A 7m² accessibility-led wet-room conversion of an existing first-floor family bathroom in a 1960s detached home in Hale, Cheshire, for an older homeowner couple adapting their long-term home to remain in it as mobility changes — full Schluter Kerdi sheet tanking with a 1200mm Kerdi-Line linear drain on a 1:50 fall, level threshold throughout, Altro Aquarius R12 anti-slip wet-room vinyl with welded seams cove-skirted to the walls, Roca Inclusive cantilevered Comfort-height WC and Inclusive accessible basin on Geberit Duofix Sigma pre-wall frames, Mira Atom Eco TMV3 thermostatic shower with a folding shower seat and a slider-rail shower head, AKW Onyx grab rails fixed to an 18mm plywood backer board behind the plasterboard and pull-out tested. Three-week programme delivered against fixed price; Trafford Council Occupational Therapist sign-off received the morning of handback.
An older homeowner couple in Hale, Cheshire, in their early seventies, lived in the 1960s detached home they had owned for over thirty years and wanted to remain in it for the foreseeable future. One partner had recently undergone hip surgery and was finding the existing first-floor family bathroom — a corner shower over a low-tray with a step-up threshold, a pedestal basin and a close-coupled WC — harder to use safely. The couple's daughter, who lives nearby, had been to a Trafford Council Occupational Therapy assessment with her mother and the Council's OT had recommended a wet-room conversion to remove the threshold, a level-access shower with a folding seat, grab rails to specific positions, a wall-mounted Comfort-height WC, a wall-mounted accessible basin and anti-slip flooring. The brief from the homeowners and their daughter was straightforward: deliver the OT's recommendations as written, work cleanly in their home for the three weeks, and give them their bathroom back at the end.
We were one of two contractors invited to quote (we had been recommended by the homeowners' daughter, who had used us previously for a smaller piece of work). Our price came in £850 higher than the leading offer. We won the work because our quotation was the only one to (a) follow the OT's recommendation document verbatim with specific product references against each item rather than as "specifications to be confirmed", (b) cost the full Schluter Kerdi sheet tanking system with a documented 24-hour flood test as a contractually-defined hold-point before any tile or vinyl finish, and (c) include the 18mm plywood backer board behind the plasterboard at every grab-rail position with a 1.5kN pull-out test on each anchor at completion, rather than fixing into plasterboard and noggins as the competing quote proposed.
Practical completion was certified on the contracted Friday afternoon. The Trafford Council OT attended the handback walkthrough that morning at 10am to verify her recommendations had been delivered as specified, observed the wife transfer onto the folding shower seat using the AKW Onyx grab rail at the position she had recommended, watched the husband help adjust the shower head down to her on the slider rail, signed off the works as compliant and left the property at 10.40am. We handed the bathroom back at 4pm Friday. The couple had their first wet-room shower together on Saturday morning. The wife told us, when we visited for the four-week courtesy snag round, that it was the first shower she had taken without holding the door frame in over a year.
The brief came from the homeowner couple and their daughter directly, supported by the Trafford Council Occupational Therapist's recommendation document. Priorities, in their stated order:
A 3-week wet-room conversion in an older couple's family home is a small project measured in pounds and weeks but a significant project measured in care. The OT's recommendations are a clinical document that must be followed verbatim; the tanking has to be tested and certified before any finish goes down because the alternative is a downstairs ceiling damaged by leaks; the cantilevered sanitaryware has to be fixed to a frame that will take a real adult's weight without question; and the work happens in someone's home with one partner staying through the worst of it. Every constraint had a workaround that had to be planned before site possession.
The Trafford Council Occupational Therapist's recommendation document specified positions, heights and clearances for every accessibility-led item: the 600mm horizontal grab rail beside the WC at 230mm from the front of the pan, the angled grab rail in the shower zone at 35 degrees from the wall, the basin rim at 780mm above floor finished level, the WC seat at 460mm including the soft-close seat, the folding shower seat at 480mm. We followed the document verbatim with no interpretation; product specifications were proposed by us against each line item and signed off by the homeowners and the OT before mobilisation.
