How Much Weight Can the Walk-In Tub Door and Grab Bar Hold?

Ella stainless steel grab bars exceed the 250 pound minimum load called for by ADA and ANSI accessibility guidelines, so the grab bar is the part built to steady you as you step in. The door is different. Ella publishes no weight rating for it because it is not a support, and Ella's guidance is never to let anyone lean on the door. The bar figures are in Grab Bar Length, Diameter, Weight Rating and Wall Spacing. This page explains what that rating means when you are entering the tub, and what to hold instead of the door.

What the Grab Bar Rating Covers

Ella grab bars come in two lengths, 24 inches and 36 inches, and both are 1.25 inch diameter stainless steel. They exceed the 250 pound minimum load requirement set by ADA and ANSI accessibility standards. The diameter sits inside the 1.25 to 1.5 inch range those guidelines define for a graspable bar. Once mounted, the bar stands 1.5 inches off the wall so a hand can close all the way around it.

The rating describes the bar itself. A bar is only as strong as what it is anchored to. A bar fastened to drywall alone, or to a shower wall with nothing solid behind it, cannot be relied on to hold what the bar is rated for. Your installer should fasten wall bars into solid backing, and on an acrylic tub deck or shower wall the mounting holes must be pre-drilled first.

The deck-mount bar that ships with many tubs has one rule of its own. It ships loose in its own kit and bolts through the deck on site, and the large metal washer must go under the shell. Installing the bar without that washer can crack the acrylic. A correctly mounted deck bar is positioned for exactly the moments you are asking about: entering, exiting and standing up from the seat.

Why the Door Is Not a Handhold

The sources give no weight figure for the door, and none should be assumed. The door's job is to seal the tub. Ella's caregiving guidance lists "never let anyone lean on the door" among the habits that keep bathing safe. The same thinking shows up in the delivery rules, where installers are told never to use the grab bars, the faucet, the door or the deck edge as a handle when moving the tub.

It helps to picture how each door style moves while you enter:

• Inward-swing doors on the Standard, Zen, Flow, Ultra and the stainless steel family close past the bather's knees. The bather stands inside the tub for a moment while the door shuts. That is a moment to be holding a grab bar, not the door.
• Outward U-shape doors open 165 degrees away from the tub with no knee clearance needed inside, and a caregiver can lock the handle from outside.
• The L-shape Transfer door opens 172 degrees and leaves no sidewall beside the seat, so a wheelchair user can slide straight across onto the seat.

The Transfer video on this page shows how solidly that door is built. The presenter points out its weight, the milled hinges mortised into the door, the stainless steel pins, the door seal integrated into the door and the ergonomic handle. That handle is described as built for the bather to swing the door closed and lock it tight. In other words, it is for operating the door, not for supporting body weight. A well built door is good news for the seal and the latch, and it does not change the rule about leaning.

Which Grab Bars Come with Which Tub

Per the current spec sheets, the included bars vary by model. Included bars are chrome only.

What the differences mean for you: if your tub includes a deck-mount bar, you already have a rated handhold right where you sit down and stand up, provided it was installed with its washer under the shell. If your tub lists only a wall-mounted bar, or no bar at all, the strength of your handhold depends on what is inside the wall. In that case the conversation with your contractor about backing is the most important one. In every case the door stays off the list of things to hold.

Adding Wall Bars Where You Step in

Extra bars belong on the walls, anchored into the framing, and never drilled into the tub itself. Ella's guidance follows ADA practice, and Where and how should grab bars be installed around a walk-in tub? gives the full layout. The essentials:

• Mount horizontal bars along the wall 33 to 36 inches from the tub floor, where a standing bather can reach them naturally.
• Add a vertical bar near the door, at the spot where you step in and out.
• Keep the bars clear of the door swing and of any shower screen or valve you plan to add.
• Fasten every bar into studs or solid in-wall backing that a licensed contractor has confirmed. Drywall alone will not hold a bar under a person's weight.
• Seal the screw holes with silicone to keep water out of the wall.
• Skip suction-cup grab bars. A bar you lean on must be fastened into the structure.

Do not drill into the tub shell or deck to add a bar. The factory drills the holes for the included bar before the tub ships, and any alteration not done by Ella is excluded from warranty coverage.

A Steady Way to Enter

The tub itself does part of the work. Depending on the model and how the drain is installed, the threshold runs about 3 1/2 to 7 inches, and the low threshold video on this page shows the easy entry and the textured, slip resistant floor. Seat height is about 17 inches on many models, close to chair height, so sitting down is a short, controlled movement.

Put those features together with the bars. Hold a grab bar as you lift each foot over the threshold, keep hold of it while the door is closed, and use the deck bar to lower yourself to the seat and to stand again. For someone who needs help, Bathing Someone With Limited Mobility in a Walk-In Tub pairs these features with caregiver habits, including never leaving a bather who needs help alone in the tub.

The bars are for people, not for moving the tub. Lift Your Walk-In Tub by the Frame, Never by the Grab Bars explains why installers grip the frame instead. If you have a question about support for a specific bather or model, your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 will be glad to help. You can also open a ticket at ellasbubbles.com/support.

Watch: Ella's Bubbles Walk-In Tub's Low Threshold, Easy Entry Makes Bathing Safer with chapters and a full transcript.

Related Guides

• How do I add a grab bar without cracking the tub acrylic?
• Which Screws to Use for a Grab Bar on the Tub, and Why You Must Pre-Drill
• Can I Remove the Interior Grab Bar, and Is There Anything to Cover the Holes?

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