Bathroom fittings and equipment

[Dodger67]

What do you have to make using the bathroom easier?
I have a plastic chair and a non-slip handrail in my shower.
I can use a bathtub and toilet without any extras provided there is enough space for my wheelchair to get right up to it.

[Barb]

The one thing that I need to install for C is a shower head on a bar that adjusts to the height of his shower chair. I will get to that someday!

[lisawoody]

The basin is at her wheelchair height so she can wash her own hands without help, but is designed that we can raise it when need be. The shower is a wet area so she can wheel in transfer to the fixed seat on the wall and the shower head is the bar on the wall so it can go to any height and it also comes off the wall for diificult spots!! the toilet has enough room to transfer on and off with just a hand grip on the wall as she struggles with her centre of gravity when balancing. We also put a change table in which is electric and she can operate that herself but mostly it's for me so I don't wreck my back when changing her.

[Gymp]

Me Wife's in the wheelchair so I had to make some revisions to the bathroom when we got the house about 10 years ago.

1) I but in a grab bar beside the toilet on a 45 deg. angle.

2) I ripped out the vanity under the sink so she can get her head up and over it rather than a foot or so away from it and her legs can now go comfortably underneath it.

3) I installed 3 grab bars on the 3 walls abutting the bathtub along with another grab bar on the tub wall itself.We also have a shower chair with a plastic seat and height adjustable aluminum legs.

4) Installed two shower head holders at differing heights one for me at about 8 foot high and the other one for the wife at about 4 foot high.I also lengthened the shower head hose to about 11 foot to get at all ones nooks and crannies while showering.

5) I reran the wiring and put in a GFI (ground fault interupter) electric receptical beside the sink at a height the wife can access.

6) I switched the bathroom door from opening into the bathroom to opening into the hallway so she has more room in the bathroom itself.

I find myself using the grab bars in the tub and getting off the toilet moreso now than when I first put them in,gawd I am getting older lol.

Gymp

[Summer25]

I have a wheel in shower with a shower wheelchair and a wheel under sink. Once the kitchen is done in a few months we will probably redo the bathroom to make it bigger too.

[rachiebaby]

I have a plastic stool and a detachable shower head

[friendofsbwoman]

Sorry to bump an old thread. Was searching "showering" and this thread popped up.

I'm wondering whether those of you who are ambulatory find wet shower floors too slippery?

I'm afraid my shower unit (tile floors, ~1.2m x 1.5m) will be too slippery for my sb guest. But she told me not too worry and that she will sit on the floor if the floor is too slippery to stand. Is this a normal way to take a shower? or should I get a chair for her?

[misty]

I've sat down in the shower before when it was too slippery to stand. If she typically stands though, there are those little rubber foot pad things that you could purchase that stick to the bottom of the tub and give some friction. I have a bathtub mat because our bathtub is crazy slippery and I can't use it otherwise. You could use one of those while she's there and they are easy to remove if you decide you don't like it after she leaves.

[friendofsbwoman]

I've sat down in the shower before when it was too slippery to stand. If she typically stands though, there are those little rubber foot pad things that you could purchase that stick to the bottom of the tub and give some friction. I have a bathtub mat because our bathtub is crazy slippery and I can't use it otherwise. You could use one of those while she's there and they are easy to remove if you decide you don't like it after she leaves.

Thanks for the bathtub mat suggestion! I personally hate them, but they are probably going to be perfect for her.

My shower unit doesn't have a tub, and I suppose the tile floors are more slippery than a bathtub.

[LisaJoy]

I use a shower bench to sit on.

[dahliafaolan]

I use one of those hospital potty chairs. My balance is totally useless when it comes to getting on and off of a toilet or even staying on one. So I just use one of those hospital potty chairs in my shower for toileting and showering. It makes life so much easier. As for the sink, I think we used to have a pedestal sink, but we took that out and just put one that hangs on the wall. The shower also has an adjustable shower head holder and the shower head actually comes off the wall which makes it much easier to clean up after toileting.

[friendofsbwoman]

I use a shower bench to sit on.

Interesting, I have never seen shower benches.

I hope the stool I just bought (in the pic) will suffice.

[Dodger67]

A folding stool! :dance2:
Easy to tuck away when not in use. Hope the surface is not too slippery (try it out).
As a walker your guest might not really need it but its handy to have anyway.

[LillyPie]

I've been looking into shower chairs lately. Lilly slips all the time in the shower, so she has started sitting down while showering. My husband is going to try to make a chair with PVC and lawn chair fabric for the seat. The cheapest one I have seen is around $75.00 and its made of PVC. I also want to get a detachable shower head too.

