Navigating accessibility codes and standards when designing a living space—especially when that living space is a wheelchair accessible bathroom design—can be a difficult balancing act of form, function, and aesthetic. You’re going to need a bathroom layout that can accommodate a wheelchair, of course, but you’ll also need an ADA compliant roll-in shower stall that’s easy to use on a day-to-day basis and looks good in the bathroom design.
EverFab wants to help. With a curated product catalog of ADA compliant roll-in shower stalls and strength-tested grab bars and seats, you can be confident that the wheelchair accessible bathroom design you put together will meet all of your client’s needs.
There are a few features that every wheelchair accessible shower and bathroom design must have. Even if your client has specific requests for the bathroom you’re designing, these features will still be necessary additions to the finished product.
Every wheelchair accessible bathroom design needs an ADA compliant roll-in shower stall. This type of shower is specifically designed to accommodate wheelchair users by making it as easy as possible to roll into the unit and comfortably enjoy their shower.
For example, the S6334A roll-in shower stall offered here at EverFab is designed to accommodate wheelchair users’ needs and meets all of the necessary ADA shower threshold requirements. This unit has 60” x 30” of open floor space, and thresholds that come in 15⁄8”, 1”, or 1⁄4” no-recess height options, meaning you can be confident that it will meet the needs of your bathroom design.
For a roll-in shower stall to be ADA compliant, it needs to come equipped with a built-in shower seat and grab bar(s). These accessories are necessary installations for every ADA compliant roll-in shower and have to be strength-tested to ensure they meet the requirements set forth by the ADA.
It’s important that the roll-in showers for wheelchairs you use in your bathroom design are outfitted with the right durability and strength. Far too often, traditional showers can be prone to cracks or chips that compromise their structural integrity. This is caused by the significant amount of calcium sulfate used in shower construction, which causes the unit to be heavier and, inadvertently, more prone to damage.
At EverFab, though, our showers are created from a material with more glass and less calcium sulfate, leading to more reliable and durable products.
Carlson Testing Inc (CTI) performed a load test on several of our ADA compliant shower units to ensure they had the kind of durability that we wanted them to. Not only did CTI’s test discover that our showers could support at least 2x the weight required by the 2010 American with Disabilities Act Standards for Accessible Design, but in one test, our grab bar was able to support as much as 1,500 pounds of weight.
If you want to learn more about the ADA compliant features and products your wheelchair accessible bathroom design should have, get in touch with EverFab today! We offer a variety of models that comply with several different accessibility codes and can even provide you with an accessibility code consultation to help you better understand the regulations your current or upcoming project will have to comply with.