A wet-room without proper tanking is a downstairs ceiling waiting to leak. We used the Schluter Kerdi sheet tanking system across the floor (lapped over the Kerdi-Line linear drain bonding flange) and 200mm above every fitting on the walls, sealed at all internal corners with the manufacturer's pre-formed Kerdi-Kereck and Kerdi-Kerab corner pieces. A 24-hour flood test — floor blocked at the linear drain, water filled to the lip of the cove-skirting, left for 24 hours — was held as a contractual hold-point. Test commenced Tuesday week 2; passed Wednesday morning. Anti-slip vinyl install commenced Wednesday afternoon.
Wall-hung Comfort-height WCs and wall-hung accessible basins are loaded by adults sitting and lifting; a frame system rated to 400kg static load is the manufacturer's minimum and any compromise on the frame fixing is a frame failure waiting to happen. Geberit Duofix Sigma pre-wall frame for the WC, fixed back to two structural studs each side and to the floor; matched Geberit basin frame for the wall-hung basin, fixed back to the same structural backing. Both frames installed in week 2 and load-tested by us before the plasterboard and tanking went over them.
Grab rails fixed into plasterboard alone will pull out the moment they take real weight. The competing quote proposed fixing into existing studs with no plywood backer; we proposed an 18mm plywood backer board running the full height of every wall with a grab-rail position, fixed back to studs and noggins, with the tanking and the plasterboard going on over the top. Each grab rail anchor pull-out tested at 1.5kN at completion (the minimum loading specified in BS EN 12182 for accessibility grab rails). All 16 anchor points across the four grab rails passed first time.
Hot water at 60°C will cause a third-degree burn on older skin in around 5 seconds. Mira Atom Eco TMV3 thermostatic shower valve to NHS D-08 standard caps the showerhead temperature at 45°C with a fail-safe shut-off if cold water supply is lost. In-line TMV3 valve at the basin caps hot water at 43°C for hand-washing. Both valves commissioned and temperature-tested at completion with a UKAS-traceable thermometer; results documented and added to the homeowners' handover folder.
Three weeks of work in an older couple's family home. The wife decanted to her daughter's home for the seven days of the worst of the wet-room build (no usable bathroom available); the husband remained in the property with use of the downstairs WC and a temporary kitchen-sink wash arrangement we set up for him in week 1. Daily 4pm progress updates by phone or in person to either the husband or the daughter (whoever was contactable). Single-point-of-contact site manager who introduced himself in person on day one. Quiet hours observed between 12-1pm and after 5pm. Dust sheets through every threshold the team crossed.
Wet-room conversions for ageing-in-place succeed or fail on four things: how the OT recommendations are honoured, how the tanking is tested, how the cantilevered sanitaryware is backed, and how the homeowners are looked after through three weeks in their own home. Our approach was built around four working disciplines and one care discipline.
OT recommendations adopted as a contractual specification. The competing quote treated the OT recommendation document as "guidance to inform the design". We treated it as a contractual specification: each line item carried a proposed product reference, a confirmed dimension, and a sign-off from the homeowners and the OT before mobilisation. No interpretation, no value engineering, no substitutions without a written agreement back to the OT.
Tanking flood test held as a contractual hold-point. Wet-room tanking that has not been flood-tested is tanking on trust. Schluter Kerdi sheet tanking system installed in week 2; 24-hour flood test commenced Tuesday morning, water filled to the lip of the cove-skirting and left in place; flood test passed Wednesday morning with no measurable level drop. Test photo-documented and added to the homeowners' handover folder. Anti-slip vinyl install only commenced after the flood test had passed.
