Browse Forums Bathrooms and Laundry 1 Dec 18, 2010 9:08 pm I'm new to renovations and everything else... I've just bought a house (1980s) that has all of its original features. It has a bathroom (1800mm x 3300), then toilet (900x1000) then laundry (1800 x 3300). The toilet sits between the bathroom and laundry on the exterior wall with cupboards on the end facing the hallway. Now I need to change all of this to suit my son who is part time in a wheelchair. I obtained 2 quotes so far and they came back at $45 000 - $50 000. So can I do this cheaper myself (by contracting out the work for each little segment)? I know I have to widen all the doorways (bathroom and laundry 720 to 820), and toilet (there are two doors to the toilet from bathroom and laundry (620 to 820). So I would need to knock out a couple of the walls (brick) of the cupboards to achieve this. If I swap the shower and vanity positions, I can then have a frameless shower next to the bath with the toilet door at the back of it. (Not ideal I know, but then he can least walk from the toilet into the shower and clean himself if so required. The vanity would be as you walked into the room before the shower. I'm not looking at marble tiling - gee straight concrete would be a blessing - easy to clean and hardwearing! So is this possible for me to renovate the bathroom/ toilet/laundry at a cheaper price? If I demolish the bathroom myself will this save money? Does anyone have any recommendations (Perth) on how to do this? Re: Bathroom for disabled bodies - Perth 2Dec 18, 2010 9:36 pm can you knock out the wall between the toilet and the bathroom and make it an all in one room? even if you keep the door from the laundry to the toilet as a 2nd door. That way your son only needs wider access via the bathroom door. or does he need access to the laundry room as well? depending on what walls are load bearing you might be able to remove a single brick wall or part wall section and make it a more functional bathroom for him. have you got a floor plan of the areas? Just a thought as it was what we did in our previous house which was a late 80's double brick house. (Single brick internal wall) We had a plumber friend who was also doing other trades. move a basin and replumb to an external wall , removed the wall section that was a toilet wall so that our main bathroom became L shaped, remove the external largish bathroom window and brick it up, plaster, and then tile the bathroom. ( we were lucky in that we'd actually never gotten round to tiling it from hand over so there were no tiles to remove) You may be able to get a copy of your house plan from the local shire. Re: Bathroom for disabled bodies - Perth 3Dec 18, 2010 9:47 pm I think sitting down and working out a floorplan is the best place to start, once you see it on paper and start moving things around, it gives you all the possible options. One thing I'm wondering is do you need the separate bath? you may find it better for your son to have a toilet in the bathroom itself, and enough room to get the chair in to the room and around to the toilet without walls getting in the way, with a large shower, big enough so you can use a shower chair and room for a second person when necessary to get around him. That may be one option instead of trying to knock down the walls and include the existing toilet and the bathtub. I also think when there is a disabled person in the house it can be very handy to have a second separate toilet for other family members and a good easily accessable shower is much more useful than having a bath in the room. you will save money by doing the demo yourself but you also need to be careful when removing walls. Before you start make sure you really come up with the best plan possible because it will be cheaper to modify the existing bathroom and may work out better. Re: Bathroom for disabled bodies - Perth 4Dec 19, 2010 6:27 am Quick thought-does the WA Government offer any sort of financial assistance in your case where you provide care for a disabled person at home to cover such modifications? They may come to the party for some (or maybe all) of the cost. Just a thought, wouldn't be even able to tell you where to start looking for this though. Re: Bathroom for disabled bodies - Perth 5Dec 20, 2010 12:43 pm With out seeing your place i can't comment if it can be done cheaper, although i strongly suggest it could be. One thing i would do how ever is take the time to 'build' the layout on the ground out of masking tape, boxes, etc... actually get your son to move around in the space, nothing would be worse than finish it and realise he can't shut the door or something like that. I have in the past marked out spaces to see if it works and things like cabinet door swing out space works. Re: Bathroom for disabled bodies - Perth 6Dec 23, 2010 6:16 pm This sounds like a job for a professional not someone who has zero experience in renovating. You will need the assistance of several trades. Renovating and altering wall positions etc is never a cheap exercise. We have done this sort of work so if i can be of any assistance let me know. Re: Bathroom for disabled bodies - Perth 7Dec 27, 2010 12:58 pm E1109 Quick thought-does the WA Government offer any sort of financial assistance in your case where you provide care for a disabled person at home to cover such modifications? They may come to the party for some (or maybe all) of the cost. Just a thought, wouldn't be even able to tell you where to start looking for this though. Great suggestion. If you haven't done so already, contact your local council - they may be able to help, and if if not, they usually have a list of available services. Centrelink will have some info too, even if they can't help directly with finances. Depending on the nature of your son's disability, there may be a specific organisation with financial aid available (for example, in Vic, there's parkinsons.vic.org.au). We did a renovation some years ago that involved re-doing the bathroom and knocking out a wall between bathroom and toilet, and we organised it ourselves. We hired a carpenter/handyman, a tiler and an electrician (just to move power points and light switches and wire in a new exhaust fan). We had a local company make and install the new shower screen. Luckily