Which bathroom accessibility upgrades deliver the most value in a remodel?

The bathroom accessibility upgrade that delivers the most value is the one that changes how the bather gets into the water, because it decides whether the room works at all: a curbless roll-in shower base for a person who stays in a wheelchair or shower chair, or a seated walk-in tub for a person who can step through a door and sit. Grab bars, a hand shower and comfort options such as a heated seat add safety and ease to either choice, but none of them replaces the entry decision. What accessibility upgrades can a bathroom remodel add? lists every option Ella's Bubbles builds; this page weighs those options by the value they return to the bather, to the home, and against what insurance and accessibility standards will and will not do for you.

Value to the Bather: The Entry Decides Everything

Read the table as a decision path rather than a shopping list. A person who stays in a wheelchair or shower chair needs the curbless base, because the entry has no lip to lift a wheel over. A person who can step through a door and sit is usually best served by a seated walk-in tub, where the threshold and the seat height are the figures that matter. Everything below those rows is an addition. That is why the entry upgrade returns the most value: get it wrong and the grab bars and hand shower are fitted to a fixture the bather cannot use, and get it right and the rest of the room follows.

Grab Bars and Hand Showers: High Return, Low Disruption

Once the entry is settled, grab bars are the upgrade with the most safety return for the least change to the room. Most seated Ella tubs include one or two deck-mount bars, more can be added to the surrounding walls, and the grab bars supplied with Ella showers must be fastened into the reinforced backing built into the wall panels with the correct screws so that they are secure. Textured, slip-resistant floors come on all walk-in models, so the bar and the floor work together at the moment of stepping in and out.

A hand shower is the second addition worth putting on every list. The 2-piece and 5-piece fast-fill faucets include a pull-out hand shower, the 2-piece cartridge is certified with an ADA lever, and an optional shower column adds a 10 inch rain head for seated or standing showers. On models that accept them, a 24 inch hand shower slide bar or a 10 by 7.5 inch head pillow rounds out the comfort options alongside a heated seat and backrest and easy-touch or digital controls. Which accessible bathtub options work best for elderly users? walks through these features one by one against the person who will bathe.

Value to the Home: It Depends on the Buyer

Whether these upgrades add value to your home depends on who is buying it. If you sell with the walk-in tub in place and the buyer has needs a walk-in tub helps with, such as limited mobility, a plan to age in place, or a family member who bathes with assistance, the tub can add real value for that buyer. For a buyer with no such needs, it is simply a well-built bathtub. Ella's guidance is to think of a walk-in tub first as an investment in your own safety and comfort rather than as a resale feature, and Does a Walk-In Tub Add Value to Your Home? explains the reasoning. A walk-in tub will not hurt resale value in itself, the therapies stay fully functional for the next owner, and the tub is built from a vacuum-formed acrylic shell reinforced with fiberglass on a rust-proof stainless steel frame. The Lifetime Limited Warranty, though, is written for the original purchaser at the installation address, so read the transfer terms before you list coverage as a feature.

What No Upgrade Does: Medicare and ADA Status

Two things people expect accessibility upgrades to deliver are not part of the return. First, Original Medicare generally does not cover a walk-in tub. Medicare Part B pays for medically necessary durable medical equipment that a doctor orders for use in the home, and a walk-in tub is a plumbing fixture that a licensed installer builds in, not durable medical equipment. Bathroom safety items such as grab bars, raised toilet seats and shower chairs do not appear on Medicare's published list of covered items either, and bathroom remodeling is a home modification rather than equipment. A commode chair is the notable bathroom item that does appear on the list. Ella's Bubbles does not bill Medicare, and Original Medicare and Walk-In Tubs: What Part B Durable Medical Equipment Coverage Means explains what Part B means by the term. Plan the remodel as a purchase, then ask your own provider about any reimbursement.

Second, none of these upgrades makes a home bathroom ADA compliant, and for a private residence that is generally not a building code requirement. Ella shower stalls are not ADA compliant as complete units, there is no ADA certification for any bathtub because the U.S. Access Board does not evaluate or certify products, and private homes are not covered by the ADA. For a commercial building, a rental unit that falls under accessibility rules, or any project that will be inspected against the standard, Are Ella Shower Stalls ADA Compliant? explains why to confirm the requirement with your local code official before you order.

Putting It Together for One Bathroom

1. Decide the entry from the bather: a curbless base for someone who stays in a wheelchair or shower chair, a seated walk-in tub for someone who steps and sits, or a transfer tub for a seated transfer from a wheelchair into a tub.
2. Add grab bars, fastened into reinforced backing, at the entry, the exit and the seat.
3. Add the hand shower, slide bar or shower column so the bather can shower seated without being moved.
4. Add comfort options last: the heated seat and backrest, easy-touch or digital controls, and the head pillow where the model accepts it.
5. Keep the value in perspective: safety for the person bathing today comes first, resale value follows only for the right buyer, and Medicare is not part of the plan.

Your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 can confirm which entry, bars and faucet options apply to the model you are considering, and a licensed installer confirms that the walls can carry the bars.

Related Guides

• Where should grab bars go in a shower or walk-in tub?
• Mounting Grab Bars on Ella Shower Walls: Reinforced Backing, Finding the Zones, and Which Screws to Use
• What Is a Deck-Mount Grab Bar on a Walk-In Tub?

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