Reinforced backing for everything that takes a load. The competing quote's pricing assumed plasterboard fixings for grab rails (which fail) and stud-only backing for cantilever frames (which works but with no margin). We backed every grab-rail position with 18mm plywood the full height of the wall, every cantilever frame with double studs and timber noggins, and we pull-out-tested every grab-rail anchor at 1.5kN at completion. This is the kind of detail that doesn't show up in the photograph but shows up the first time a fall is prevented.
Compassionate site management as a defined discipline, not an afterthought. Daily 4pm phone update to either the husband or the daughter; single-point-of-contact site manager who introduced himself on day one; quiet hours observed; dust sheets across every threshold; clean-down at the end of every day; the temporary kitchen-sink arrangement set up for the husband in week 1; flowers on the kitchen table on the morning of handback. Small things that signal respect for the home and the homeowners.
OT handback walkthrough as a contractual milestone. We booked the OT to attend the handback walkthrough at 10am the contracted Friday morning, two weeks before mobilisation. She was available; she attended; she observed the wife transfer onto the folding shower seat using the AKW Onyx grab rail; she watched the husband help adjust the shower head down to her on the slider rail; she signed off the works against her own recommendation document. The OT sign-off morning was the contractual milestone, not the handback afternoon.
Fifteen working days from key handover to OT sign-off. A sensitively-managed strip-out and decant in week 1, a tanking-and-flood-test discipline in week 2, a precision sanitaryware install in week 3, and an OT walkthrough at 10am on the Friday morning of handback.
Possession of the property keys Monday morning; the wife had decanted to her daughter's home over the weekend, the husband remained in the property with the temporary kitchen-sink wash arrangement we had set up for him on the Sunday afternoon. Dust-sheet protection across the upstairs landing, stair runner protection from threshold to front door, single-point-of-contact site manager introduced to the husband in person at 8.30am Monday. Strip-out of the existing bathroom: corner shower tray and enclosure, pedestal basin, close-coupled WC, tiles, vinyl, dropped suspended ceiling. Floor formation: existing chipboard subfloor cut back, new noggin support added between joists, OSB sloped subfloor laid to 1:50 fall, 1200mm Schluter Kerdi-Line linear drain set into the formation along the wall opposite the door. 18mm plywood backer board fixed to studs at every grab-rail position. Geberit Duofix Sigma pre-wall WC frame and matched basin frame fixed back to double studs and timber noggins.
First-fix electrical and plumbing complete: 4 dimmable LED downlight positions wired, over-mirror light circuit, mechanical extraction with humidity sensor wired to existing soffit duct, hot and cold supply to the basin and shower, waste runs to soil stack. Schluter Kerdi sheet tanking installed across the floor (lapped over the Kerdi-Line bonding flange) and 200mm above every fitting on the walls, with pre-formed Kerdi-Kereck internal corners and Kerdi-Kerab external corners sealed at every junction. 24-hour flood test commenced Tuesday morning: linear drain blocked, water filled to the lip of the cove-skirting, left in place under daily monitoring. Flood test passed Wednesday morning at 10.30 with no measurable level drop. Photo documentation added to handover folder. Altro Aquarius R12 anti-slip wet-room vinyl installed Wednesday afternoon and Thursday: continuous welded seams, cove-skirted 100mm up the walls and capped against wall vinyl with a sealed edge.
