What is a roll-in shower for wheelchair users?

A roll-in shower is a barrier-free shower built on a curb-less base, so a wheelchair or walker rolls straight from the bathroom floor into the stall with no threshold to step or roll over. Ella's wheelchair accessible roll-in shower bases are ADA curb-less pans in 30 by 60, 32 by 60 and 36 by 60 inch sizes, and a collapsible rubber dam across the entry keeps the water inside without a curb. Sizes, drain positions and what ships with the base are covered in Wheelchair Accessible Shower Base Sizes, Drain Positions, and What Is Sold Separately.

What Makes a Shower a Roll-In Shower

The defining feature is the entry. A roll-in pan has no curb at all, so the wheels of a wheelchair, a walker or a shower chair pass from the bathroom floor into the shower without being lifted. Ella also makes bases with a raised entry for people who do not need a flat approach: a three-inch step-in threshold and the SMC 1 inch low-profile reversible base, whose 1 inch profile is a low threshold you step over. The SMC barrier-free linear-drain base, by contrast, has no step at the entry and belongs to the roll-in family. The full range of bases, the acrylic wall panels that pair with them and the L-shaped filler piece for closing a gap are summarized in Shower Bases, Walls, and Filler Pieces.

How a Roll-In Shower Keeps Water Off the Floor

Without a curb, something else has to hold the water in. On Ella roll-in bases that job goes to the collapsible rubber dam, also called a water retainer, flexible shower dam or collapsible threshold, which comes standard with the roll-in barrier-free bases. It is a self-adhesive rubber strip fixed across the open entry. When a wheel rolls over it the strip flattens, and once the wheel passes it springs back to its original shape and holds the water in the stall. The video below shows the dam compressing under a caster and springing back, then walks through the installation: the surfaces are cleaned with alcohol, the strip is pressed down snugly against the wall and floor, the end caps are fitted and a thin bead of silicone runs along both lower edges. The dam is explained in What Is a Collapsible Rubber Dam on a Roll-In Shower?. Two rules protect the result: on tile floors the grout line beneath the dam must be caulked so water cannot travel under it, and the base threshold must never be drilled, because drilling the threshold voids the base warranty.

What a Complete Roll-In Shower Includes

Ella sells shower products per item rather than as one bundle, so a roll-in shower is put together from the pieces you need:

• The roll-in base in your size, with the drain position specified when you order. Left-hand and center-drain bases are among those the team has supplied, and sizes outside the three standard ones can be made to order.
• A wall system sized to the base, such as the plain white acrylic three-piece panel kit, a CNC engraved pattern in acrylic or a marble-look three-piece panel kit.
• Accessories such as grab bars or a shower door.

The SMC bases follow their own setting sequence: a 5 by 5 inch floor opening for a 2 inch PVC waste pipe, the base leveled in two directions and secured to the studs before the wallboard and tile come down over it. That routine, including the rough opening for the barrier-free linear-drain base, is in Installing the SMC Low-Profile Shower Bases: 1 Inch Reversible Linear Drain and Barrier-Free Linear-Drain Bases. Measure the finished opening rather than the framing before you order, and contact your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 with the base size, drain position and any walls or accessories you want.

Watch: The Ella Shower Dam, Keep Water In, Roll In With Ease | Ella's Bubbles with chapters and a full transcript.

Related Guides

• Installing Ella Shower Bases, the Flexible Shower Dam, and Shower Walls
• Is a 3/4-Inch Shower Base Threshold ADA Compliant for a Commercial Building?

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