bathroom refurbishment
Design flexibility enables bathroom accessibility
As the need to make properties accessible grows with the UK’s ageing population, Ann Boardman of Saniflo UK explains the flexible design options that are available for installing an efficient yet stylish downstairs bathroom.
I
t’s well documented that the UK has a growing, ageing population of ‘baby boomers’ who would rather stay in their own homes and live independently than go into a care home. As a result more people are adapting their homes to facilitate independent living, and for the ageing population this mostly means installing a bathroom or WC downstairs somewhere, often in an unused room or even under the stairs. In addition, one in 10 (11 per cent) of British adults report having a mobility problem, and this demographic too is increasingly looking to install ground floor bathroom facilities in their homes. However, the prospect of installing downstairs bathroom facility can be off-putting for many people, as they don’t want the cost, hassle and mess of digging up floors to make way for mains drainage. Enter modern day pumps and macerators which allow clients to create their ideal bathroom anywhere a water supply can reach and without the need for mains drainage. By using an array of macerators and pumps a WC, shower, bath and basin can be installed to create the perfect mix of facilities in a downstairs bathroom. As we as a nation have moved away from baths to showers over the
years, an obvious place to start in the design process is with the shower area. Showering spaces themselves have changed dramatically in the UK. Our travels abroad have broadened our horizons and for some time now we have expected something different from our shower designs. What once was a shower over the bath with a curtain can today be anything from a swanky shower enclosure with beautiful sparkly tiles
to a Moroccan-inspired tadelakt wetroom, to a practically driven yet stunning shower enclosure. Each of these options carries with it varying degrees of hassle, expense and upkeep. Of the three shower options referred to above, the tadelakt is the one with the heaviest initial work requirement as it requires a lot of plastering and the plaster can only be applied to a waterproof substrate. Then there is on-going maintenance to ensure the wetroom surface
remains waterproof and clean and for this, often the entire area needs to be treated with a special soap every few months. Shower enclosures can be pretty high maintenance too. The initial
installation is likely to be a messy and time consuming process sometimes requiring excavation of the floor and always requiring tiling and grouting. Keeping a tiled shower enclosure looking pristine is a task in itself. The key here is the bigger the tile, the better. No homeowner wants to spend their time scrubbing grout or re-grouting to keep the bathroom looking good.
Shower cubicles – the practical answer The most swift, affordable and hassle-free showering solution on the
market today is the shower cubicle. They offer a quick, efficient and modern showering solution for any shape or size of bathroom. In many cases, you can have a watertight space, complete with the shower, controls and doors fitted and ready in less than a day. This means you can free up time to get on with other jobs, and your customers have a beautiful shower with minimum hassle and mess.
www.housingmmonline.co.uk | HMM July 2016 | 35
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