When designing an accessible bathroom, whether you’re building or renovating, there will be hiccups that can’t be avoided and price tags that are higher than expected. Using fiberglass showers when you’re designing your bathroom can help you minimize the costs and the headaches. Fiberglass is lightweight, which makes it easy to ship, and it’s strong, so you can be confident that your fiberglass shower insert won’t arrive damaged. Fiberglass is also an inexpensive material, so using fiberglass showers in your design will help you keep costs low. Inexpensive products are sometimes associated with being cheap or flimsy—this isn’t the case with fiberglass.
Fiberglass is a heavily reinforced material. Most shower inserts only have reinforcements in certain areas, and a lot of units will be reinforced with materials like wood, which are cost-efficient, but provide insufficient support and are prone to water damage. When a shower is made from fiberglass, its strength is consistent throughout the entire unit, and there’s no risk of fiberglass sustaining any water damage that might cause it to warp or decay. In fact, while wood reinforcements just sandwich between outer layers of building materials, fiberglass layers bond together to create a fundamentally more sound structure. Because of its sturdiness and durability, fiberglass is the ideal material choice for accessible showers.
A common issue with insert shower units is a weak or improperly supported bottom. While a shower with a thin bottom plate, or a shower that’s only reinforced with wood, may be accessible when first installed, over time, the floors of those units will warp, slant, or crack. This can pose hazards like a heightened risk of tripping and falling. In roll-in showers, an uneven or distorted shower bottom could make it difficult to get into the shower or could lead to wheels getting stuck. Fiberglass is sturdy and well-reinforced, and can’t be damaged or distorted by water over time the way shower units constructed with other materials often are. With a fiberglass shower bottom, a shower unit that’s purchased for its accessibility will stay safe and accessible.
Fiberglass showers are also perfect to include in your accessible shower design because of how secure their accessories will be. Because fiberglass is such a sturdy shower material, any features and accessories that are installed in the unit are more firmly affixed. That extra reinforcement significantly increases the weight load that a feature like a grab bar can safely support, meaning there’s no concern about a grab bar dislocating or the shower curtain bar falling down. If you don’t order a shower with any of those features at first, but need them later, with EverFab’s fiberglass showers, you can install a grab bar into a prefabricated accessible shower unit without compromising the structural integrity of the shower insert.
If you’re looking to enhance your accessible shower design, fiberglass showers are a great option. They’re strong, long-lasting, cost-efficient, easy to ship, and easy to install. If you’re interested in utilizing the benefits of an accessible fiberglass shower, schedule a call with our team to discuss your options!