I agree with dekeoboe. With the centerline of the shower head you actually have less than 15" to the side where the bench is (considering 30" width from bench edge to door) I think you will be bumbling into that bench. But I don't have a bench and don't know if I'd like one or not.

I have a 36" wide shower with a rainhead and I wouldn't want it any narrower.

Thanks dekeoboe and enduring for your comments. Yes, there would be around 30 inches of lower depth with a bench, but a full 45 inches of upper depth so no issue with bumping elbows etc. With the better bench, the bench is a floating bench so you don't lose floor space or toe room either.

It is surprising to me that a shower that is roughly 4 X 6 feet can not accommodate a built in bench without making it squishy. Sure don't want to make it squishy though.

What about a bench on one of the short walls?

Enduring, what size rain head do you have. What do you think of our proposed rain head location (our rain head is 10 inches)?

A removable teak bench was something we were trying to avoid. I don't really want to introduce the orange of teak into the cold toned bathroom we are planning. Also, with a sloped shower floor, the legs on the removable benches might/do wobble a bit.

Carol

We have a built in bench in our MB shower and except for holding shampoo or body wash products it has not been used in the 4 years that it has been there.
So I think it is a good idea to just get a teak bench that you can easily remove if you find yourself not using it. You can't easily remove a permenantly installed bench

Thanks badgergal. We will have 2 shower niches for the shampoo, soap etc. So hopefully,we will not need to place those items on the bench.

Thanks for your vote for the removable teak bench. I would really like to find a spot for a built in one though.

Carol

- Bench on the right side on short wall

- Rainhead on the left (roughly where your drawn bench starts on the left, in your last diagram)

- Handheld on the long wall (roughly where your drawn bench ends on the right, in your last diagram).

- Handheld placed on a 48" sliding bar will allow easy use while sitting at the bench or standing up (this is what I am doing and would have been very useful when DH had knee and Achilles surgeries)

- Once in a while, when I have time or not feeling too well, it is nice to sit on the bench, relax and have the water fall on you.

- We have the old fashioned blocked in bench (not floating) and no one has ever stubbed their toe or had the bench injure them in any way!

Chrispa: Thank you very much for sharing your ideas and experiences. I like your plan. I have drawn up your plan, along with a few others we have thought of and hope you will vote on your favourite option.

All -- please vote on the options below.

The shaded area coming from the handheld shower head is the approx range of the water when the head is kept in a standard position (of course it can move and the flow moves with it). We drew it in so we could see how close it would be to the 28" glass door.

So irregardless as to whether the bench is a movable teak bench, fixed bench or floating better bench, where do you all think the best location of the bench is and hence the best location of the sliding bar shower head?

Here are the options for you to vote on.

#4 is the only one that makes sense to me, but I've never had the urge to sit while showering, so take that with a grain of salt!

lori_inthenw,

Thanks for the vote. I don't generally sit when I shower either. However, when I broke my foot a few years ago, I gained a new appreciation of how mobility issues can impact showering. I just want to make sure if DH and I have mobility issues in the future, the bench is well placed.

Carol

We have a similar sized shower and use a removable bench. They do have fold up wall mounted shower seats that would work well on one of the end walls. Just a note on your shower door. You may want to swing the door to the outside hinged on the same side you show. Two reasons. If you fall in the shower you may block the door and someone cannot get in to help... Second when you start the shower to warm up the water you will get the outside of the door wet when you open or close it...... We have heated towel bars and it is so nice to slip open the door and slide them off nice and toasty....

Thanks k-rider,

Good point about the door. I have read about the dangers of getting to someone who may have fallen, but never thought about the door getting wet. We are hoping to get a shower door that swings both in and out. My sister has one like that and it is super convenient.

Carol

Hi Carol-

We have a seat in our shower also (3x6 alcove shower-not tile). It is basically used for shaving by me - a place to prop my foot but I was thinking the same as you if we ever have any mobility issues or don't feel well we can easily sit.

