What shower parts do I need to get?

12 years ago

Here's the plan: the shower is 5'x 5' w/a 21" bench along one side. We want a rain shower overhead and a hand shower on a slider bar on one side.

We thought 8" for the rain shower, but after reading here maybe 10" would be better.

So I go to plumbing supply sites and look for this stuff and I discover there's trim and there's guts, and there's I-don't-know-what-all, and I can't just buy a shower head!

Can someone here please give me a clue? TIA!

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Comments (6)

johnfrwhipple
12 years ago
Your question is a common one and has been answered online many times before. Their is a lot to it and you need to do more research into the various options.

The answer is a long one because of all the options.

There is a nice option from Grohe that will work for you and any regular fixture kit can work with flow valves.

Looks.

Style.

Cost.

All variables.

Keep digging...

John Whipple
North Vancouver
chrisk327
12 years ago
the exact answer differs by brand, but generally you need

shower body and trim pieces
rain shower head
handheld shower on bar, normally a kit
wall elbow for that handheld
diverter to switch between handheld and rain, body plus trim kit

some of the online sites will have customer service and or "items need" that will help you through the process.

don't take this the wrong way, but it sounds like you need help. is there a plumber, general contractor on the job? if so you should ask them what specifically you need.

if not, and you know how to do the work but just don't understand how they sell the piecs, it sounds like you would need a salesperson (possibly local) walk you through the requirements.

I'm not a plumber, just a homeowner who went through this on my shower. I have a regular head, a hand held, and 2 body sprays. I needed a salesperson to walk me through everything. some things aren't too expensive (like the shower body) and some seem to knock your socks off(trim peices and diverters). I used delta, (although things aren't in yet) mainly b/c it seemed like a good brand that had what I was looking for, that didn't cost a fortune. my plumber likes the grohe stuff.... but that would have been significantly more.
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We did that exact same thing in our bathroom. I have the water supply going into the Grohe thermostatic controller. Ours is laid out so that each of the three things, the tub spout, the hand shower and the overhead shower, has their own on/off valve. This way you can use any of the 3 or all of the three. Our tankless water heater can only supply 7 GPM so you can't effectively use the the tub spout at the same time as the shower head. Our master bathroom shower is similar, but has a hand held, rain head, and 4 wall jets. I can use all three at the same time, but the pressure goes down a little. If that doesn't make sense to you I can post a picture. I absolutely love this system. My wife set it to 90 degrees, I set it to 100 degrees. No guess work, just set the knob to the temp you want. With the tankless water heater I can stay in the shower as long as I want. One thing you need to be aware of with tankless in case you aren't, is that while you will never run out of hot water, you ARE limited to how many people or appliances can use it at the same time. For instance, I can't take a shower while someone else fills the bath tub. The bath tub uses nearly 100% of the water heaters GPM capacity. That will result in my shower being diminished to a trickle. ~Jay
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spike_fl
Original Author
12 years ago
Thank you, John. Going back 12 pages here did not answer my question. While it may have been answered before, it wasn't in the last week or so - this is an active board! I will indeed continue to research.
spike_fl
Original Author
12 years ago
Chris, I didn't take it the wrong way, believe me. There is a G.C. & he'll straighten me out when the time comes. In the meantime, I had a list from Moen for what I want, but I didn't understand how to translate their "Moen-speak" to other companies. Thanks to you, I can.
Olychick
12 years ago
Spike, I hope this answers your questions. I found it really helpful when trying to figure out what all the "stuff" was for completing a shower...

Here is a link that might be useful: FAQ/Answers Bathroom Plumbing for Dummies
danielitav
12 years ago
Hi Spike, I recently remodeled my shower and did exactly what you want to do. You will need:

1. Shower arm (for shower head)
2. Shower Head (if you want to get a 10" head make sure you get a high flow shower valve, since it is a pretty big shower head and it requires lots of water. If you don't have good pressure in your house you are better off with the 8")
3. Shower/Tub valve with trim. This type of valve has a switch that will allow you to switch from the shower head to the hand held shower.
4. Hand held shower with sliding bar and hose.
5. Water hose connection to the wall. This is the little piece that connects the hose to the water supply in the wall.
Hope this helps.

Here is a link that might be useful: Shower heads

What shower parts do I need to get?

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johnfrwhipple

chrisk327

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What shower parts do I need to get?

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johnfrwhipple

chrisk327

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