The Shed – September-October 2019

(singke) #1
So far, so straightforward and the
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glued in place after about a couple of
weeks’ work.
As I worked, I thought about how to
make the shower safer. We are both
in our 70s, and the en suite shower is
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shelf is 320mm above, then steps down
100mm to the stainless-steel pan. Falls
in showers are a risk for older people, so
getting in and out of this shower must
be a real risk.

A single level makes
sense
Putting a wooden deck in the shower
to create a single level with good foot
grip would help. With good clearances

and plenty of air space, a treated timber
deck should be OK — the shower when
operating is just like rain on an outside
deck, and the timber can be replaced
easily if there is any rot. I made them
as two sections that can be removed for
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so it can dry properly.
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and a step should make the shower
much safer for us as the years go by.
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en suite, and one wall is only 1720mm
high. A standard 1820mm high door kit
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I baulked at having someone come in
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to think about how I might do it f

Handholds


I wanted to include handholds in
the upgrade as an essential part
of making the shower safer, but
when I looked around the hardware
shops the range of sizes was very
limited and not suitable for this job.
I decided to make my own, using
30mm diameter aluminium tube
from my scrap bin.
I turned four wall attachment flanges
on the lathe, with a boss to locate
the tube, a hole in the centre for a
bolt to pass through, and a recess
in the wall side for a nut. Then I
shaped the four short horizontal
tubes with one end scalloped to
accommodate the vertical tube that
is the handhold. The vertical tubes
were 400 and 600mm long, and
the whole lot bolted together. The
flanges were then screwed to the
wall, and cover plates fitted to hide
the attachment screws.

The finished handholds in place, with
cover plates on the wall attachments and
at the top of each handhold

Top pivot point for new door

Free download pdf