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Discussion Forum

Shower/Tub Fixtures

loykd | Posted in General Discussion on March 20, 2009 07:34am

I’m renovating the bathrooms and will be tearing out the old tub and tile. I’m a single guy, but I’m thinking ahead about the needs of little ones. I was looking at the hand held shower heads on a slide bar as a substitute for a fixed shower head. Alternatively, I could put in a fixed shower head and along side of it, a hand held shower head either on a slide bar or a mount.

This is going in an alcove 60″ x 30″ tub.

Has anyone done these combinations and do you have some advice? Is the slide bar/fixed head combo going to be too crowded?

Thanks in advance for the advice.

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Replies

  1. levelone | Mar 20, 2009 08:16am | #1

    The hand held is nice, but we raised 3 kids without and had no problems.  A bigger concern would be the tub size.  30" doesn't leave much room elbow room. 

    1. skipj | Mar 20, 2009 08:49am | #2

      That would be a standard enclosure. 5'0x2'6".

      1. levelone | Mar 21, 2009 05:37am | #10

        Is 30" standard for tile or for a fiberglass unit?  Maybe it's just me (I do cast a somewhat larger shadow these past few years), but a 30" fiberglass unit, because of the tapered sides is just too small.  We have one in our teenage girl's bathroom and they are always banging their elbows against the glass enclosure.

        I'm not sure life would be worth living if that was the biggest tub in the house...

        1. skipj | Mar 21, 2009 06:05am | #11

          That is standard. 60" back wall; 30" sides.

    2. loykd | Mar 20, 2009 05:12pm | #3

      That's right, not a lot of elbow room.
      I thought the idea of having both a fixed head and a hand wand would be great, but the more I think about the space it'll take up, I'm wondering if it'll be too crowded.

  2. BryanSayer | Mar 20, 2009 05:39pm | #4

    I did both. There is a fixed head on one wall, and a hand-held on a sliding bar on the valve wall, which is perpendicular to the first wall.
    Ours is about 34" wide.

    If you are cramped for space, you might look at a rain head from the ceiling.

    The sliding bars come in several lengths. I recommend at least 36" or so. 24" is just too short.

    One of the nice things about the sliding bar is when people don't want to wash their hair, it can be adjusted down to the proper point.

    One other possibility is the "telephone" style faucet, if you don't want it mounted on the wall.

    Handhelds are good for washing dogs too.

  3. BJC | Mar 20, 2009 07:34pm | #5

    I've seen it done both ways, but in my shower I just put the hand held shower head on the sliding bar with no fixed head at all. This gave enough adjustment for the whole family.

    I put the wall hose outlet right above the shower valve, so the shower head could extend down further than if the hose connects up high where a shower head typically goes.

    1. loykd | Mar 21, 2009 01:37am | #6

      What do you think? Too busy for a standard sized tub?

      1. BJC | Mar 21, 2009 04:04am | #8

        It would probably be OK, but given the small space in a tub I might try to center the handheld on the slider and eliminate the fixed head. Since the slider can go as high as the fixed head, it kind of makes it redundant. That's just my 2 cents - I've been wrong before! :)

      2. Pelipeth | Mar 21, 2009 02:33pm | #13

        Not too busy in my opinion, but not fond on the antique brass or whatever that color is. CaCa.

  4. User avater
    aimless | Mar 21, 2009 02:04am | #7

    We have both.

    The sliding bar with the handheld is great. My only problem is that when we went to a real plumbing store these were hard to find - they are common at HD and Lowes. We ended up having to jury-rig it because to get it to point into the tub. I use the slider more with my children than the handheld because mine were both afraid of the sprayer when they were little (so rinsed hair with a cup), and they drop the shower head now that they are bigger and showering, so I can't let them hold it.

    In another we have the 60x30 with the fixed and a handheld (no slider). It is a little crowded and the plumber cut the flexible part too short for my taste. This isn't great for children because the angle of the handheld is not good for a stand-under shower and the fixed one is quite high so it sprays the entire tub by the time it gets to their level - they can't step out of the stream if they want to.

    Of the two, I think I like the slider with the handheld better, but both are much better than a simple fixed head. Not only are they better for showers, they are better for cleaning - it makes rinsing down the walls really easy.  

  5. barmil | Mar 21, 2009 04:23am | #9

    When we replaced the old shower that had two valves, we had the spout dead center as you'd expect, but we put the control valve right of center so that it wouldn't be in the shower stream. The wall supply was on the other side of the stream, and it was spaced so that the hose from it to the hand shower would flex naturally as it went up to the hand shower in the center. We like it, as do our visitors. Hand showers are great, especially for rinsing the tub after a shower or when cleaning. You need a good shower head, and our Hansgrohe is a good one, as we have lower supply in our '30's house, and that head handles it with a good stream. Since most plumbers are used to a dead center orientation of spout, valve, and shower head, it took a better plumber to arrange our unusual orientation.

  6. User avater
    xxPaulCPxx | Mar 21, 2009 06:22am | #12

    I like the ideas about mounting things in unconventional locations.  I had to expand our master (HA!) bath so I could fit in a 60x32.  Instead of the spout in the center, I mounted it in the corner on the soap tray.  Now, both my wife and I can occasionally enjoy a soak together without me getting dinked in the back or the head by the spout.  I also flipped it around so I wouldn't have to reach over the toilet to turn the water on.

    If you want to get fancy, see if you can find a small tub that has the continuosly flowing water.  Kids LOVE that - the tub becomes a waterpark.

    Tu stultus es
    Rebuilding my home in Cypress, CA
    Also a CRX fanatic!

    Look, just send me to my drawer.  This whole talking-to-you thing is like double punishment.

  7. MGMaxwell | Mar 22, 2009 03:53am | #14

    Be sure to use one of the curved [ convex ] curtain rods. Gives you a more spacious shower experience. I use magnets on my curtain and walls to get a nice tight fit so water doesn't splash out.

    1. User avater
      xxPaulCPxx | Mar 22, 2009 05:43am | #15

      It can give a claustrophobic toilet experience it the loo is 15" fom the tub!

      Tu stultus esRebuilding my home in Cypress, CAAlso a CRX fanatic!

      Look, just send me to my drawer.  This whole talking-to-you thing is like double punishment.

      1. MGMaxwell | Mar 22, 2009 02:22pm | #16

        Actually, most of the extra room in the shower is at shoulder height. At the level of the throne, the curtain tucks in at the tub. I still think it works well.

        1. User avater
          xxPaulCPxx | Mar 22, 2009 08:41pm | #17

          "Your milelage may vary." 

          When I had mine up, I had to open the curtain every time I had a sit down, otherwise the curtain was touching me.

          Tu stultus esRebuilding my home in Cypress, CAAlso a CRX fanatic!

          Look, just send me to my drawer.  This whole talking-to-you thing is like double punishment.

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