Helping Hands Living Solutions Grab Bar and Handrail Installation
January 20, 2026
618-900-6199
When Helping Hands Living Solutions come to your house to assist with a project or perform an aging in place home evaluation, we are always looking for a place for grab bars or handrails to provide balance stability and support in areas like bathrooms, stairs, and entryways. This not only helps to prevent slips or falls, but actually provides a better quality of life when just serving as a mobility assist.
For grab bars the function we mainly look to offer is support for specific movements like sitting, standing, or stepping into the shower. With handrails, we focus on the use as a balance aid along a path or steps.
Grab Bars
Grab bars should be installed in areas where slips are common, primarily near the shower, bathtub, and toilet. Also, anywhere around the home with a single step, a grab bar positioned correctly is a great mobility assist.
Placement recommendation will be provided based on the stud mapping, the surface we are mounting to, and customized to the user's height and specific mobility needs. Final placement is always determined by the customer and we will provide our experience of what has proven helpful for other users to help you decide best placement.
Primary Installation Locations
- Shower and Bathtub Entrance: Install a vertical grab bar at the shower or tub entryway to provide stability when stepping over a bathtub wall or a low step into a shower.
- Inside the Shower:
- Side Wall: Place a horizontal bar at roughly waist height to help with balance while standing in the shower.
- Control Wall: Placing a bar near the shower controls can be of great value, but the presence of water lines in this wall can make this difficult.
- Near Seats: If a shower seat is used, place an angled bar lower on the wall to assist with sitting and standing.
- Near the Toilet:
- Side Wall: Install a horizontal or angled bar to assist with sitting and rising.
- Sink side: We try to discourage using the corner of the sink as your grab point to assist with sitting or standing. When a normal grab bar can not be placed on this side of the toilet, we often recomment the use of a drop down bar.
- Other Areas: Vertical bars are useful at home entrances with steps or places where extra balance is needed.
Safety Tips
- Secure to Studs: Whenever possible, we anchor directly into wall studs. If this is not possible, we follow manufacturer specifications and provide the proper hollow wall anchoring system to securely mount the grab bar.
- Placement Based on User: Before permanent installation, we have the primary user "test" positions by mimicking their movements to ensure the bars are at a comfortable and functional location.
Grab Bar Placement
Our most common application for the placement of grab bars is in the bathroom. We do frequently mount grab bars at the garage door into the house, as an assist for the steps at the garage man door. This is best for a single step entry. When we install a grab bar, we ultimately want to mount it directly to the studs. Worst case scenario, we will follow manufacturer specifications and use SecureMount Anchors, or other hollow wall anchors with acceptable weight ratings that are capable of mounting the bar so that it can be secure.
When mounting bars in showers, we do have to sometimes deal with the acrylic shower kit having a space between the wall and the shower wall. In those applications, we can install a stand-off mount and secure the grab bar to the stud via the mounting hardware. Also, we often need to install a bar on tile which takes additional time and specialized drill bits.
Helping Hands Living Solutions Recommended Grab Bar
At Helping Hands Living Solutions, we normally recommend the Moen Ultima Designer Grab Bar. We like this grab bar because the styling is more ‘residential’ than what you would normally find in a hospital or other commercial application. We match the existing bathroom styling which 90% of the time is either brushed nickel or chrome finish. Another feature we like is the curl grip, which provides finger notches on the bar to provide a more secure grip to the bar.
Ultimately, we will work with you to provide exactly the look and finish you desire and will source and install the correct grab bar to match your styling. The Moen Ultima Grab Bar comes in multiple lengths: 12 inch, 16 inch, 18 inch, 24 inch, 36 inch, 42 inch, and 48 inch.
Handrails
Handrails are crucial safety additions for navigating stairs and entryways, offering continuous support and stability for all users. We mostly install handrails on the exterior of a home, and need to ensure the rails we supply can handle the elements. These handrails can be for a single step or multiple steps, or even as a balance aid where steps are not present.
Benefits of Handrails
- Continuous Fall Prevention: Unlike grab bars, which provide a single point of support for transitions. Handrails offer uninterrupted stability along the entire length of a path, such as a staircase or a long hallway.
- Balance on Uneven Surfaces: They provide a steady point of contact while navigating stairs, ramps, or uneven terrain which is vital for the elderly and those with mobility impairments.
- Guidance in Low Visibility: Handrails serve as a tactile guide in dark areas, helping users maintain their path and detect changes in step levels.
- Support for Heavy Loads: They offer extra stability when you are carrying groceries, laundry, or luggage in order to help prevent accidental drops or loss of balance.
- Weather Safety: For outdoor use, handrails provide a secure grip when surfaces become slick due to rain, snow, or ice.
We have supplied multiple handrail solutions for many customers but have found that for the price and quality we normally recommend the Vevor selection of handrails.
