How Much Floor Clearance Does the Transfer Door Need to Swing Open?

The L-shape door on the Transfer family (Transfer26, Transfer30, Transfer32, Transfer60 and TransferXXL) opens outward through a 172 degree arc, and the figure the team uses for planning is about 36 to 36.5 inches of clear floor in front of the tub, measured with the door at 90 degrees. It is the largest door in the Ella lineup and needs the most open floor of any model. The published figures for every door family are collected in How Wide Is the Door Opening? Published Door Widths, Swing Arcs and Clearance by Door Family, and this page concentrates on the Transfer door alone and the room it needs.

The Three Numbers You Will See for the Transfer Door

Three different figures come up when people plan for the Transfer door, and they do not measure the same thing. Knowing which is which saves a lot of confusion when you compare the tub with your bathroom.

• 172 degrees is the door opening angle printed on the Transfer family drawing. It describes how far the door travels on its hinges, not how far it reaches into the room. At 172 degrees the door has swung almost all the way back toward the front of the tub.
• About 36 inches is how far the open door projects in front of the tub when it stands at 90 degrees, a figure the team confirms for the Transfer32. The team's working clearance figure of about 36.5 inches describes the same situation. This is the number to compare with a toilet, a vanity or the opposite wall.
• 20 inches is a door swing clearance callout printed on the Transfer26 and Transfer32 drawings. The published articles list it alongside the 36 inch projection without saying how the two relate, so treat the 36 inch figure as the planning number and ask your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 to read the CAD drawing for your exact model before you move a wall or cut tile.

The door itself uses a two-latch gear and shaft mechanism with the handle on the front of the door, and the whole panel swings clear of the seat rather than folding into the tub. That is what opens the entire side of the tub for a wheelchair, and it is also why the door reaches so far into the room. How Far Does the Open Door Stick Out in Front of the Tub? explains the 90 degree projection figure for each door family.

How the Transfer Door Compares with the Other Ella Doors

Read the table from the bottom up when you plan. If the clear floor in front of the tub on the door side is under about 21 inches, the published guidance points to an inward-swing model, because no outward door will open properly. Between about 21 inches and about 36 inches, a U-shape outward door has the room it needs but a Transfer door cannot reach 90 degrees. Only a room with about 36.5 inches of clear floor on the door side lets the Transfer door open the way it was designed to, and a wheelchair user will want even more than that so the chair can pull alongside the open seat.

Laying Out a Wheelchair Approach

The Transfer door is chosen for wheelchair access more than for any other reason, so the door envelope is only half of the layout. The 2010 ADA Standards set a clear floor space of 30 inches by 48 inches for a single stationary wheelchair and a turning space 60 inches in diameter, and the section on bathtubs calls for a clearance in front of the tub that extends the length of the tub and is 30 inches deep. In a private home these figures are a planning reference rather than a requirement, since nobody inspects a home bathroom against them, but they describe the space a real chair needs to park, turn and approach. Wheelchair Clearances, Turning Space and Ella Door Swing Envelopes lays the ADA figures and the Ella door arcs side by side.

The reason the Transfer door is worth the extra floor is what it removes: there is no sidewall next to the seat once the door is open. The video on this page shows the door swung fully open and the three ways a bather can use that opening. A wheelchair user rolls up beside the tub, drops the chair arm and slides across onto the seat. A more mobile bather sits down on the seat from outside and swings the feet in. Anyone else simply steps in through the wide opening. The presenter in the video describes the door swinging a full 180 degrees; the figure printed on the current family drawing is 172 degrees, and that is the one to quote. Which of those approaches suits a particular bather is a question for that person's physical or occupational therapist, and Transfer Techniques by Walk-In Tub Door Type sets out what each Ella door physically allows a caregiver to do.

Toilets, Vanities and the Door Side

The most common obstruction is a toilet on the door side of the tub. The team's guidance is that the Transfer door opening clears a toilet up to about 21 inches tall, so a low toilet can sit within the swing and the door will pass over it, while a taller toilet or a vanity will stop the door short. If the fixture is in the way, switching the door to the other side of the tub is the first thing to look at, but remember that on every Ella walk-in tub the door and the drains are on opposite sides. A right-side door puts the drains on the left and a left-side door puts the drains on the right, with sides taken as you face the tub, so moving the door also moves your plumber's drain connection. Should My Walk-In Tub Door Be on the Left or Right Side? walks through that decision.

You do not always need the full arc to get in. On the Transfer, an opening of roughly 55 degrees is usually enough to step through, which shortens the projection into the room considerably. Plan for 90 degrees if you can and treat a partial opening as the fallback rather than the design, especially where a wheelchair needs the seat fully exposed.

How to Measure Your Room Before Ordering

1. Stand where you will face the tub and locate the house drain. The door goes on the opposite side, so that is the side where the clearance has to be found.
2. Measure straight out from the front face of the tub position on the door side to the nearest obstruction, whether that is a toilet, a vanity or the opposite wall. Compare that figure with about 36.5 inches for the Transfer door.
3. Note the height of any toilet inside that swing and compare it with the 21 inch figure the team quotes.
4. For a wheelchair user, mark out a 30 inch by 48 inch space beside the open seat and check whether a 60 inch turning circle fits somewhere in the room.
5. Send the Transfer model you are considering, the door side, and these measurements to your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850, or open a ticket at ellasbubbles.com/support, and ask for the CAD drawing figure for that model in writing before the walls are finished.

Watch: Wheelchair Transfer Walk-In Tubs Designed for Easy Access | Voted Safest/Best 2020 | Ella’s Bubbles with chapters and a full transcript.

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