my father in law was a plumber, so that side was taken care of, but my husband did a lot of the simpler jobs himself, such as re-framing the bath and installing new towel rails, etc. We tore up old tiles, removed the old shower screen and so on to save $$, and sourced the new fittings ourselves, shopping around for the best price. We kept all the plumbing pretty much where it was, apart from moving the vanity about 30cm, so that simplified things, but I don't see why you couldn't oversee a more complicated job yourself as long as you get good advice, do your research and plan it out carefully. Re: Bathroom for disabled bodies - Perth 8Jan 07, 2011 6:12 pm I'm sorry I'm rather late in replying to this question - the festive season and it's visitors have taken up rather a lot of my time! I would suggest (if it is not too late) that you make an appointment to talk to an Occupational Therapist at the Independent Living Centre http://www.ilc.com.au/ They will have lots of information about appropriate equipment and planning your renovation, any financial help that may be available, and perhaps even contact details for builders who have been involved in this type of renovation. They will also have information and publications on planning your bathroom to not only make the best use of the space, but also to ensure everyone's safety whilst they are using it. Variegated Re: Bathroom for disabled bodies - Perth 9Jan 07, 2011 8:45 pm Hmm I am in Victoria and yes there is a home loan renovation unit in the Department of Human Services DHS providing low interest finance assistance for such purpose provided Archicentre reports back to them of what's needed in general terms to make the life of that persons more accessible. I am sure there would be a similar unit in all states financing the needs of disabled people. Re: Bathroom for disabled bodies - Perth 10Jan 17, 2011 5:07 pm my partner is in a wheelchair full time, i have just finished our bathroom, neither of us wanted it too look like one of those crap disabled ones, bit of work but it can be achieved, happy to email you some pics of the finished, to give you what can be done that is still fully suitable for a wheelchair bound person. dimension to leave around things etc Re: Bathroom for disabled bodies - Perth 11Jan 17, 2011 5:59 pm Hey - you said you are located in Perth. If you can make it down to Mandurah they have an eco display home - I think its a green home showing all sorts of green ideas you can use to make your house more environmentally friendly. Anyways im not really going off track - when we visited and were shown around I remember the ensuite bathroom was said to be disabled friendly, it may be worth taking a trip down and having a look. The people there might even be able to reccomend cheaper ways to do it. Hope this helps THE LIGHT OF MY LIFE IS 495 SQM OF BEACH SAND AND WEEDS! http://missvintageshouseofpain.blogspot.com/ Re: Bathroom for disabled bodies - Perth 12Jan 17, 2011 10:36 pm Hi Stewy, can I jump in and ask for a copy of your plans? Our teenager is in a chair and we're in the planning stages of a new house so all info is very appreciated. Re: Bathroom for disabled bodies - Perth 13Jan 18, 2011 8:21 am waterwheel Hi Stewy, can I jump in and ask for a copy of your plans? Our teenager is in a chair and we're in the planning stages of a new house so all info is very appreciated. Hi sure thing, i only have the bathroom design atm (we are retro fitting our existing house too suit) so it's probably not quite ideal, if i was building from scratch i would probably change a couple of things, ie allow (900mm beside the toilet) so the user can wheel round to the side to reach the button (our room was quite tight for space, so my partner reaches it from sort of side on as we both wanted a bath in for resale.) Also the second bathroom too their room is must (if you house and budget allow it, if you have someone in a chair) as they can tie up the bathroom for a while. Unforetunely our house doesn't lend it self well to this so we are just renovating this place and will move on to somewhere were we want too stay and do it all again. The one thing i have learnt is that what works for one users might not work for the next, and you need to constantly ask for idea's from the user, how do you do this, how far can you reach across a bench at such a height, what gear and equipment do they have and use/need to store) (as imo benchs for a wheelchair user and abled bodied cause trouble as one is too low and one the other too high), we were luck that a 850 bench top works for the bathroom, the kitchen (which i am in the process of designing i have noted that this won't work.) Will hopefully get those plans through in the next couple of nights Things will get easier as the changes to make all homes comply with disabled access, are introduced to cater for the aging population the country is getting. On a side note though if you or him need any further advice etc... please feel free to pm Cheers stewy Re: Bathroom for disabled bodies - Perth 14Jan 26, 2011 3:22 pm Thanks Stewy - the room to flush hadn't occured to me! Sorry about the wait for a reply. Our computer got the virus from hell and we had to reinstall Windows and reformat this week. A Mac is looking more and more appealing. We won't be building for another two years so we have plenty of time to find what works for us now he's almost his full size. Our bathroom now is 1.7m x 2.4m and has the shower over the built in bath under the window, with a single vanity basin, no cabinet so he can fit his legs under. The lack of access means we have to help him with every part of the bathroom/toileting process which is getting harder as he gets taller and heavier. I'm only 5"2 and he's bigger than me already. The loo is separate across the hall with a 720mm wide door so you can probably imagine how badly we want a new house. Render your bathroom walls, two opinions versus the one, makes you wonder. 3 6062 Hi Geoff Install Puddle Flange prior to any screed. Puddle flange needs to be flush with the surface so you may need to grind away the surface to achieve this. Also as… 2 8368 Hello It is good to have a planned bathroom reno to suit your budget and design, living for 10 years I think you need a bathtub 4 10372 |