Our shower designer suggested that we stand in the space and close our eyes and see where we would want to grab if we felt like we were losing our balance. Just reach out toward the wall. We split the difference between my husband and I. If you also want to climb into and get out of a tub, get one of those suction cup ones and try it in different positions (height wise as well as horizontal/vertical) to see what you feel comfortable holding on to. (OBTW we are both well into medicare age and this works for us)

There are some "designer" grab bars that don't look like the nursing home ones. They can double as towel bars.

There is an ADA website that detail what is ADA compliant, and hotels and motels have to go by those rules. Google for those recommendations, otherwise do what you would like to look at and use.

-Babka

Babka--

We just hit Medicare age, so that is why we are trying to think ahead. Thanks for the tips on this; I think I'll give it a try as far a seeing how this works out for placement.

I too have found a couple websites that have rather attractive looking selections of bars.

Thanks.

Even if you will not be adding a lot of hardware, be sure to block for it incase you need an additional bar in the future. I have done this and took pictures before the walls covered area up. Also location listed on my plans.

I put a Smedbo AK325 in my very tall (24"!) tub. I think it is great looking. In installed it vertically.

We recently did this and truly hemmed and hawed about where to put the single bar we had in mind. We also combed the websites for guidance without a lot of luck. In the end, we decided to put it on the not-faucet side of the shower on the theory that if you wanted to use it to get in, you didn't want to be entering into the flowing water. So far, so good.

When it came time to actually screw it into the wall, we wanted to place it close to the edge of the tile, except the stud falls directly under the edge of the tile and you can't put it there. We eventually put it one stud to the rear, but worried that it was too far into the tub. The old acrylic tub/shower unit was wider than the new Kohler Villager, but you can see where the studs are. The blue tape up above has a mark for the edge of the new tub. Had we added blocking while the wall was open, we would have avoided this dilema.

Turns out this is a great placement-very handy for ingress and egress and reaching the towels on the opposite wall. The better placement would have been a few more inches towards entry (plan ahead!), but this works too.

Check out Kartners grab bars they have some very modern non- institution looking ones. I bought an 18 inch which will be mounted on the back wall of the tub and used as a towel bar. I will try and take a pic of it this weekend. One nice thing is their grab bars are part of a collection so it is possible to have a matching towel bar or robe hook. Also a nice price point.
http://www.kartners.com/products.php?subcat=Grab%20Bar

Thanks for the link to Kartners. I have also found a couple other companies (links saved on a different computer) that have attractive bars. And, I also found a nice, rounded corner shelf that also serves as a grab bar. So, I plan to install that and one grab bar.

Yesterday I was actually sitting in the tub trying to figure out where a grab bar would be best and whether to go with the typical angled one we often see. I was trying to imagine myself having mobility problems and needing assistance to hoist myself from a sitting position. But, now I have realized that I take showers rather than baths 99% of the time so should probably plan for what would be best for taking a shower.

Suzannesl--Do you use your vertical bar for tub or shower bathing?

My thought would be to use one for the shower and if ever you need one for the tub, get one that straddles the tub edge. The are more medical devise looking. I read somewhere several years ago that a slanted bar would not be safe. To me that makes sense, if you needed to pull yourself up with wet hands, your hand would slide down with the weight of the body.

So, would wet hands also slide down a vertical bar? Just wondering.

To me, if I were to try to pull my weight up out of a tub with a vertical bar, yes my grip could not get me out. I think these are important considerations and I would love to know more about the safety of grab bar positioning. If there is a vertical bar at the entry to the shower it is for standing stability not pulling on out of the tub. But I am not anywhere near an expert on this topic. I would love to have more info that addresses the ergonomics and safety of bathroom grab bar placement.

Here is a link I just found to describe a diagonal bar placement problem.

Here is a link that might be useful: University of Missouri Extension

Our bar is intended to assist with entering/existing the tub from a standing position. We never take baths, so we're talking showering. I actually had cause to use the thing earlier this summer - I got a horrible, nasty disease that left me very wobbly for a while and I actually needed the balance assist. Shades of 20 or 30 years down the road-ugh. In any case, I learned a few things:

*My hands didn't slip on the smooth surface.
*The placement isn't too far into the tub to make entering/exiting less than easy.
*Having the bar there made it possible for me to shower by myself. Otherwise I would have needed DH to steady me in and out. (He was a trooper and walked with me everywhere for a couple of weeks, even around the outside of the house while I was trying to get back some strength. Good news: I just got back from my 2-1/2 mi. morning walk.)

My experience with my mom, who passed away at 93, says that by the time you need grab bars for more than balance and gentle assist, you are going to need a bath attendant anyway. No elderly person is going to be able to haul themselves up from the bottom of the tub if their legs don't have enough strength to do their part with some help from the arms. At that point you get a shower bench for the bottom of the tub, someone helps you in, soaps you up, rinses, and gets you out and dry and dressed. Grab bars are really for balance and keeping one independent as long as possible.

