Flipping heck I need to let off some steam. I also me some proper advice and ideas from people like yourselves.
I need a shower put in upstairs because in our old house the bathroom is downstairs in an extension. The only place a shower can go is in the hallway upstairs. It’s a small landing space and not really a hallway but it does have an ideal alcove type area we can put a shower.
I rang a company called ‘bathroom solutions’, a company dedicated to designing bathrooms for disabled people.
The are manager just rang me with 101 reasons why we can’t have a shower in the hallway and quoting building regulations and mandatory space requirements. He said the shower has to be enclosed to contain the moisture and an extractor fan put it…err no you are not putting anything electrical above the shower was my response. Keep electricity away.
He said the shower will have to be turned into a room and have walls around it. Err no, that’s takes space away and I need as much space as I can get for my walking aids. He then said bathrooms for wheelchairs have to have a 1.5 metre turning circle. Err - we don’t have the room for that so what’s the solution I asked their man from Bathroom Solutions. And he said - wait for it …he said ‘you’ll have to move to a bigger house’.
I was very annoyed at talking to such a pillock and I told him that he’s obviously not disabled, doesn’t know anybody who is and has no clue. I hung up.
We need to put a shower in the hallway upstairs and he says we are not allowed to and the solution is to move. What is the REAL solution please?
I can not help with where/building regulations etc but we recently had our bathroom refurbished (not disabled friendly) where we had a bath removed and an enclosed shower installed. A light was placed above the shower cubicle, along with others in the roof, and we then had this changed to an extractor fan with a light in it. The shower cubicle does not reach the roof and in the time the work has been finished we have not experienced any issues with steam near the light/extractor fan.
From my understanding these light/extractor fans are designed for use in showers so are safe.
Well you’ll certainly not get the best out of people with the attitude you seem to have! “Very annoyed talking to such a pillock, and hung up”. I wonder what his impression of YOU was?! I’m wondering why you don’t have a shower in the bathroom extension downstairs. Isn’t that a possibility either?
If you think about your current level of disability and the problems you are having with your current house, it might actually make a lot of sense to think about moving to somewhere on one level - ie a bungalow or a flat.
Rather than a rather impractical idea about putting a shower in a hall, and having a loo that’s difficult to get into as well as stairs, that won’t get any easier as years go by, you could be thinking about ‘future proofing’, while you are still able to physically move house.
Rosina is quite right; my first thought about putting a shower in a hall was mould. Showers create a lot of condensation and an extractor fan, plus windows make life a continuous fight against mildew and mould. And that is with a proper wet room. It’s quite possible to manage to keep the bathroom mould free (people who know me think I’m a bit OCD about my bathroom), but there is no way you could or should put a shower in a hallway without a way of removing the condensation. And once you’d done it, you’d never manage to sell your house.
I have no idea whether selling up and moving to somewhere more suitable for you might be possible. But I’m just saying it to give you something to think about.
going to agree here. Hard look to the future. Is the loo downstairs as well? How do you manage getting to it at night? Which will become a problem if not now. Moved to a bungalow with wetroom in 2017 from a 2 bed with stairs and shower over bath (which I was not coping with).
Building regs are there for a reason. Health and Safety an all that. So it may be hard think is required about the future.
Er Poppy excuse me but - my attitude was as always very polite until he started telling me what I cannot do culminating in him quoting building regulations that do not apply to old cottages and telling me I should move.
Well I rang the council and asked the building control department if I can have a shower in the hallway upstairs.
A gentleman phoned me back and explained that yes I could and how to do it. The building control notification went in today and hopefully hubby will do it himself.
The buildings regulations rules are for new builds and new extensions to old builds. The man explained that as long as there is an IP rated fan close enough to the shower to capture the steam then the shower can go in the hallway. The hall light will have to change to an IP rated light (I don’t know what IP means by the way).
The drainage pipe is not an issue in the position it’s going and best of all it doesn’t have to be enclosed. So the Bathroom Solutions man was wrong as I suspected he was.
The building control people will inspect the work but planning permission is not required we can go ahead within 48 hours of the application.
Reddivine - we have already had a toilet put in upstairs so we have got two.
For your guidance IP rating is “Ingress Protection” and used to define levels of sealing effectiveness of electrical enclosures against intrusion from foreign bodies (tools, dirt etc) and moisture.
The bathroom expert meant an extractor fan…it would be fitted into the ceiling to extract the steam/moisture caused by the shower, & would be of absolutely no harm to you…but this discussion is pointless as I’d suspect that you’d never get it done in an upstairs hallway!
How about having your downstairs bathroom converted?