in-shower or a walk in bathtub with a door.
Recommendations For Senior Citizens Bathrooms
The following are recommendations for safe elderly bathrooms ideas. These features are important bathroom remodeling works that need to be considered.
- Walk-in showers: Much safer, easier to access and comfortable to use. This is highly recommended for elderly people's bathrooms. The modern designs of glass shower panels are good for the elderly who require wheelchair access. And with a good wide space for easy manoeuvring, walk-in-showers allow easy bathing and washing.
- Fitted shower seats: Must be installed in all shower enclosures for the elderly. Due to age, they need to sit down comfortably to enable them bathe with ease.
- Grab bars: Must be installed in bathrooms for the elderly. There must be grab bars in the shower enclosure, and along the bathroom wall of the walk-in route. If a walk in bathtub is installed, there must be grab bars installed on the bathtub length wall. There must be grab bars along the toilet wall. left or right, as the case may be.
- Floating sinks with space for wheelchairs: Recommended for the aged that move around with the aid of a wheelchair. The wheelchair can be 'parked' under the floating sink.
- Elevated toilet seats with special add-ons. Toilet seats must be raised above the standard height to avoid unwanted strain on the backbone.
- Non slip flooring for the tub, shower, and bathroom floor. This must be fitted or placed in bathrooms for the elderly. This prevents falls, skids of slips.
- Slip proof coating on bathroom floors. This is a recommended finishing coat, applied to floors to prevent slips or bad falls.
- No step, easy access entrance with no door. Access into the bathroom must be unhindered. If possibel, remove the bathroom door and replace with a simple curtain. However, if added privacy is needed, only a sliding door feature must be installed.
- Install electrical switches on a lower level. For easy and unaided reach, elderly bathrooms must have light switches fixed at a lower level than is standard. This will help them, especially those on a wheelchair, reach switches easily.
Other Items That Must Be Provided For In Bathrooms For The Elderly
Finally, when carrying out bathrooms remodeling for the elderly, it is important to include items used daily, such as beautiful plastic cups, soft toothbrushes, toothbrush holders, soap dishes, dispensers etc..
With these key remodeling ideas, a senior citizen will feel more comfortable and safe, and many of the common bathroom accidents will be totally avoided.
Virginia Iyabo Smith - Virginia Iyabo is a professional interior designer, an interior design consultant, and a custom furniture designer. She started writing ...
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