I am not elderly but have had orthopedic problems...you don't need to be elderly to need grab rails. A tub is a real challenge if you have any special needs; the grab rails may help (as the above poster has said), but they will not be the entire solution. Have you thought about replacing that shower/tub unit with a large (prefab?) unit? Grab rails would really work then. Although if you actually take baths - and many people do not - then you might want the tub.

Incidentally, regarding elderly people and tubs - when my mother was in assisted living, they only had showers for the residents. She hated showers! But I can see the point - tubs are not safe for seniors, even with grab rails.

By the way - have you thought about grab rails by the toilet as well? We have a standard rail on one side, and a tp holder/rail on the other side of our toilet (which is ADA height). The rails don't look institutional (they are ORB if that helps), but they are so comfortable that we wouldn't care. Dh uses them - and he has no orthopedic challenges at all.

Grab Bar Specialists has a somewhat extensive collection of grab bar info on their website.

You can certainly find prettier grab bars elsewhere, but it's a good resource for mounting options, layout, and things like knurled/cushioned/smooth grips etc.

If a diagonal installation interests you, a 24" grab bar mounted diagonally on an almost 45-degree angle will hit two studs on 16" centers.

If the studs are still exposed, you can install blocking where you think you might want to install grab bars in the future.

For installing a grab bar over a stud cavity (not attached to the framing) look into Wing-It anchors.

Once again, thanks for all of the very helpful info you have all provided to me. Now I just have some thinking to do.

No, this is the only tub in our 100 year old house, and we don't want to give it up for just a shower. We have the typical problem that so many lovely older houses have, not a lot of bathrooms, and they are small. We do have a decent bathroom in our basement that has just a shower stall, so that can always be a default. And, if it gets to the point where we can't use either of these baths, we'll know it is time to move out and into something designed for the elderly or those with mobility issues.

A bit off topic, but in our previous home, we only had a shower stall and a separate bath tub. No grab rails in either. I had to have emergency knee surgery (no time to buy/instill rails or anything); I wound up nonweightbearing for 8 weeks. Neither the tub nor the shower seemed like a good idea - couldn't risk bumping my knee or putting weight on my leg. But I went with the tub, filled it with a few inches of water (couldn't get the incision wet), was hopping around the bathroom in my birthday suit, trying to figure how to get into the tub. Our cat came into "help", slipped into the water. She was upset (!) and I *still* had a hard time getting into/out of the water.

I took sponge baths after that - for the remaining 7 weeks. I still feel dirty when I think about what I went through that summer - a hot, sweaty summer on crutches when I couldn't shower or even take a tub bath.

This post was edited by gladys1924 on Sun, Sep 7, 14 at 21:48

The photos are great. Thanks much.

I've been surfing and have found quite a few sites with grab bars that also look good. Here are a few sites:

http://www.greatgrabz.com/grab-bars

http://www.pontegiuliousa.com/bagnosicuro/grab-bar-collections.html

https://www.plumbingsupply.com/luxury-grab-bars.html

And here is the cornershelf/grab bar I am contemplating. Moen makes a much cheaper version, but it has a plastic insert, and I want something that will be more permanent. http://www.wrightstuff.biz/cornershelf.html

Here is one take on which type to install:

"Never anchor a grab bar into drywall , it will not hold and you could be seriously injured.

How to properly install a grab bar is to screw it into the wall studs or to blocking in your walls. If your walls don't have blocking, add it by nailing a piece of plywood into the studs. The plywood should be þ inches thick and 6 to 12 inches wide.

A grab bar should have 1-ý" of clearance from the wall.

Wall mounted grab bars come in several lengths. Deciding which length to install depends on how the grab bar will be used. For example, if you're putting a main grab bar on the side wall of a bathroom tub enclosure a grab bar at least 24 inches long is best. If you're adding a second grab bar for support on the shower head wall, it should be at least 12 inches long.

Horizontal grab bars offer better leverage when you are trying to get out of a bathtub or up and down from a toilet, but a grab bar placed at a 45 degree angle to the toilet or bathtub's rim is better when trying to accommodate people of different heights.

Angling your grab bar has an additional advantage. A 24 inch bar installed at a 45 degree angle will exactly span wall studs spaced 16 inches apart, and you can screw into the studs on each end for maximum support.

Horizontal grab bars should be located 33 to 36 inches above the finished floor around toilets, and 33 to 36 inches above the floor of the bathtub (7 to 11 inches above the rim) and close enough to the shower head wall to support you when adjusting water temperature."

Has anyone used one of those circular grab bars around the tub faucet? I think they look cool and would help me get out of the tub?