What about if you had the seat on the door wall - by the sinks - a triangle one. Would that meet your needs?

Sorry. Deleting, just caught the information I had posted about.

This post was edited by Autumn.4 on Sun, Sep 14, 14 at 21:32

Hi Autumn,

Thanks for that other option and for drawing it up too! I think if I do that option I would want to move the hand held shower closer to that corner so if need be a person could shower while sitting on the bench.

So, please add Autumn's version to the potential solutions to vote on.

Carol

Ontario, my shower head is about 17x8" rectangle. It is a Hansgrohe, Raindance E 420 AIR 2-Jet Showerhead with Showerarm. It really covers my body well with shower. My shower is a 36" kohler shower pan, so with the tile and the set back of the doors I really have about 34" width when all is said and done. I have a plastic step stool to use as a ledge and a step for shaving my legs.

Disclaimer, a professional tile setter is not responsible for this shower. I did the tile job myself and it is not a perfect job as there is a lot of lipage noticeable, darn. I should have done a wider grout space, to camouflage the tilting tiles. The tiles were flat, it was the large format that was very difficult for me to handle. I don't recommend 12x24 for novices :)

Getting late here ... but you didn't do any sketches that matched the description in my last post :-(
I'll come back tomorrow and take a look again.

Enduring,

Thanks very much for your feedback on your shower head and rain head. Glad the rain head is working out well. Ours is a Hansgrohe too.

Chispa,

Oh dear. We read your description very carefully, and thought option 4 was what you were describing. Can you please try again to explain your idea so we can see how we can change option 4 to better match what you had in mind? Thanks.

Carol

Hi Carol-
So I took a seat this morning to see if my hand held would reach (we don't have the rain head just a nice standard mount with a detachable sprayer that removes from the center (so still spray from mount plus sprayer) if that makes sense. Anyhow it did reach but maybe not like you might want it too? I drew that up but was at a loss to if the showerheads should actually be adjusted then. ;)

I think then I'd vote option 5 or 9 depending on how often you plan on using the bench. We rarely use ours but I am thankful it's there should the need arise. So I am looking at it from the angle of where it's the least obtrusive.

Carol,
Ok, looked at option #4. Leave the valve controls in place and mirror image the other components ... then it will look like my shower!

My shower is 45 x 80 with door in same place, so I think you would be happy with the layout I have. With my setup 2 people can shower at the same time, if needed.

I haven't read all posts carefully, so maybe someone has mentioned this, but I wouldn't want the controls above the bench where I might want to lean back (or could bump against them). I would put the bench on the right short wall, the controls on the opposite wall, the hand held on the long wall, on an adjustable mounting bar, reachable from the bench and then the rainhead about 1/3 of the way back from the valve wall.

You'd have to reconfigure the door opening, but I might actually prefer the valve controls on the wall that butts up against the vanity. You could reach in and turn them on and also reach them from the bench (if you put the bench on the right short wall).

If/when I redo my master bath shower, I will get a teak bench. I don't have any experience with teak, and I like warm-toned woods, but can it be stained? I just googled teak and some of it goes to silver-gray. Is that only when it's outside in the sun and weather?

I agree with Autumn: #9 or #5 as a second choice. I would not like a too-large bench taking up that much space, or that I'd need it. I prefer #9, since I'd prefer the bench away from the door, as long as the showerhead water could reach me.

It occurred to me, like it did to olychick above, that I would not want the valve controls on the wall above the bench, in case I want to lean back there or they'd get in the way. Unless there's some particular reason you'd like them above the bench, like easy to reach for the bench-sitter.

Is your bench going to be made of wood? I have a small corner bench in my shower, but I rarely use it. I find it kind of icky to sit on it naked. But it's tiled. I use it mainly for storage and to prop my legs on for shaving.

