What accessible actually means in these houses
Not a hospital room. In practice, for the households we work for, it means four things: getting in without a step, washing sitting down, having something solid to hold onto, and not slipping.
Everything else is detail. Those four decide whether an eighty-year-old can use the bathroom without help, and they are all decided at the planning stage rather than chosen from a catalogue.
Getting in without a step
A hob — the raised tiled lip at the edge of a shower — is a trip hazard and a barrier to a walker. Removing it means the shower floor and the room floor are the same plane, with the fall built into the screed rather than into a step.
On a timber floor, which is common in the older fibro and part-fibro houses nearer the river, the floor structure can usually be adjusted so the finished tile level matches the hallway. On a slab the room is set with a shallow continuous fall to a linear waste against the wall, and the doorway threshold is detailed so water stays inside.
This is also the layout that reads as the largest in a small room, which is a useful side effect rather than the reason to do it.
Washing sitting down
A fold-down shower seat on a properly backed wall, or a free-standing shower chair if the person prefers one. The shower rose needs to be reachable from seated, which usually means a rail slider or a handheld on a hook at a lower height, and a mixer positioned so it can be reached from outside the water stream.
Thermostatic or temperature-limited mixing matters more here than anywhere else in the house. Older skin burns faster, and reaction time to a sudden hot burst is slower.
Something solid to hold
The rails are the visible part. The backing is the part that matters. Solid hardwood noggins, or proprietary reinforcing sheet, fixed into the studs before the wall is lined and before waterproofing, at the shower entry, down the shower wall and beside the toilet.
Once a wall is tiled, retrofitting that backing means breaking the tiles and the membrane. Putting it in during a renovation adds very little to a quote. We do it as standard, whether or not rails go on now, because the alternative is doing the room twice.
Not slipping
A wet, hard floor is the single biggest hazard in the room. Floor tiles are classified for slip resistance in Australia, and for a shower floor and a barefoot wet area there are recognised classifications to aim for. Our guide to slip ratings explains the R and P systems, where each applies, and the trade-off: a more slip-resistant surface has more texture, which holds a little more soap residue and takes a bit more cleaning. For a household with an older person in it, that is a trade worth making.
Smaller tiles with more grout lines also give more grip per square metre than one large polished slab, which is one of the few places where the design trend and the safety answer point in opposite directions.
Why combining the two rooms matters here
A separate toilet behind a 700 millimetre door is close to unusable with a walker, and impossible with a wheelchair. Taking out the wall between the bathroom and the toilet is often the only way to get enough clear floor for someone to turn around.
It is the same change described on the full bathroom renovations page, with a different reason behind it. Where the household needs two toilets as well as an accessible one, the answer is usually to add a second somewhere else — see the ensuites page.
Lighting, which gets forgotten
Older eyes need considerably more light to see the same thing, and glare is worse tolerated. That means more light overall, layered rather than a single ceiling fitting, with no bare bright source in the line of sight from the toilet or the shower, and switches that can be found in the dark. The fittings over and near the shower have to carry the right ingress-protection rating for their position; the lighting and IP zones guide sets out the zones. A licensed electrician does all of it.
Next step
A free measure, and if there is an occupational therapist involved we are glad to work to their report. We will tell you honestly if the room cannot give the clear space that is being asked for, and what the next best layout is.
Rough price bands are on the price guide. Renovation work is carried out in partnership with Coastal Renovation Group, a licensed NSW builder. Licence and insurance details are provided on request.