Creating a safe bathroom for your family home

Heading toward retirement or accommodating elderly relatives in your family home? You may want to create a safe bathroom in your next renovation.

When presented with all those sparkling fittings in a showroom and deciding on a new design for your bathroom renovation, the last thing on many people's minds would be planning for their twilight years. But with the average bathroom renovation lasting well over a decade, it might be worth your while to think ahead, particularly if you often have older family members to stay.

Creating a safe bathroom that's suitable for an older person doesn't necessarily mean you will be stuck with a range of hospital-like features that you don't need. There are many ways you can plan for the future in your bathroom renovation while still maintaining a stylish look.

For instance, grab rails or bathroom rails are imperative for an older person, as they sometimes have difficulty supporting their own weight. These are handy to have around the toilet and in the shower, but if you don't want to include these before you need them, you can simply allow some extra space to install them later on.

With the elderly being much more likely to slip, wet areas like the bathroom need particular attention to prevent falls. Flooring material should be non-slip, or have non-slip coating applied, to ensure a safe bathroom environment. Sharp edges on hard surfaces such as a bathroom vanity can do a lot of damage if you're unlucky enough to fall on them, so ensure that the edges are rounded and have a bathroom rail within reach for added support.

A shower over the bath may be a great solution for a small bathroom, but baths are impractical for the elderly, as they are difficult to get in and out of. A better option is a walk-in shower that is on the same level as the bathroom floor, so no step up or down is required. This has the added advantage of looking stylish while allowing you to customise it when the time comes, by adding a stool and some rails.

Designing an open-plan bathroom with lots of room to manoeuvre will pay off in the long term, as elderly people often need walking frames or wheelchairs to get around. Ensure that doors have a wide clearance and that there is space underneath the vanity for a chair or a wheelchair. Weaker wrists will appreciate mixer taps on basins and showers.

And finally, good lighting is a simple yet effective way of creating a safer bathroom environment for your later years, when your eyesight may not be what it once was. Make sure there is adequate lighting to the floors and around the vanity to provide a clear path in and out of the bathroom.

To get your bathroom fitted for older living, talk to professional bathroom renovators about your safe bathroom renovation requirements: