Impey Shower Seats Explained: Slimfold, Deluxe, Wide Padded, Freestanding and Drop-Down Rails

A shower seat is the single change that lets someone keep showering independently once standing for ten minutes has become hard work. It is also one of the most-specified items in a Disabled Facilities Grant bathroom. Choosing one comes down to four questions: how much weight it must carry, whether it needs a back and arms, whether it folds out of the way, and what the wall behind it is made of.

This guide covers the Impey range, which is what we fit most often, and the drop-down rails that go with it.

Wall-mounted or freestanding

A wall-mounted seat folds up against the wall when it is not in use, so the shower is clear for anyone who does not need it. It has to be fixed to a wall that will carry the rated load: solid masonry, or a stud wall with a noggin or ply pattress fitted behind the tiles where the bracket goes. On a stud wall without reinforcement the fixings will pull out, and it is far easier to fit the pattress before the wall is tiled than after.

A freestanding chair needs no wall at all. It is the answer for a rented property, a bathroom where the wall cannot be reinforced, or a temporary need. The Impey Freestanding Shower Chair has a back, arms and height-adjustable legs, and it comes out of the shower when it is not wanted.

Fold-up: the Slimfold range

Slimfold is Impey's wall-mounted seat with the slimmest folded profile in the range, which matters in a small shower where a folded seat still has to be walked past. The seat and back are a moulded composite that is warm to sit on rather than cold like metal, and the whole thing wipes clean.

• Slimfold Seat with Back and Arms: the standard seat, with fold-up arms to push against when standing. The one to start with for most users.
• Slimfold Bench: a longer seat without back or arms, for someone who transfers from a wheelchair sideways or who wants room to sit and wash comfortably.
• Slimfold Horseshoe Seat: the same seat with a cut-out at the front for personal washing, where a carer helps or where reach is limited.

Fold-down with legs: for higher loads

A seat that hangs entirely off the wall bracket puts all of the user's weight into the wall fixings. Adding a pair of legs that fold down to the floor shares that load and raises the weight rating, and it makes the seat safer on a wall you are not completely sure of.

The Impey Fold Down Shower Seat with Legs is the workhorse version, in a standard hard seat or a padded one. The Deluxe Fold Down Seat adds a back and arms, again standard or padded. Padded seats are warmer and kinder to skin for someone who sits for a long time; the standard seat is easier to keep clean in a shared bathroom.

For a larger user, the Wide Padded Fold Down Seat is 600mm across with legs and a padded seat, rated for bariatric use.

Seat height

Most seats fix at around 450mm to 480mm from the floor to the top of the seat, which suits an average adult and matches a standard toilet height so transfers are level. A taller user, or someone with stiff hips or knees, is better with the seat set higher, around 500mm, because it is easier to stand up from. Set the height for the person who will use it, not the middle of the range, and if two people use it at different heights the legged seats have adjustable legs.

Weight ratings

Every seat carries a maximum user weight, and it is worth checking it before ordering rather than after. As a guide: the Slimfold seats are rated for typical domestic use, the legged fold-down seats go higher because the legs take the load, and the wide padded seat is the one for bariatric users. The rating assumes the seat is fixed to a suitable wall; it does not make a stud wall stronger.

Drop-down support rails

A drop-down rail is a hinged rail that folds up against the wall and comes down horizontally to give something to hold when sitting, standing or transferring. Next to a shower seat it gives the arm support a bench does not have; next to a toilet it does the same job for someone who finds the last few inches of sitting and standing difficult.

The Impey Drop Down Hinged Support Rail is the standard white rail. Like a seat, it puts a lot of leverage into its wall fixings, so it needs a solid wall or a pattress. Where the wall is not up to it, or where the rail is at the end of a run with no wall behind it, the Floor Mounted Post takes the load to the floor instead. Fit rails at around 700mm to 800mm to the top of the rail when horizontal, so the forearm rests on it from a seated position.

Fitting order

Decide the seat and rail positions before the room is tiled, fit the pattresses, then tile, then fix through the tiles into the pattress. Fix a seat at least 300mm clear of the shower control so the user can reach it seated, and keep a drop-down rail within reach of the seat on the side the user pushes up from.

Where to start

All of the above are in Shower Seats and Drop Down Rails, or browse the whole accessible range in Inclusive Bathing. For a carer screen to go with the seat, see the Impey Freeglide.

If you are specifying for a DFG or an occupational therapist's report, send us the recommendation and we will match it to the right seat, rail and fixing.