How Do You Build a Handicap Accessible Walk-In Shower at Home?

A handicap accessible walk-in shower starts with the entry: choose a base that a wheelchair or walker can cross without a step, then size the wall panels and place the drain around your existing rough-in. Ella's Bubbles manufactures zero threshold and wheelchair accessible roll-in shower bases along with 98 inch wall panels, and the design-then-measure sequence in How do I build or install a walk-in shower at home? applies here too. A local licensed contractor does the measuring and the installation, while Ella's Bubbles supplies the components through your Ella dealer.

Step One: Choose the Entry, Because the Threshold Decides Accessibility

The feature that makes a shower accessible is the edge a person crosses to get in, and Ella's Bubbles offers three kinds of edge. A standard or custom acrylic base carries a threshold of about 3 inches, which keeps water in the pan but is a step for a walker or wheelchair. A zero threshold base sits flush with the surrounding floor, so there is nothing to step over. A wheelchair accessible roll-in base ships with a self-adhesive collapsible rubber dam that keeps water in while a wheelchair rolls over it. The Shower Bases and Wall Panels guide describes the range, and the table below sets the choices side by side.

For a person who rolls in, the choice is between the zero threshold base and the roll-in base with the dam, and the deciding factor is how your floor and your drain rough-in meet the base. That is why your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 confirms the threshold style against your plumbing before anything is ordered. For a person who walks in with support, the roughly 3 inch threshold may be acceptable, but decide it deliberately rather than by default, because the threshold cannot be changed once the base is set.

Step Two: Design the Shower Online, Then Have the Space Measured

Ella's Bubbles offers an online shower builder that lets you scroll through the available options and put together a custom design before the project moves forward. Treat what you build in the Shower Builder Tool as the starting point for a conversation with your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850, not as a finished order. Once your design is complete, a contractor visits your home to measure the space in person and finalize the installation details against your real alcove and your existing rough-in. Ella's Bubbles does not send its own technicians, so that contractor and the licensed plumber who connects the drain are local, with the base, wall panels and any screen supplied through your Ella dealer. Ella's Bubbles also offers a walk-in tub builder tool, so if a seated bath would serve the person better than a standing shower, ask for that link at the same time.

Step Three: Place the Drain Where the Base Allows

Drain location is the detail most likely to send an accessible shower plan back to the drawing board. On a custom base the drain can be placed left, right or center, but it must sit at least 9 inches from each wall, and the team has turned down a request for a drain only 7 inches from the threshold edge. Standard bases come with a left or right drain, and the roll-in base has its drain position specified at order time. The contractor's site visit is where the existing drain in the floor is measured against these limits; if the drain has to move, that is plumbing work done locally before the base goes in. Because a roll-in base has no raised threshold to hold water back, the drain position and the collapsible dam work together, so give the team the exact drain location when you ask about a roll-in base.

Step Four: Size the Walls and Finish the Front

Ella shower wall panels are manufactured at 98 inches high, with side panels measuring 40 inches and the back wall panel measuring 60 inches. They come in a plain white finish, a CNC routed design with light gray grout lines, and a digital print option, and the team suggests seeing samples before you choose. Bases are usually paired with these multi-piece wall kits rather than sold on their own, and a four-fold or LayDown glass screen can be added once the base and walls are in. Ella pans, standard or custom, are finished acrylic and do not need to be tiled over, which removes a step from the build and leaves a smooth surface to clean. Wall surround systems with an acrylic top portion are also made, but those are designed for walk-in tubs rather than showers.

Layouts That Work and Layouts That Do Not

Only rectangular bases are made, so the first question for an odd bathroom is whether a rectangle can be drawn into it. Within that rule the team has produced a 58 by 30 inch base with a center drain for a space shorter than 60 inches, and a 38 by 80 inch base with a left drain falls within the 44 by 80 inch maximum, while a 53 by 76 inch request cannot be produced. Bases are made for both a three-wall alcove and a corner installation, and the team asks which you have so the drain and edges are placed correctly. A neo-angle corner, a curved front or any base with angled edges is not offered, as Who makes custom shower pans for odd bathroom layouts? explains. If the person bathing does better seated in warm water than standing, the other route is a walk-in tub with a hand shower or rain shower column, and Does a Walk-In Tub Come With a Shower Head? covers those options.

What to Have Ready Before You Call

The conversation with your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 goes quickly when you can answer these points.

• Whether the layout is a three-wall alcove or a corner, with the length and width of the space.
• Where the existing drain sits, measured from each wall, since it must be at least 9 inches from each one on a custom base.
• Whether a wheelchair will roll into the shower, which decides between the zero threshold base and the roll-in base with the rubber dam.
• The wall panel style you prefer, after seeing samples.
• Whether a glass screen is wanted at the front.

You can also open a ticket at ellasbubbles.com/support with those details and a sketch of the room, and the team will confirm which base, threshold and panels fit before your contractor's measuring visit.

Related Guides

• Custom-Size Shower Bases: Size Ranges, Threshold Options, Drain Placement Rules, Construction, and How to Request One
• What the Ella Acrylic Shower Base Is Made Of and How It Is Installed
• Installing Ella Shower Bases, the Flexible Shower Dam, and Shower Walls

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