hi, i'm kristin. this is the als 411 on building an accessible bathroom. when my husband, todd, was diagnosed with als, we realized fairly quickly that our 1925 bungalow would not work. it would be expensive to renovate, and we were not near family. so, especially after the first year, when we realized that his progression
was on the slower side, we decided it made sense to plan for a disabled life. and we sold our home, some friends had a fundraiser for us, and we took money out of 401(k), and we built our dream home near family. and we've been happy with how it's turned out. so i'm going to show you some things that we did that work really well and one thing that we would do differently.
you always have to build the same house, i think our builder told us, five times before you get it right. but, we… we're overall very pleased with it. the first thing to think about is doorways. you want 36 inches to get a power wheelchair into a room. and then also floor space, 4 1/2 feet here we have
so todd can spin around in a complete circle. the shower. we love our shower. it's 6 feet long, 4 feet across. and there's room, with the shower chair in there, for a caregiver to stand on either side of todd to move around todd and shower him off. the handheld sprayer is also essential for that, when someone is paralyzed and you are showering the person off.
at the end of our shower, we have a trench drain, which is great because it provides a zero-barrier access to the shower, so there is no bump, and then the trench drain collects any water that escapes. you just need to remember to pour water down the the trap if your floors heat up in the winter as ours do in michigan when it's cold. we also put plywood backing behind our shower walls
in case we wanted to add grab bars. in our case, they weren't something we needed because todd lost so much arm strength so quickly. and another thing to think about is heat. now, we did not put our bathroom on a different zone, which in retrospect maybe we would have because pals get cold. when their muscles atrophy, they get really cold during showering.
and so, in our case, part of our dream was to put in a sauna. we have a small sauna next to our shower. and so we use, we use that heater. other people i know use a space heater. putting up a shower curtain would trap some of that steamy air and keep the pals a little bit warmer, but you're probably going to want some additional heat
in the bathroom during showers. the sink that we designed is a roll-up sink. it's 29 inches of clearance underneath, and then the counter is at a standard 32. people in a manual wheelchair might prefer to sit a little lower, but with als we want to plan for a power wheelchair. and so it is at a pretty good height. i would think that the 36 inch countertops
would probably be too high for someone in a power chair. when we first built the house, he would sit at the stool. he was still walking, and he could lean on the counter and brush his teeth and shave and have some of his independence that way. the levered handles on the sink also gave him some independence, because they are much easier to turn on and off. and the mirror is a nice feature.
it tilts down, and so a person in a wheelchair is able to see not only their face, but from the face to the waist. and we just got that at a do-it-yourself building store. the toilet is an ada, comfort-height toilet. it's a little higher than your standard toilet. and it's an elongated bowl, which makes it easier for a guy.
everything can drop down when they urinate. so you'd want an elongated one if you're thinking of that. and then the other thing is… when we were designing, we scoured the internet, we met with someone who had done an addition, and she suggested having room on either side of the toilet so that when a person needs help up from the toilet,
a person can, two people can help assist on either side. now, in our case we found the room on the other side, both sides to be helpful as we're positioning, being able to pull and push, and be on each side. our toilet, the hole, the drainage hole is about 2 1/2 feet from the outside wall, so we have 1 foot and 9 inches of clearance between the toilet and the wall, which seems adequate.
but this is the one thing we would have done differently, quite likely, and that is to put the toilet on the outside wall. the way we designed it here, there is a curve, and if you're using a hoyer lift to transport your patient, a straight shot is much better. it is not easy to work around a curve. and so if we had put the toilet on the outside wall, we'd have a much straighter shot with a hoyer lift. in our case, i was able to find an overhead lift on ebay.
and, so, this works, this setup works really well for us, and would work well for you as well if you're going to go that route with an overhead lift. ah, flooring. look for a non-slippery flooring. when we were picking out tile, i tried sliding my stocking foot across tiles, and also a barefoot across tiles, and picked one that seemed like it had some good grip.
your pals will want that if they're still walking, and then the caregivers too when they're taking care of a person who's disabled, it's nice to be able to maintain your balance. i think that's everything. if you have any comments, things that have worked well for you, questions, leave them below. and subscribe to our channel, and check out our blog at nevastory.com. i'll see you next time. thanks.