Adapting a bathroom

[beth]

Hello, I'm new here and I apologise if this is the wrong place to ask this question.

I need to turn a downstairs cloakroom into a room where a disabled person can shower. This is all very new to me but I think the correct term is a 'wet room'. To do this, we will need to extend the room.

We're not eligible for a grant of any sort so will be paying for the work ourselves.

The NHS OT has said they can give information about specifications but this seems to be all.

Can anyone give me advice about where to go from here. We don't want to spend more than we have to. Is it necessary to go to an architect in the first instance? Is there a database of architects and builders who specialise in this kind of work?

We're based in the Causeway Coast area of Northern Ireland.

Thank you so much to anyone who can help me.

[nukecad]

Normally you would get a company who will do the complete job from design, through any planning needed, to the final installation.

Like with any other building job it would be best if you could find someone local to you who has already had it done, so you can ask who they used, what they were like, and possibly see the finished job.

Here's one in Coleraine that does the complete job.
http://www.gilmoreplumbing.co.uk/bathrooms.htm

And a couple further away in Belfast.
http://www.rjspatterson.com/services/#tab-1-2
http://www.jrgroves.co.uk/

[Lighttouch]

Are you sure you need a wheel-in wet room. I had plans drafted out and a suggested layout plus site visit by designer and surveyor for £300. The wet-room inclined tray was 1200mm square. The concrete floor would need digging up and underfloor heating to add.

If you can try to get a shower with a raised plinth if still accessible.

The general starting price seems to hover around £6,000 for parts and labour. Anything under that is a bonus.

[stree]

A few years ago, when I was still able to do some work, I refurbished a bathroom for an elderly neighbour. It had to be a pretty tight budget.
We decided on a shower, ( no bath) but she was worried about any step up into it.A wetroom solution would be too expensive for the budget, but having fitted out lots of bathrooms and kitchens I was used to improvising so I specced and costed a custom solution.
First stripped the stud walls of old plasterboard and resheeted with 1/2" ply with pipe work inside, then tiled, Floorboards remoded so that extra 7/8" depth gained ( so height lost) for shower tray..Waste fed into cavity aand straight out of the wall to drain.
I forgot to mention, this was in a bungalow.
The shower tray I decided on was resin stone cast and I had plaenty of space to play with so decided on one 900mm wide and 1200 long.But only 40mm deep..About 1-5/8". and 3 feet by 4 feet! I did a pick and mix for side screens and door ( hinged not sliding) and fixed a folding shower seat to one wall. The shower unit was gravity fed with easy to use controls, usual handset and hose plus an overhead 12" wide shower head up near the ceiling.
By the time the floor in the bathroom was doen with underlay and carpet ( she insisted!!) the showerbase was practically flush with the bathroom floor and she had no problems stepping in and out.
It all worked out as planned, was very inexpensive and she and her family, friends and carers.GP etc were delighted with it.
So just an alternative to a wet floor, but not as suitable for wheel in and out.

[phaedra]

As above ask around locally for recommendations. The cowboys that fitted mine are members of the guild of master builders which basically means nothing.

They did an appalling job, wiring not to code, shower tray not deep enough and leaking water so badly the entire floor had to be taken up again and re-fitted.

I have to say my housing associations trade supervisor who took on the job (and the rest of the soaking floors) was brilliant, the shower tray is now about 3cm lower, the drain now sits below the the flooring and it's properly sealed in the corners. Normally when I used it there would be a massive puddle as the water wasn't being pumped out fast enough, it'd leave quite a lot of surface water behind when finished showering. I used the new one last night, what a difference!, virtually no pooling of water when using it and this morning the tray is dry, no residual water