What the work is
The bar is the cheap part. What matters is what it is fixed to and where it is.
Placement comes from watching how you actually move: where your hand goes as you stand, which side you turn to, whether you are steadying yourself or taking weight. A bar in the standard position that is not where your hand goes is decoration.
Finishes now come in the same ranges as the rest of the bathroom. Nothing about a well-chosen bar has to announce itself.
What is included
- Locating the framing and confirming what is behind the wall before anything is drilled
- Blocking or a structural anchor rated for the load where the framing is not where the bar needs to be
- The bar, set at the height and angle that suits how you move
- Testing it under load before we leave
- Making good around the fixings
What is not
- Fixing into tile or drywall alone with hollow-wall anchors. We will not do it
- Suction-cup bars. They are not grab bars
- Re-tiling where a bar has to come off an existing wall
What holds it
A grab bar has to take a 250 pound force. That force is carried by what is behind the wall, not by the bar and not by the fixings on the box. Tile and drywall do not hold it; blocking or a proper structural anchor does.
If the wall cannot be opened, there are surface-mounted structural plates and through-bolted solutions that spread the load. They cost more and they work. What does not work is a longer screw.
Who does the assessment
Our team includes a Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist. That certification is issued to a person, not to a company, and we describe it that way because it is the truth.
The guide below covers where bars actually go and what each position is for, with the reasoning rather than a diagram.
What to ask anyone quoting this, us included
- What is behind the wall where this is going?
- What load is the finished installation rated for?
- Why this position, and did you watch me use the space?