Bathroom Remodel Ideas

I have a bathroom gut and remodel coming up at the in-laws house soon. They are getting up there in years and have difficulty stepping over the tub sides. I'll be replacing the tub with a walk in shower similar to what we have here. My parents lived with us for a couple months this past year and our shower setup in the one bathroom worked very well for my mother who was recovering from a hip dislocation and back surgery.

It makes sense to re-hab the entire bathroom at this time. Replacing the flooring, vanity, ADA toilet, grab bars, electrical upgrades/fixtures and painting. Plus any surprises we find in the walls or under the floor.

I can't start the actual demo for a couple weeks until the MIL picks out a few things, but I can get some things prep'ed and planned.

Any bathroom ideas on what you have seen work well or things that didn't work well that I should avoid?

Don't know what the $$$ money situation is but they got those walk in tubs w/ jets & a bunch of fancy do-dads. Point bein--we don't get younger & hips don't get better--something to look at maybe?????

Those walk in tubs with a door and jets are not real cheap (I see on home depot or equal sites $2500-$6000+ depending on options).

A walk-in shower with a very low step is always nice, put a seat in if you can towards the back,etc... that what I want to do in our house when I re-do the downstairs bath (40's vintage yellow tile if you can picture that, lol), i';m not getting any younger and a walk-in shower would be nice.

When my mom moved into her apt. they asked if she wanted a cut out on the tub and they put on in for her, make it So much easier for her.

good luck, keep us posted.

Yep, that seat idea should be a must. Even put faucets close to it. Just a lil more piping.

While studs are open fasten additional 1 by ? wood spanning between studs in order to lag or fasten/anchor more solidly than using just a hollow wall type anchors for grab bars and the like.
Layout takes some thinking and planning, and it might even be smart to snap a picture before you cover it over for better recall after.

I've done a couple of these for relatives. If you're ok with minor flaws, Builders Surplus in Northeast usually has great prices on fiberglass tub/shower stalls. I bought two showers there, a 5 ft with built in seats and a 4 ft that would accept a shower chair, $200 each. I don't know current prices or what they may have. I put wood plates in the walls for stainless steel handicap bars, and used a shower curtain instead of doors to make entry and egress easier. I also put bars by the toilet and sink and a bench next to the shower. Enough handholds to allow them to move anywhere in there while still maintaining a firm grip. I used the exhaust fan, heater and light combo in the ceiling. I used two double throw switches, one was ceiling light-off-night light, the other heat-off-exhaust. That eliminated the risk of running the heater and exhaust fan simultaneously. I also used 36" pocket doors, they are much easier for someone using a walker or wheelchair, and I included a phone jack and wired wall mount phone mounted low enough to be reached by someone on the floor. The cordless house phones won't work if the power goes down and a cell phone may not be close by if they should fall. The wall mount phone is always there. BTW, those big one piece fiberglass showers are difficult to get into a finished house. Be sure you can get it in there before you finalize your plans.

So should I paint it blue or pink?

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We remodeled a bathroom a few years ago. My only regret is not putting radiant heat in the floor.

Use a high quality bathroom fan, and airseal/insulate the outside walls really well.

coalnewbie wrote:So should I paint it blue or pink?

http://cache1.asset-cache.net/gc/178677132-cowboy-in-old-bat ... hlJ6txxe9w

How about rainbow?

http://time.com/4199747/open-air-urinal-san-francisco/

I just got done with a bathroom renovation. Its was fun. Aside from the delay in the choosing of materials (flooring, vanity, sinks, lighting, etc.).

What should have taken 1 month ended up taking six.

My advice? Require that all materials be sourced and decided upon prior to tear up.

Doing a second one now. 1 month to choose a sink by the wifey. And still re-thinking if its OK.

You would think that tearing out the old one would speed up the material selection process...it does not.

I have Hardiboard and Denshield laying in my family room just awaiting decisions to be made.

I don't care about the materials being selected, just make decisions.

Happy renovation ... the only material that is a must is a few bottles of Jack to aid in the waiting process for decisions to be made.

coalnewbie wrote:So should I paint it blue or pink?

http://cache1.asset-cache.net/gc/178677132-cowboy-in-old-bat ... hlJ6txxe9w

Now you sound like my wifey. I tell her "I don't care, just pick one! Its been 3 weeks deciding the color of the walls."

Melissa is a Nursing Home RN and made some very good suggestions when I was modifying my bathtub for her recovery from hip replacement surgery.

Another option to an expensive wall mounted seat is to get one of the waterproof shower/bath plastic bench seats that are sold in some Drug stores and med supply stores that sell/rent walkers and crutches. It can be moved where needed and taken out for easier cleaning. Some of the bathroom benches can even be put straddling the edge of a tub so that seniors can sit down first then turn and safely lift and swing their legs into the tub.

Before doing any handhold/grab bar placement, first sit in the shower and see where you need to grab to get up and down on whatever seat you use. Just looking in doesn't always show you where you need to grab to get the best place to pull yourself up.

You can buy stainless steel flex hose extensions for shower massage shower heads at Lowes. Makes it much easier to rinse off all over while sitting down. Pick up an extra wall bracket to hang the shower massage at sitting height.

Paul