Alternative to a walk-in tub for the elderly
Arranging a safer bath for your mom or dad? Here is how walk-in showers fit when you are an adult child buying for a parent.
Your mom or dad has started to dread stepping over the tub wall, and you want to fix it before a fall. A walk-in tub is the one you keep hearing about, but you are not sure it is right. As an adult child buying for a parent, you want to see every choice first.
The tub wall is the problem. Lifting a leg over it gets harder with age, and a wet, slick surface makes it worse. A walk-in tub is one answer, but it is not the only one. The most common alternatives are a walk-in shower with a low or barrier-free entry, a tub-to-shower conversion, and a built-in seat with grab bars. Each one takes away the climb.
What the job involves depends on your parent's bathroom. The size and layout of the tub or shower space matter. So do the choices you make: a shower or a tub, the base, the wall style and finish, and extras like a seat, shelves or grab bars. The work covers only the tub or shower area, not the whole bathroom. Every job is quoted in the home, because no two bathrooms are the same.
This week, ask for a design visit at your parent's home. Love Your Bath sends a designer who can lay out the walk-in tub, the walk-in shower, the tub-to-shower conversion and the seat and grab bar options side by side. Your parent should be there, since it is their bathroom. You can join in person or by phone, and ask your questions as they come up. Try not to pick a product before you have seen the others.
Once it is done, your parent steps into a Jacuzzi® shower instead of climbing over a wall. There is a seat to rest on and grab bars where they want them. Linda P. wrote in a review that she was "so happy with their professionalism" after her walk-in shower was installed. The lifetime warranty lasts as long as your parent owns the home, so you can worry less.
What our customers say
"Max and *** our installers did a great job. The shower and tub to walk in shower they installed are beautiful and we are so happy with their professionalism. We will recommend them to everyone."
"Chris Stone the man! Thank you sir for working with us to get the shower we were always looking for, for a price that we could work with. Couldn’t have done it without you all."
"This is part 1 of 2 in a bathroom remodel. The work done by Jean Santiago and team mate with Love Your Bath which included tile, wall and floor removal and replacement has been superb. Jean restructured our shower area per specs and provided personalized options which left us with a excellent impression of his work. While work continues with Love Your Bath on finishing this remodel with glass and door work that Jean does not do, we feel the expectations he left for other workers will be hard to meet,"
Other questions about walk-in showers for adult children buying for a parent
cost to remove a bathtub and make a walk-in shower
We take out the tub and put in a low-threshold or barrier-free shower in the same space, so you are not paying to move walls or plumbing in most homes. You pick the base, walls, seat and grab bars with a designer at home and get a free quote for the whole job.
least expensive way to replace a shower
The lowest-cost way to get a real new shower is to replace just the shower: a new base and wall system installed over a cleaned-out space, with no full gut. That is what we do with Jacuzzi® shower systems, and most jobs take as little as one day.
Ready to talk?
Ask Love Your Bath about walk-in showers for adult children buying for a parent.