Does anyone out there have experience with Walk-in tubs?

Dear IsntEasy,
Wow! Thank you so much for your explanation! We have had 3 tub salesmen here at my mom's place and $5,000 would be a welcomed amount to pay! When they all get to the price of the "thing" the prices are like $17,000 to $20,000!!!! I am NOT joking, embellishing, being sarcastic, or anything. This is the plain and HONEST truth! I could buy myself a NEW CAR for that money!!! I agree with you 100%. Thank you for such a well thought-out answer. The tub companies I have had to the house so far are Jacuzzi, Premeire, safe Step and I am expecting two more. I do NOT want to go the Home Depot/Lowes route and but the tub on my own ... American Standard.... and then pay for carpentray, electrician, and plumber....

I want to repeat to you that the quotes I have received SO FAR are between 15 and 20 THOUSAND DOLLARS!!! WTF????!!!

My mom is ninety and she wants to bathe alone and has an attitude of....I've been doing this on my own for 80 years.... I don't NEED anyone!!!
The occupational therapsit came and and had a bird watchig her show how she did it each bath! It included her using an 8 inch high stool.... if that gives you an idea of how dangerous it is on how she gets in and out of the tub!

You are soooooooooooooooo right. $15,000 to $20,000 can but A LOT of help here at her home. we obviously have a lot of talking/leaning/listening to do. I welcome any other comments/opinions from people who are checking this out like I am!
Kathy from West Hartford

I was just at a garage sale where someone was trying to recoup a fraction of the $4000 they spent on a walk-in tub for their mother.
Even if you have the funds readily available to make the investment, sort out the answers to a few questions first:

- If you're buying the tub because your elder isn't showering/bathing, are you certain that the tub is the reason? Old people stop bathing for lots of reasons and a safe way to enter the tub probably won't get them back on track with hygiene.

- The walk-in tub, even if used regularly, may only get used for a short period of time and it will be a negative if still in place when you sell the house. The folks who had one at the garage sale hadn't wanted to remove it, but the buyer of their mom's home stipulated it as a condition of the sale.

However, if your elder truly does love baths and is taking them now, but you'd like them to be safer, and you can afford it, they're great. The garage sale lady said she'd bathed in the walk-in herself and it worked really well.

An alternative would be to spend the money on a care aide to come in once or twice a week to help with bathing. There may be resistance at first, but if you persist and make them try it, often they enjoy it. Be sure to get an aide who's comfortable with bathing. That might cost $25 or so an hour, but $4000 would buy a lot of hours.

Bath Fitter does a great job, done in a day and prices vary according to the materials you select. You can easily spend $5K, and probably more.