Bedside & garage grab bars

Grab bars beside the bed and at the garage step

Two everyday moments that rarely get a grab bar: getting out of bed in the morning, and stepping up from the garage into the house with your hands full. Both mean pushing up from a low spot with nothing solid to hold. A bar on the wall fixes that. We install them for $185 per bar, with all mounting hardware included.

Beside the bed

Who it helps

Anyone who rocks a few times to get up, pushes off the nightstand, or sits on the edge of the bed for a moment before standing. A bedside bar is especially useful after a hip, knee, or back surgery, and for the first steps of a nighttime trip to the bathroom.

Where it goes

A wall-mounted bar only works if the side of the bed you get out on is next to a wall, or the bed can be moved so it is. The bar goes where your hand lands as you sit up and swing your legs over, often a vertical bar a little toward the foot of the bed, so you can pull yourself up and then hold on as you stand. If the person gets out on the side away from the wall, we'll tell you honestly that a wall bar won't reach.

Bedroom walls

Bedroom walls are usually drywall, and the wall behind the bed is rarely where the studs happen to line up with the right spot. Where there's a stud or solid backing in the right spot, we fasten into it. Where there isn't, we use commercial-grade grab bar fasteners, rated by the maker for up to 600 lbs in drywall with tile and made to exceed building codes and ADA guidelines, so a bar can go exactly where it's needed even without a stud. If we ever use a different fastener, it's comparable or better. Pick a finish that matches the room's hardware and the bar looks like it belongs.

At the garage step

Why the garage step is tricky

In a lot of Florida homes, the house floor sits a step or two above the garage floor. That step is often steep, the door at the top swings toward you, and you're usually carrying something. There's rarely a rail. It's one of the most-used doors in the house and one of the least supported.

Where the bar goes

Usually on the garage wall beside the door, on the side that doesn't block the door's swing, so you can hold it while you step up and open the door. Some homes have room for a longer horizontal bar along the wall at the steps.

Garage walls

A garage is where wall types change the most from house to house:

• Concrete block: common in Central Florida, inside and out. We check it before we drill, because the hollow cells inside the block matter.
• Drywall on wood studs: most newer homes. Drywall alone won't hold a bar, so the stud layout decides where a bar can fasten directly.
• Drywall on metal studs: common in condos, apartments, and commercial buildings. A thin steel stud doesn't hold a screw the way wood does, so it calls for a hollow-wall anchor.

Bare wood studs, where a garage was never finished, are the easiest: we fasten straight into the stud. On drywall with no stud in the right spot, we use the same commercial-grade grab bar fasteners as in the bedroom.

A garage bar we've installed

Our team has installed grab bars across Central Florida, first as HandyMangum and now as Grab Bar Heroes. One recent job was a 36 in. bar in a homeowner's garage, mounted right where they asked for it after we confirmed the spot together.

What these bars cost

$185 per grab bar, installed. A bar beside the bed and one at the garage step is $370 in labor.

• Included: installing each grab bar, with all mounting hardware and heavy-duty anchors rated for the bar
• Included: a placement walk-through before we drill, from techs who know the ADA guidelines
• Included: a lifetime workmanship warranty and a free one-year check-up
• Included: an itemized invoice listing each bar, where it went, and the cost, for HSA/FSA, VA, or Medicaid paperwork
• Most home grab bars in Florida are sales-tax free (bars $100 or less).
• Not included: the grab bar itself. Bring your own, or we can supply one at extra cost.

See full pricing or get a free estimate.

Walk-through and warranty

Before we drill, your tech walks through each spot with you: who will use the bar, which hand they lead with, and where their hand naturally goes. We hold the bar up to the wall, adjust, and mark it only once you're happy with it. At the bed, that means sitting up and standing the way the person does every morning. At the garage, it means walking in with something in your hands.

Every bar we install comes with our lifetime workmanship warranty for as long as you own your home or building: if a bar loosens because of how we installed it, we fix it free. The bar itself is covered by its maker's warranty, and damage, misuse, and wall problems that were already there aren't covered. We also come back for a free inspection at one year.

Bedside and garage grab bar questions

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