Luxury bathrooms should offer you the best in style as well as comfort and ease of use. That’s why here at Alan Heath and Sons we create bathrooms with our customer and their environment at the centre – it gets the best results all round!
But everyone is different, and we all have different levels of physical ability. We also understand (more so now we’re grandparents and parents) that old age can play havoc with your flexibility.
Getting in and out of the armchair, let alone the bathroom, can be an increasingly difficult and often worrying or painful task. Washing in the bath or shower can be a very difficult and frightening experience for elderly and less able people, so we’ll help you build confidence and provide extra support to make sure that washing is the enjoyable and relaxing experience that it should be.
When you think about disabled access or disabled-friendly facilities you’d be forgiven for thinking that the glamour and the style that we pride ourselves on wouldn’t be present with an accessible bathroom… but you’d be wrong.
Our bathrooms for those with disabilities or limited movement offer you all the luxuries of our designer bathrooms, but with added ease of use and clever design. We make your bathroom the pleasurable place you deserve it to be.
Should you have a disabled bath or a shower?
Disabled baths are not a new option; in fact they’ve been around for a while and many elderly people choose them. If getting in and out of the bath is a struggle then they have a clever design that could help you.
A bath with a built-in door allows you to walk into your bath instead of stepping in over the high side. Once you’re in you can sit on a raised seated section and the flexibility issues are lessened considerably.
But disabled baths aren’t perfect…
Disabled baths need you in them to fill
The door on a disabled bath is a great access for you but obviously the water will just flow out if you open it. This means that you need to get into the bath and then fill it.
You can’t get out of a disabled bath…
… well, not until you’ve let all the water out anyway. It’s the reverse of filling it up. You can’t open the door until all the water has drained away and that means you have to stage a sit in until the levels have subsided.
Disabled baths can be less enjoyable
The whole experience of a relaxing bath can lost in the design of a disabled bath. If you sit in the bath while the water drains out, it’s not a great end to a relaxing bathe.
However….
When you ‘run a bath’ you try to get the temperature just right before you get in – and it’s a dark art. With a disabled bath you’re already in the when you turn the taps on, making it easier to get the perfect temperature and the right amount of bubbles! Thermostatic taps are another option though as you can set them to give you the perfect temperature every time!
Image courtesy of Aqata UK
Showers are more disability-friendly
You might think that a bath is safer for someone with mobility difficulties but we find that more often than not the shower is a better option.
Showers are walk-in by design and showers designed to be mobility-friendly are very easy to get in and out of. A simple handrail can offer support where needed and a larger shower allows space for a carer to help. Add the anti-slip flooring and you can be confident of having an enjoyable wash without falling. When you’ve finished you just turn the shower off and get out. There’s no sit in and no shivering while the levels subside.
Don’t compromise on a disabled bathroom
We’re often tasked with making a bathroom more accessible for an elderly relative or for a less able-bodied partner. Replacing a bath with a disabled bath is one option, but we’d usually suggest keeping the existing bath and adding a shower as well (space permitting).
By keeping the bath (or updating it) the able-bodied people in your home can still enjoy the bath and the relaxing experience while the less mobile person can use the shower. It’s a win-win for your home and your bathroom.
If you don’t have the space for both then our recommendation is to have the bath replaced with a shower, as this will usually suit both needs.
We have many clever options for disabled bathrooms that won’t make your experience any less enjoyable than our other designer bathrooms.
Alan Heath and Sons specialise in disabled bathrooms with all the glamour by design. Don’t compromise; come and see us in our bathroom showroom in Coventry and find out how we can help you make showering and bathing easier, safer, and more stylish.