What Accessible Shower Options Help Someone Who Cannot Step Over a Tub?

For a bather who cannot lift a leg over a tub wall, the accessible shower options are a low step-in shower base with a 3 inch threshold, a curbless roll-in base that a walker, wheelchair or shower chair crosses with no lip to lift over, and a seated shower built on either base with a folding bench or molded seat and a hand shower on a slide bar. Every one of them is put together from a base, a wall system sized to it and the accessories the bather needs, and it is installed by a local licensed contractor rather than by Ella's Bubbles. What Are the Best Accessible Tub and Shower Options for Retrofitting a Home? sorts the complete tub and shower choices for a retrofit, and this page stays with the shower side of that list for the person whose only problem is the step.

Why the Height of the Edge Is the Whole Question

A regular bathtub asks the bather to balance on one leg while the other clears the rim. Each accessible shower replaces that rim with an edge low enough to step or roll across, so the real difference between the options is the height of that edge. Ella's one-piece and three-piece stalls have a 4 inch threshold, which still asks for a small, deliberate step. The low step-in base drops that to a 3 inch threshold for bathers who can step but like a slight lip that keeps water in. The Accessible Caregiver Shower Base has a 3/4 inch threshold. The curbless roll-in bases go lowest of all: AcrylX barrier-free bases have a beveled roll-in entry of 3/4 inch to 1 1/8 inch depending on size, and SMC bases are 1 inch or 1 1/8 inch, the lowest entry of any Ella product.

The lower the edge, the more the shower relies on something else to keep water in the stall. On a curbless base that job belongs to a collapsible rubber shower dam, which is installed with silicone along the front of the base, compresses under a wheel or a foot and springs back to hold the water in. For someone who is unsteady but still walking, the 3 inch step-in base is often the comfortable middle ground, because there is a small edge to feel with the foot and no dam to cross. For someone who will shower from a chair, or who is helped by a caregiver, the curbless base is the one to plan around, as Should I choose a walk-in tub or a roll-in shower? explains.

The Accessible Shower Options Side by Side

The table uses only figures printed in Ella's current guides. Where a guide gives no figure, the cell says not listed.

What the differences mean: the 4 inch stall and the 3 inch step-in base both ask the bather to lift a foot, so they suit someone who is steady enough for one low step and who wants a lip that holds water without a dam. The 3/4 inch caregiver base and the curbless roll-in bases ask for nothing to be lifted, which is why they are the choice when a walker, wheelchair or shower chair stays with the bather into the stall. The walk-in tub is the odd one out because its 3.5 inch threshold sits behind a door, so the bather is sitting at chair height within one turn of stepping through it.

Seats, Bars and a Hand Shower Turn a Base into a Seated Shower

A low edge gets the bather in. A seat keeps them off a wet standing floor for the rest of the shower. A seat is optional on Ella's roll-in bases, and there are two ways to add one: folding benches and seats rated from 300 to 600 pounds, or a 36 by 60 base with a molded seat. The rest of a seated shower is built from accessories:

• A hand shower on a 24 inch slide bar, so the spray comes to the bather at seated height instead of the bather standing under a fixed head.
• Grab bars added to the surrounding walls, placed where the bather sits down and stands up.
• A weighted anti-bacterial nylon curtain on a stainless curtain rod, one of the caregiver options Ella lists for the roll-in base.
• The collapsible rubber shower dam on a curbless base, so the water stays in the stall after the chair rolls over it.

What Professionally Installed Means with an Ella Shower

Ella's Bubbles makes the tubs and showers and sells them through your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850, shipping nationwide from its facility in Chicago. It does not perform installation. The base, walls and accessories are set by a licensed, experienced local contractor, and Ella's technical support guides that contractor at no charge with manuals and live video help, and can refer installers from its nationwide network. Shower products are sold per item rather than as one bundle, so a professionally installed accessible shower is specified piece by piece:

1. The base, in a standard 30 x 60, 32 x 60 or 36 x 60 inch size or a made-to-order size, with the drain position specified when you order. The 32 by 60 inch barrier-free base is offered in left and right configurations and is ready to ship.
2. A wall system sized to the base.
3. Accessories such as grab bars, a seat, a slide bar with hand shower, a curtain or a door.

Where Can I Buy a Walk-In Tub Designed for Elderly or Disabled Bathers? covers the ordering side in more detail, including what to settle before the order is placed.

When a Walk-In Tub Solves the Same Problem

Some bathers who cannot step over a tub wall still want a bath, and a walk-in tub answers the same problem with a door instead of a lower edge. The bather steps through the door over a low threshold, sits on a molded seat, and showers from the seat with the pull-out hand shower on the 2-piece or 5-piece fast-fill faucet; the optional shower column adds a 10 inch rain head for seated or standing showers. Which Walk-In Tub Is Best If I Have Difficulty Stepping Over a Tub? matches each door style to the way the bather moves. The Transfer family is the one to look at when even the low step is too much: its outward L-shaped door opens completely out of the way and there is no sidewall beside the seat, so the bather sits first and swings the feet in afterward. The video shows the three Ella door styles, and the L-shaped door opening with toilet clearance of up to 21 inches in height and space for a wheelchair.

The order of decisions is the same either way. Settle how the bather gets into the water first, then add the seat, the bars and the comfort features, as Which Walk-In Bath Remodel Options Balance Accessibility and Luxury for Aging in Place? lays out. A shower with a 3 inch edge, a curbless base with a dam, or a tub with a door all remove the wall; the right one is the one that matches how the person moves today and how they are likely to move in a few years.

Watch: Wheelchair Accessible Walk-In Tub Door Options for Elderly & Disabled | Ella’s Bubbles with chapters and a full transcript.

Related Guides

• What is a roll-in shower and who is it designed for?
• Installing Ella Shower Bases, the Flexible Shower Dam, and Shower Walls
• What Is a Shower Dam and When Do You Need One?
• What is a tub cut-out, and does Ella's Bubbles offer one?
• Walk-in tub or walk-in shower: which is better for seniors?

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