Closomat Accessible/age friendly housing – bathroom top tips

When changes are needed, it is usually in the bathroom. Appropriate design at the outset, or retrospectively, can ensure a stylish solution that still works for us in daily life, despite health or age issues. The one inevitable in life is we all get older.

1. Level access: to avoid trips, and ensure smooth progress for a frame or wheelchair.
2. Wet floor, to ease transition in and out of the shower without risk of tripping over a low level shower tray.
3. Level access shower.
4. Shower seat, if we can’t stand for long (or at all).
5. Thermostatic shower (so we don’t get burnt).
6. Grab rails for support (subject to strength suitability of the supporting wall).
7. Washbasin, positioned so it can be reached from a sitting position on the WC. Ideally height-adjustable, so taller users do not have to stoop, but people who are smaller, or sitting, can still reach easily.
8. Lever taps for easy operation regardless of manual dexterity.
9. WC set away from the parallel wall, ideally a wash and dry toilet, which, with its built-in douche and dryer, delivers enhanced hygiene & wellbeing whatever our capabilities.
10. Drop down arm supports (in case we need extra security or leverage).
11. Ceiling track hoist to help a carer transfer us to any point within the room and, depending on the configuration, to other areas of the home.
12. Good lighting prevents falls, improves independence and improves hygiene and care.
13. Colour can influence the ambience and mood, and differentiate certain areas of the room, the location of fixtures and fittings.