Whether it is yourself, or else another member of your household, who is now either regularly, or else permanently, using a wheelchair, there will inevitably be plenty of changes you need to make to the house for them to get from one room to another safely.

So, to consolidate your thoughts and to make it easier to start planning, continue reading to discover four cost-effective ways to make your bathroom wheelchair friendly.

1. Lowering & Raising Key Elements

The first, arguably most crucial, way to make any bathroom much more suited to someone who has issues with their mobility and uses a wheelchair is to do with the heights of certain key elements in the space.

Even if your property is particularly new, the toilet system is still likely to be lower than is comfortable, so installing a plinth to raise the toilet and the toilet seat itself is a great option. Additionally, raise the cabinets to a level where you can access them.

2. Walk-In Baths

You will probably already be familiar with the concept of a wet room and if you can afford to install one inside your current bathroom, then there will be a myriad of advantages you will benefit from, and it is certainly a good idea.

However, an effective alternative to a wet room is to instead install a walk-in bath, which allows you to enter and leave the bath by either situating the wheelchair near the edge and lift yourself into the bath chair. Walk-in baths are one of the most useful and transformative pieces of bathroom mobility equipment and are certainly worth looking into.

3. Smaller Safety Features

As well as larger elements, such as wheelchair-friendly showers and baths, there are several key smaller safety features, which can be installed quickly and will make a big difference, especially if you use a wheelchair on a more permanent basis.

The four smaller safety additions to a bathroom to make it much more suited to a wheelchair user are as follows:

• A shower mixer which is thermostatically controlled
• A cushioned seat in the shower which is fixed down and has arm supports
• A pull cord in the corner of the room in the case of an emergency
• Grab bars around the edge of the bathroom

4.  Accessible Sinks

Finally, the other component of a bathroom to transform the way you can use it every morning is to switch out your existing sink for an accessible one instead. For people who live on their own, a fixed-height sink is probably the best choice, as you can set it at the ideal height for your use.

Alternatively, for a busy household, a rise-and-fall sink system would be much better and can be adjusted up and down to suit the person who is using it, which is the best of both worlds. The third type of accessible sink has a concave front which is wide enough to comfortably sit around a wheelchair.