One of the oldest populations on the Sussex coast
Rustington has a reputation as a retirement village, and the census backs it up. In 2011, 36.8 per cent of the parish was 65 or over, more than twice the English figure. In 2021, in the census area that covers East Preston and Rustington East, it was more than half. The village's history leans the same way: the Rustington Convalescent Home on Sea Road was built in 1897 by Sir Henry Harben and is still run as a respite home by the Carpenters' Company, and the Zachary Merton convalescent home opened on Glenville Road in 1937.
So it is no surprise that the bathroom we are asked about most in Rustington is one that is safe and easy to use: the bath taken out for a walk-in shower, the step taken out of the shower for a level floor, a seat, grab rails, a basin you can sit at, and a door that opens outwards so it cannot be blocked.
Level access, built properly
Most Rustington bungalows sit on a concrete ground-floor slab. A level-access shower on a slab means forming the falls to the drain in a new screed above it, waterproofing the whole floor, and designing the doorway threshold so there is nothing to trip over or roll across. On a timber floor the falls are built between the joists. Both are routine, and both are decided at the survey, because neither can be changed once the tiles are down. Where space allows, a wet room is the most flexible answer: the whole room is the shower, and there is room for a carer to help.
The Disabled Facilities Grant
Arun District Council's Disabled Facilities Grant pays up to £30,000, means-tested for adults, for adaptations including wet rooms, walk-in showers, downstairs bathrooms, stairlifts, ramps and wider doors. The process starts with an occupational therapist from West Sussex County Council, through OT Connect on 01243 642121. The council cannot approve a grant for work that has already been done, so the occupational therapist comes first and we price to their recommendation.
Flats and shared drains
About a quarter of homes on the seaward side of Rustington are purpose-built flats. A bathroom refit in a flat needs the managing agent's consent if anything is moving, a properly waterproofed floor because a leak lands in the flat below, and an extract that vents to outside through a route the lease allows. We prepare a short method statement for the managing agent and keep noisy work to agreed hours.
Hard water
Southern Water supplies Rustington, and independent softener suppliers put the village's water at about 279 parts per million, which is hard; Southern Water's postcode checker gives the official figure. In a bathroom that shows up as scale on screens and heads and, sooner or later, a sticky thermostatic cartridge. We fit valves that can be serviced from the front, heads with flexible nozzles, coated glass, wet-room drains with lift-out traps, and for older users a valve with a maximum temperature stop to prevent scalding.
Drains that have struggled
Overstrand Avenue flooded in March 2020, and Southern Water acknowledged its sewers there were vulnerable. On a road like that, a ground-floor wet room is the lowest outlet in the house and the first place a surcharging sewer appears. We check the drain run and fit a non-return valve where it is needed.
What it costs
On our price guide, all including VAT: a like-for-like swap is £4,800 to £10,800, a full refit £9,600 to £21,600, a wet room or level-access shower £8,400 to £21,600, and a new en-suite from scratch £7,200 to £18,000. Rustington is priced on the same rates as Bognor Regis, and we have a level-access wet room under way in Pagham, described on bathrooms in Pagham.
The trade is under bathroom fitting; next door is bathrooms in Littlehampton. If the bathroom needs a new ground-floor room around it, see house extensions in Rustington. The village is on builders in Rustington.
Tell us who the bathroom is for and whether an occupational therapist is involved, and James will come and look at the floor and the drain first. Ring 07470 078236. Itemised written quotation, two years' guarantee on our workmanship.