[Dodger67]

I just use a cheap plastic garden chair
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4141/4770862094_ce5bed09ee.jpg

[Papillon]

Thanks for re-activating this thread - it's interesting to hear all your different ideas!

I have pretty poor tummy muscles, so find it hard to balance sitting up if my feet are on something slippery, or if I'm sitting on something slippery.

I sit on a plastic fold-down bench thing that is attached to the wall of the shower, and have a handrail to hold onto, and a hand-held shower head, both here and at Mum and Dad's place. Also, my Dad 'painted' the floor of my bathroom here at my flat/apartment with nonslip stuff of some kind (clear - I want to say lacquer, but lacquer is slippery, so it's not that!). This stuff means that I can now was my lower legs/feet by leaning over without worrying that my feet will slip off the floor and I will tumble off the chair. I used to have to hold onto the rail with one hand and only use the other to wash my legs/feet.

It needed to be done again recently, but it lasted almost 3 years before it began to get slippery again. When I was little we used to have a non-slip mat in the shower/bath - one of those ones with the suction caps on the bottom so once you stick it down it is really hard to get off, so won't move when you put weight on the top of it. Maybe someone else has heard of something like this and knows a name they can give? Otherwise when Dad gets back from holidays I can ask him what it's called.

If I am in a hotel or someone else's house and need to have a shower, I usually just sit on the floor or I try to borrow a plastic chair to use.

Love Papillon
xo

[friendofsbwoman]

A folding stool! :dance2:
Easy to tuck away when not in use. Hope the surface is not too slippery (try it out).
As a walker your guest might not really need it but its handy to have anyway.

Thanks for reminding me! I just tried it out and it's not slippery when I place the the stool on the shower mats I just bought. Without the shower mats, the surface is slippery. (Our bathroom is also our laundry room so the floors are made of slick tile on a slight slope to facilitate an old fashioned washing machine that makes the whole bathroom wet when water gets drained.)

I was on the fence about buying a stool, but after my roommate mentioned she has fallen down in our bathroom in the past, I decided to get a stool.

[Dodger67]

How about the surface of the stool itself - when it is supporting a wet, soapy backside?

[friendofsbwoman]

How about the surface of the stool itself - when it is supporting a wet, soapy backside?

Hmm.. didn't think about that. Shouldn't one's feet be able to keep the steady sitting position no matter how wet, soapy, slippery the seat gets?

[Dodger67]

Mine definitely won't, but your guest is a walker so she might be ok provided her ankles are stable.
Do you know if she wears ankle braces (AFOs)?

[misty]

I'm a walker too, but if my feet AND my butt are both on slippery surfaces I'm gonna be in trouble. My feet can't grip the floor so, I'm pretty unstable if wet, and obviously my butt can't grip anything either, lol!

[friendofsbwoman]

Mine definitely won't, but your guest is a walker so she might be ok provided her ankles are stable.
Do you know if she wears ankle braces (AFOs)?

Yes, she usually wears ankle braces outdoors but doesn't at home/other people's houses.

[friendofsbwoman]

I'm a walker too, but if my feet AND my butt are both on slippery surfaces I'm gonna be in trouble. My feet can't grip the floor so, I'm pretty unstable if wet, and obviously my butt can't grip anything either, lol!

If you don't mind me asking, is the lack of stability in your toes the reason you can't grip the floor? or is it some other reason? Do you still feel slippery walking on shower mats?
I ask because my friend could move her ankles, feet and toes but they are not as flexible/stable as the typical person. Her thighs, knees and calves are function normally. Strange isn't it?

[misty]

Its the lack of control over my toes, feet, and ankles. They hold me up because they are pretty much stuck in place, but I can't move them to hold onto anything.

[LisaJoy]

My shower bench looks like this, only it isn't a folding variety and only cost about $25 (8 years ago):

http://www.allegromedical.com/bathroom-assists-c517/folding-bath-bench-p554764.html

I also have a hand-held shower head.

[friendofsbwoman]

My shower bench looks like this, only it isn't a folding variety and only cost about $25 (8 years ago):

http://www.allegromedical.com/bathroom-assists-c517/folding-bath-bench-p554764.html

I also have a hand-held shower head.

Thanks for sharing!
Our shower head is hand-held too.

[technovicki]

it's funny this thread bumped up as i had not seen it before and was going to comment that i finally bought a shower stool. it's similar to lisajoy's but a stool instead of a bench (small tub). i knew it would be easier but WOW...i'll be 32 later this month and its taken me this long to 'get with it'. my parents wanted to buy me one when i lived at home but said i wouldnt use it so they never did. i was even stubborn about it after having knee surgery last year. when i did need to sit i would wash the tub and sit down but now with my knee it made it a lot harder to stand up...so...ta-da...bath stool...LIFE IS SO MUCH EASIER!