Accessible bathrooms in Virginia Beach

59%¹² of the city's homes went up between 1970 and 1999, and many are two-stories with a half bath downstairs and the only shower upstairs. If climbing is already hard, the more useful project may be enlarging that downstairs half bath into a full one rather than reworking the upper floor.

Single-story ranches are easier. Most sit on a slab or a shallow crawlspace, and a slab floor has to be cut and resloped to give a curbless shower its drain. Cost vs. Value's universal-design bath job removes the tub for a curbless, tiled walk-in shower with an adjustable showerhead, fold-out seat, thermostatic mixing valve and glass door, puts in a comfort-height toilet with a bidet-type seat, and rearranges storage so it can be reached from a seated position.¹³

Damp air adds a detail: a roll-in shower with no curb needs a fan that clears steam fast, because a wet floor that stays wet is a slip hazard. The EPA advises keeping indoor humidity below 60 percent, ideally between 30 and 50 percent, and running the bathroom fan or opening a window when showering.¹⁴

Virginia Beach's Owner-Occupied Rehabilitation Program gives grants and affordable loans to fix health and safety hazards, and can cover accessibility changes such as wheelchair ramps and roll-in showers, reviewed case by case.⁵ To qualify, a household's income can't exceed 80% of the area median, the applicant must own and live in the Virginia Beach home and own no other real estate, and help depends on available funding; the city's Housing Development division does a brief screening by phone or email.⁵

Virginia also offers a state income tax credit for accessibility work. Virginia's Livable Home Tax Credit, applied for through the Department of Housing and Community Development, equals 50 percent of the cost of retrofitting or renovating an existing home to improve accessibility or universal visitability, up to $6,500; total credits are capped each fiscal year and prorated when requests exceed the cap.¹⁵

For veterans, the VA's home alteration benefit covers bathroom changes. The VA's Home Improvements and Structural Alterations (HISA) benefit pays for medically necessary changes to a veteran's or servicemember's primary residence, including use of essential bathroom facilities such as roll-in showers and lowering sinks and counters.¹⁶ HISA is a lifetime benefit of up to $6,800 for a service-connected disability, or for another disability when the veteran has a service-connected rating of at least 50 percent, and up to $2,000 for other disabilities.¹⁶

Contractors on Virginia Beach's Owner-Occupied Rehabilitation Program must hold a Virginia Class A or B license, and participants may have a lien recorded against the property.¹⁷ If you apply for city help, the program's own contractor list governs who does the work.

Some families solve the stairs by giving an older parent their own space on the ground floor. Virginia Beach calls that a flex suite. Virginia Beach allows a flex suite only inside a single-family dwelling where single-family homes are a permitted use, and the owner certifies it will be occupied only by the people named on the application, who must be at least 62 or disabled.¹⁸ A Virginia Beach flex suite may take up to 30% of the house's total floor area or 500 square feet, whichever is greater.¹⁸

The city's permit for it is renewable rather than permanent. The owner of record must live in the house that contains the flex suite, and the permit is valid for two years at a time, renewable under Section 507 of the zoning ordinance.¹⁸ A new flex suite application includes a to-scale survey or site plan, a copy of the deed or a current tax bill, and a floor plan of the house and suite that the applicant may draw.¹⁸ Plan the suite's bathroom as an accessible one from the start, since it's the room the permit exists to serve.

More than one in four adults 65 and older fall each year.¹⁹ The CDC says falling once doubles an older adult's chances of falling again.¹⁹ The CDC's home fall-prevention checklist recommends grab bars in and beside the tub and next to the toilet, and a non-slip surface on tub and shower floors.²⁰

The National Institute on Aging suggests non-skid surfaces wherever a floor can get wet and a light left on in the bathroom at night.²¹ Ask whether the company has finished a curbless shower before and can show you one. NAHB's Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist (CAPS) credential trains remodelers in home modifications for aging in place.²²

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Describe who will use the room, whether a wheelchair or walker needs to fit, and which floor the bathroom is on, then ask what they'd suggest and roughly what it would cost.

Look the company up with the state before you sign, and if you're using city help, confirm the license class meets the program's rule. Virginia's Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation advises hiring only licensed contractors, and its License Lookup shows a license's status and any past disciplinary actions.²³ Check a Virginia license