DIY Doctor SOS - Creating a disabled shower room and toilet

DIY Doctor has made many friends over the years and recently one of them needed our help

The protagonists here are Anne on the left, who is an artist, as was her husband

Her husband sadly died and Anne wanted to hold a final exhibition for him and his work

However, she fell over and broke her hip. The hospital wouldn't release her until she had either installed a stair lift or found a means of going to the toilet and showering safely downstairs

So we went to see Cliff at Wix in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, and asked him for Wix's help in supplying the materials for the project

He said no problem at all. Down the bottom, we've got Jerry, the vinyl fitter from Kev Cochran Carpets and Vinals in Frum in Somerset

We told them the story, asked for their help, and again, there really wasn't any problem at all

We were set to build Anne, a shower room and a toilet downstairs, and we had about two days to do it

Both companies simply couldn't do enough for us. Occupational therapy were due to come and visit and sign off the work

So we got a team of guys and girls together and you'll see the results of a couple of days work as you go through the video

Anne had a long galley kitchen. Fortunately at the end there were just a few tables and some shelves and stuff which we were able to pull out And the plan was to put the shower room toilet in there and run the ramp under the level of the cupboards into the kitchen and that where you can see the ramp is going to go there was quite a bit of preparation work to do

cleaning up we had one of our ladies outside chopping studs for us to the required lengths and we laid some water pipes and plastic water pipe behind

the units all the way back down to behind the washing machine where we were able to connect

to the hot and the cold. The studs were placed against the back wall and the pipes fitted in

The floor was laid on four by two timbers to a slope which you'll see later on using

spaces and the pipes run up the wall to the required height for the shower

The floor was laid down to a drain in the corner and using the spaces that you've just

seen and that was all done. In day one you can see the end of day's work. We have the stud

work up at the front of the shower room. That's ready to receive some plasterboard. The floors

down, plywood floor and we've stuck some boards on the wall to receive the shower panels

which were donated by wicks and a drain is cut into the corner. There's the shower pipes

on the wall and at day two we were ready to start moving the electrics out Obviously you can have an electric socket in a shower room The electrician came in and did the first fix and drilled some holes for some down lighters

Put the socket outside and installed the low voltage down lighters in the ceiling

with a switch that you can see on the frame. And we moved into putting the ramp so that the ramp ran down at the height of the plinth under the units

and cut all of the shower panels ready to go in after the vinyl had been laid

The vinyl was due to be turned up at the wall and the shower boards laid over it

and there we are putting the coving round and the double-sided tape ready to receive the upstand

Jerry's fitting the vinyl, cutting it into the corners, and then afterwards when they're all cut in, he welded those corners up to make the water pool

The drain was cut in, the shone was cut in, the shower panels fitted to the wall over the upstand

and you can see the results in the insert in the following interview with Anne

Welcome home young lady. Oh, thanks a lot. How does it feel of your back

Well, it's a bit like a dream, you know, because I was probably have to stay in hospital

and none of two or three weeks. Yeah. But, oh, it's amazing what you've done

It's absolutely fantastic. We were just we were happy to do it We were really happy to do it I can ever thank you enough and I so grateful to Wix They been brilliant They been brilliant They been a lovely company

Yeah. My nephew spent a gap year at Wix when he was living with us here

Yeah. And, you know, we're often going in and out of Wix. And it's, it's really marvellous that you've got those sponsored it and made this possible I can come home

Well, they will see this video, so they'll see how grateful you are. And I've already, you know, I've thanked them so much

It's been phenomenal what they've done. Thank you very much. So, listen, you know, long as it makes your life easier, that's great

And we'll keep doing what we do. And the occupational therapist has just left, and she was immensely impressed

Oh, brilliant. So, yes, it's been a lifesaver. Thank you. Thank you very, very much, Mike

I'm Wicks. Cheers. Cheers, darling. Thank you. Thank you

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you to Wix and Kev Corkran. Anne made her husband's exhibition

She was able to do a talk about his work and we're very pleased to have been able to help