Making a bathroom more accessible can be one of the smartest home modifications. While it’s an ideal renovation project for those experiencing mobility issues and who want to age in their home, it’s also appropriate for forward-thinking homeowners! Here are three major pros to having an accessibility-focused bathroom.
Accessibility Bathrooms Are Easier To Navigate
The bathroom is a part of the house that presents some of the biggest challenges for seniors or people with mobility issues. Most often, the bathroom is a compact room that still manages to fit in a tub, toilet and sink. These fixtures can be in configurations that can be awkward at best and dangerous at worst. Combine it with high levels of moisture and slippery surfaces, and you have many safety hazards.
Bathrooms renovated for mobility and ease of use reduce these hazards. Walk-in showers, grab bars, and lowered toilets can all work to make the bathroom useable for all. It can even extend to the materials! The last thing someone with trouble walking needs is a bathroom floor that’s slippery when wet. We would avoid using smooth tiles in an accessibility bathroom, instead choosing a flooring material with more traction, e.g. embossed vinyl tile, planks, and rougher stone tiles.
Accessibility Renovations Can Make The Bathroom More Beautiful
A common misconception about accessibility renovations is that they’re clunky, sterile, or both. A contractor with experience in accessibility renovations can not only make a bathroom easier to use and upgrade but also turn it into a comfortable oasis! Much of it comes down to the material used, as referenced in our previous point, but it’s more than flooring.
Clients have so many options for flooring, walls, and countertops. You can have counters built with safety features, and whether it’s smooth marble, granite, or quartz, we can add a lip to the countertop’s edges that look decorative while being very practical. A lip can stop toiletries, water, and other bathroom items from slipping off the counter and creating a trip hazard on the floor.
They also don’t have to remove all the fixtures you know and love in your existing bathroom. For instance, if you carefully chose your bathtub and want it left in place, you can have it retrofitted to let you or a member of your house step through the tub.
You Can Anticipate Your Future Needs
Are you living in your “forever home,” the place where you want to live well into old age? In this case, it’s good to think about the future when renovating. By putting the principles of universal design into practice (the idea that rooms should be accessible to all people, regardless of ability), a qualified contractor can remake a bathroom and help you age in place with reduced risks.
Many of the universal design principles are almost unnoticeable. Wider-than-average doorways, lever-style hardware, non-slip flooring, and rounded corners are all things that most people wouldn’t think twice about while being appreciated by those with mobility issues. If the work is done by a qualified contractor, these alterations can raise the value of your home if you decide to move!
Choose a contractor or remodeler who is familiar with accessibility and universal design principles. They understand the physical limitations of the person using the bathroom to help make a room that’s safe, comfortable, and beautiful!