Shower seat/chair in fiberglass tub safe?

14 years ago

I have someone staying with me who has a difficult time taking a shower. We have discussed the idea of getting a shower chair - just one of the simple portable medical grade ones to help her. I am concerned that a chair with thin metal (aluminum I assume) legs in the fiberglass tub with all the weight concentrated on the small legs may cause it to make holes in the tub. The person that would be using it is not big by any means at 140 pounds. Of course I could build some sort of base for it to spread the weight out more evenly, but then I'm concerned that may jeopardize the safety.

Do I have reason to be concerned about this at all, or are my concerns unfounded? What is making me think about this is that usually when I take a shower in a fiberglass stall, it seems like it flexes a bit where I'm standing, and these tubs are usually pretty thin. But then again, at 5'11" 225lbs, I'm a big boy, but I wouldn't be using this chair either. I just want to make sure my tub doesn't get punctured. Anyone have experience with this?

Thanks!!!

Featured Answer

millworkman

14 years ago

Personally from what I know, the fiberglass units are generally place on top of a dry mortar mix type product, not actually mixed wet mortar cement just a bag dumped in place and leveled. So that being the case I would be very leery of using a chair in this type of tub for the exact reasons you mentioned.

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Comments (6)

aa62579
14 years ago
The unit I used when I had an injury had larger plastic or rubber feet on the ends of the legs. With the weight spread out among 4 points, I would think it would be much less pressure than a person stepping into the tub or shower and having all their weight on one point.

I honestly wouldn't worry about it as long as the legs had some sort of feet or cap on them. Now, if it were just a metal tube, that would be a different story.
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alku05
14 years ago
Our house was built by husband's grandparents in the 70's and they and his mother lived here until about 10 years ago. The fiberglass tub in our house's only remaining original bathroom has a patch in the bottom from when DH's grandmother's shower chair poked through the bottom. So no, I would not put a shower chair in a fiberglass tub.
californiaplaya
Original Author
14 years ago
I figured it was a possibility - just wanted to confirm. But I realized today that I was looking for the wrong thing. I was looking for shower chairs to put in a tub. I should have instead been looking for bathtub seats. Instead of sitting on the bottom of the tub with legs, they rest on the edge of the tub and clamp on. Think this will work better for my purposes. Thanks for the responses everyone.
susanjf_gw
14 years ago
look at the chair at walmart. very reasonable, adjustable height, holds up to 350 lbs...generous rubber feet...
Donna Smith
7 years ago
Has anyone used a shower chair in a fiberglass shower.