Plasterboard finished and decorated in moisture-resistant paint above the cove-skirted vinyl. Roca Inclusive Comfort-height WC pan hung on the Geberit Duofix Sigma frame Tuesday; soft-close dual-flush seat fitted at OT-specified 460mm height. Roca Inclusive accessible basin hung on its Geberit frame at OT-specified 780mm rim height with lever-tap mixer and in-line TMV3 valve commissioned and temperature-tested at 43°C. Mira Atom Eco TMV3 thermostatic shower installed Wednesday with the folding shower seat at OT-specified 480mm and the slider-rail shower head; commissioning temperature tested at 45°C maximum at the showerhead. AKW Onyx grab rails installed Thursday: 600mm horizontal beside the WC, 300mm vertical at the door, 600mm horizontal beside the folding shower seat, 600mm angled in the shower zone. All 16 anchor points pull-out tested at 1.5kN; all 16 passed first time. Lighting and extractor commissioned. Snag round Thursday afternoon: 8 minor items closed by Friday lunchtime. OT walkthrough Friday 10am: she observed the wife transfer onto the folding shower seat, watched the husband adjust the shower head down to her on the slider rail, signed off the works as compliant with her recommendations and left at 10.40. Builders clean Friday afternoon. Handover folder delivered with tanking flood-test photos, TMV3 temperature commissioning log, grab-rail pull-out test record, manufacturer warranties and OT sign-off letter. Bathroom handed back at 4pm Friday; the wife came home from her daughter's that evening.
The technical detail behind a 7m² accessibility-led wet-room built to BS 8300, Approved Document M and an Occupational Therapist's recommendation document followed verbatim.
Full Schluter Kerdi sheet tanking system across floor (lapped over Kerdi-Line bonding flange) and walls 200mm above every fitting. Pre-formed Kerdi-Kereck internal corners and Kerdi-Kerab external corners at every junction. 24-hour flood test held as contractual hold-point: passed first time with no measurable level drop. Photo documentation in handover folder.
1200mm Schluter Kerdi-Line linear drain positioned along the wall opposite the doorway. OSB sloped subfloor formed to a 1:50 fall to drain. Allows for full wheelchair-accessible turning circle if required in future. Bonding flange of the drain integrated into the Schluter Kerdi tanking layer.
Altro Aquarius R12-rated safety vinyl across the entire floor. Continuous welded seams (no joins above ground level). Cove-skirted 100mm up every wall and capped against the wall vinyl with a sealed edge. Walked-on adhesive and welds left to cure 48 hours before sanitaryware install.
Roca Inclusive cantilevered Comfort-height WC pan with dual-flush soft-close seat. Geberit Duofix Sigma pre-wall frame system rated to 400kg static load, fixed back to double studs and floor anchor. Seat height 460mm including soft-close seat per OT specification.
Roca Inclusive accessible wall-hung basin with grip handles incorporated into the rim. Matched Geberit pre-wall frame system fixed to double studs. Rim height 780mm at OT-specified position with knee clearance below for seated use. Lever-tap mixer with in-line TMV3 valve commissioned at 43°C.
Mira Atom Eco TMV3 thermostatic shower valve to NHS D-08 standard. Showerhead temperature capped at 45°C maximum with fail-safe shut-off if cold water supply is lost. Folding shower seat at OT-specified 480mm height adjacent to controls. Slider-rail shower head allows use standing or seated.
AKW Onyx range white-finish grab rails to OT-recommended positions: 600mm horizontal beside WC at 230mm from front of pan, 300mm vertical at door entrance, 600mm horizontal beside folding shower seat, 600mm angled in shower zone at 35-degree angle. Fixed into 18mm plywood backer board behind plasterboard. Pull-out tested at 1.5kN per anchor (BS EN 12182): 16/16 first-time pass.
18mm plywood backer board fixed to structural studs and timber noggins behind every grab-rail wall position. Geberit Duofix Sigma pre-wall frames for both WC and basin fixed to double-stud framing and floor anchors. All cantilevered fixings load-tested before plasterboard and tanking installation.
4 dimmable LED downlights on the main grid giving 320 lux measured at floor level (target 300+). Separate over-mirror light at vanity height. Pull-cord switch outside the door (existing position retained). All wiring to BS 7671 18th Edition with RCD protection. Lights commissioned and lux-tested.
Vent-Axia humidity-sensing extractor fan replacing the existing tired pull-cord unit. Triggers on humidity threshold plus 15-minute over-run. Ducted via the existing soffit vent. Commissioned and humidity-test verified at handback.
