Hard plastic toilet seats offer a wide array of benefits to people suffering from disability or injury by making their lives easier. The right toilet seat can add convenience to a home, minimize pain, eliminate stress and save time and money.
Benefits of Hard Plastic Toilet Seats
- They’re very cost effective depending on your needs. Plastic is an easy and inexpensive material to manufacture.
- Plastic toilet seats come in a variety of colors, sizes and styles to fit any taste and decor.
- Because plastic is a light material, it allows for easy installation, removal and transportation.
- Hard plastic toilet seats are very sturdy and can support a lot of weight without bending, denting, cracking or breaking.
- Plastic toilet seats are more pleasant to use than metal, especially in the winter, because plastic doesn’t tend to get as cold. Toilet cushions further reduce this occurrence.
- They’re long-lasting and can’t be corroded, degraded, warped or rusted like metal or wood toilet seats.
- Plastics can be embedded with antimicrobial agents for more reliable and consistent defense against illness, especially when used by multiple people.
What the ADA Says About Toilet Seats
The Americans with Disabilities Act requires that handicapped toilet seats be between 17 and 19 inches above the floor, which is in line with the average height preference. Higher toilet seats are very important because handicapped individuals must be able to get on and off of the toilet with relative ease. It is a violation of the ADA for any public handicapped toilet to be fitted with a toilet seat that springs back into an upright position after use.
How Special Toilet Seats Can Improve Life
The lack of maintenance required helps relieve some of the burden of responsibilities for people who aren’t able to move about quickly or easily, allowing time for more enjoyable activities. Also, many people with disabilities endure financial hardship paying for medicine, medical care and insurance, so the relatively low cost of plastic toilet seats relieves some of the stress that can happen with having to purchase equipment.
They can even be useful for certain situations. Sometimes, a handicapped person might have to go someplace that doesn’t have an ADA complaint toilet. In this case, portable raised toilet seats are available for convenience. Special toilet seats are also an ideal solution for people with bad knees for whom sitting or standing from a low position can be quite painful.
Cost and Maintenance
Price varies widely, but basic plastic toilet seats start at around $20USD, but ones with all the bells and whistles can run close to $200USD. Maintaining them is an easy matter. Simply spray them with disinfectant or wipe them down with diluted bleach or strong alcohol.