Why accessible bathrooms matter in Edinburgh homes
Most Edinburgh housing wasn't built with mobility in mind. Tenement flats have narrow doorways, small bathrooms, timber joists that bounce, and old cast-iron waste stacks. A shower over the bath, a 30 mm lip, or a slippery enamel floor can turn a daily routine into a real hazard for anyone with reduced mobility.
A properly designed wet room or walk-in shower removes those obstacles: level access, non-slip flooring, grab rails set into noggins that actually hold, and a layout a wheelchair or a carer can move around in.
Wet room vs walk-in shower: which one for your flat?
The two get lumped together but they're different builds.
- Wet room. The whole floor is tanked and falls to a single drain. No tray, no step, no screen if you don't want one. Best for wheelchair users, carers, and anyone who needs the biggest possible turning circle.
- Walk-in shower. A low-profile tray (or a formed floor) with a fixed glass screen. Level or near-level access, simpler to waterproof, and usually cheaper than a full wet room. Good middle ground for older homeowners who are steady on their feet but want the bath gone.
Converting a tenement bathroom: what actually happens
Edinburgh tenements bring their own quirks. Here's the sequence I work through on a typical conversion:
- Strip out. Bath, WC, basin, tiles and old plasterboard come out. This is when you see the real condition of the joists, the waste run, and the walls behind the tiling.
- Structural check. Timber floors flex. For a wet room you either strengthen the joists and use a proprietary former, or lay a rigid substrate designed for tiling. Skipping this step is why cheap wet rooms leak within a year.
- Plumbing and drainage. Move the waste to suit the new drain position, upsize where needed, and set the fall before anything gets tanked. In a tenement this often means coordinating with the flat below.
- Tanking. The whole shower zone (floor and walls) is waterproofed with a bonded membrane and sealed at every corner and pipe penetration. This is the layer that keeps your neighbour happy.
- Tiling and finishes. Large-format non-slip floor tiles, slip-rated to at least R10 in the shower area, with tight falls to the drain. Wall tiles set out from the drain, not the door, so nothing looks off.
- Fit-out. Thermostatic mixer, grab rails fixed into pre-installed noggins (never straight into plasterboard), fold-down seat if required, comfort-height WC, lever taps.
Details that make a bathroom genuinely accessible
- Level or gently sloped threshold — no step, no lip.
- Minimum 800 mm clear door opening; outward-opening or sliding door where space allows.
- Non-slip floor tile (R10 minimum, R11 in the shower zone).
- Grab rails fixed to solid timber noggins, tested to take real weight.
- Thermostatic shower with anti-scald limit set at install.
- Lever taps, comfort-height WC, wall-hung basin with knee clearance.
- Good, even lighting — no shadows in the shower area.
How long does it take, and what should it cost?
A straightforward walk-in shower conversion in an Edinburgh flat usually runs one to two weeks on site. A full wet room with structural work, re-routed waste and full re-tile is closer to two to three. Cost depends on the state of what's behind the tiles more than the fittings you pick — that's why I quote after a site visit, not from a photo.
Getting a quote
I'm Mariusz Siga, and I've been fitting bathrooms across Edinburgh for 18 years. If you're planning an accessible bathroom or a walk-in shower — for yourself, a parent, or to future-proof a family home — send me a message and I'll come and see it.
See also: bathroom services and recent bathroom projects.