Mira Atom Eco TMV3 shower valve commissioned at 45°C maximum at showerhead, in-line TMV3 valve at basin commissioned at 43°C. Both temperature-tested at handback with a UKAS-traceable thermometer; readings logged and added to handover folder. Annual TMV3 service schedule provided to homeowners.
Trafford Council Occupational Therapist attended the handback walkthrough Friday 10am as a contractual milestone. Verified grab-rail positions, sanitaryware heights, shower seat height, basin rim, door clearance against her own recommendation document and against BS 8300-2:2018 and Approved Document M Volume 1. Signed off as compliant with no remedial actions logged.
A 7m² accessibility-led wet-room conversion in a 1960s detached home in Hale, Cheshire, delivered against a 3-week fixed-price contract with no variation orders, the Schluter Kerdi tanking system passing its 24-hour flood test on first attempt, every one of 16 grab-rail anchor points passing the 1.5kN pull-out test on first attempt, the Mira Atom Eco TMV3 shower commissioned at the NHS D-08 standard 45°C cap, the in-line basin TMV3 valve commissioned at 43°C, lighting at 320 lux against a 300 lux target, every one of the OT's 11 recommendation items delivered verbatim, and the Trafford Council Occupational Therapist signing off the works at 10.40am on the contracted Friday morning ahead of a 4pm handback the same afternoon.
The wife came home from her daughter's that evening. She had her first wet-room shower with her husband on Saturday morning. When we visited four weeks later for the courtesy snag round, she told us it was the first shower she had taken without holding the door frame in over a year. The Sale 1930s Semi Full Modernisation we delivered for a young family earlier in the year was a 14-week period modernisation where every retained feature had a reason it was kept; this Hale wet-room was a 3-week accessibility adaptation where every grab-rail position, every seat height, every temperature cap had a reason it was specified. Different scale, different chapter of life, same methodology applied to the kind of small project where the photograph in the local paper does not matter but the first shower without holding the door frame matters profoundly.
My parents have lived in their Hale home for over thirty years and have no plans to move. After Mum's hip surgery the existing bathroom was no longer safe for her, and the Trafford Council Occupational Therapist recommended a wet-room conversion with very specific measurements and product types. We got two quotes. Building Group came in eight hundred and fifty pounds higher than the cheaper one. We picked them on my recommendation because they had done a smaller job for me previously and I trusted them in my parents' house, and because their quotation was the only one to follow the OT's recommendation document line by line with named products against each item rather than as "to be confirmed". The cheaper quote also proposed fixing the grab rails into the plasterboard which I did not think would be safe; Building Group included an eighteen-millimetre plywood backer board the full height of every wall behind the grab rails and pull-out tested every anchor at 1.5kN at completion. Three weeks later my mother walked back into a bathroom she could use independently for the first time in over a year. The OT signed off the works at twenty to eleven on the Friday morning, the keys came back to my parents at four that afternoon, and my mother told me on the phone the following morning that her first shower in the new room was the first one she had taken in over a year without holding the door frame. The team rang Dad every afternoon at four o'clock through the build to tell him where they were up to and what was happening tomorrow. There were flowers on the kitchen table the morning of handback. Small things, all of them, but they all matter when it is your parents' home.
If you or a parent or a partner is thinking about adapting a long-term family home to make it safer to live in for the years ahead, whether through a wet-room conversion, a stair-lift coordination, a downstairs WC and shower-room build or any other accessibility-led adaptation, we'll come out for a free home visit, walk the work through with you and any Occupational Therapist involved, and put a fixed-price quotation on your desk — with the OT recommendations followed verbatim, the tanking system flood-tested as a contractual hold-point, the reinforced backing for grab rails and cantilever sanitaryware specified to BS 8300 and Approved Document M, and the kind of compassionate site management that small projects in family homes deserve.
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