Thanks to everyone who voted and posted today. You have given us more good points to reflect on. Why are all these decisions so hard! Sorry for the delay in responding, but it was a long day at work. If I move the bench to the left side as several of you are mentioning, I would definitely want to move the handheld shower head to that side too. No point in my mind of putting the bench away from the spray of water.

I was initially thinking having the bench close to the door would make sense from a future mobility point of view. If the bench is right beside the door then you have very few steps to get to where you can sit down to shower. However, aside from this hypothetical future mobility issue, I have no issue with the bench being on the left side. We will draw up some more versions with the bench on that side and post.

As per the valve controls over the large bench, that is a good point. We will either put them higher or to one side. The important thing for me regarding the valve controls is they are reachable from outside the shower as I like to turn on the water (and have it fully warm up) before I get in (don't we all).

As per moving the door so it swings open closer to the vanity, we initially planned to open the door that way, but changed our mind when we realized the best location for a towel bar that could be reached from the shower upon exiting was on the non vanity side. So nice to open the door slightly and be able to get a heated towel.

It is interesting how much love there is for these teak benches vs the built in ones. I might need to take another look at the teak benches to see what I am missing. I am not thinking it would be icky to sit on a stone/tile bench. We will have in floor heat under the shower (hydronic tubes) which may help to dry up the shower faster perhaps making the icky feeling you describe less of an issue. Are the teak benches less icky because they have wood slats and spaces? From an appearance stand point, I do prefer the stone/tile benches.

So we are now going to draw up some versions with the bench on the opposite side. Hopefully, we will get Chispa's design right this time. Please come back when we have posted the updated versions based on your comments. Thanks all!

Carol

I think we had our directions reversed ... when I said "right side" I was looking at the plan as drawn and calling the right side the wall with the sinks or east wall.

Hello, all,

This is OntarioMom's DH attempting to post the last suggestion by chispa ... hope it works! BTW, if I could just say, huge thank you to all of you who have taken the time to view, vote and ruminate over these details while showering! What an amazing community! :)

I like this last plan best.

Also check code on the swing-in door to toilet area. I think I've read here that they have to swing out, so if someone ends up on the floor they don't block the door to get to them. Maybe you have enough room, but maybe someone who knows for sure will comment.

I like this last one best, too. My concern with having the bench at that end, though, is lighting. If that's a solid wall between shower and vanity, I would think a leg propped on the bench for shaving would be in the shadows. Can you add a sola tube or can light to the shower?

@chispa: Yes I think you correct we were thinking left/right from the perspective of entering the shower. Looks we have it now though. Thanks!

@Errant: Thanks for your vote: Good point about the lighting. We will put in a light or two over the shower. Can't afford another sun tunnel though.

@olychick: Thanks for your vote. Yes, I have read the concerns of the in swing water closet doors too on GW. We might just take that risk as I did not want the two doors swinging into each other and I was not keen on a pocket door for the water closet either.

All:

I like this last plan option 10 best too. The only thing that makes me hesitate is how far the bench is away from the door. I keep thinking about how it felt to shower when I broke my foot and how if one of us ever has mobility issues the bench would be so far away. Anyway, hopefully those days are a long way off for us.

Carol

Maybe have your shower door swing both ways, in and out. If it can swing out, too (even though you may usually only use it swinging in), the bench won't be quite as far away, as you won't have to travel all the way around the door to get to it - should there be mobility issues.

YES, that's it! The door should be frameless and swing both ways. We enter/exit by swinging the door out into the room.

Our shower came set up like this and the only changes we are making during the remodel is to add a long adjustable bar to the handheld. The bar will be a Jaclo and it is a combination slide bar and grab bar. We are also adding a 12" grab bar in the area between the bench and the hinge for shower door. This way someone sitting at the bench will have 2 grab bars they can use to pull themselves up. All things that would have been so so usefull when DH had knee and achilles surgeries.

We are doing a 36" frameless glass door. Old opening was narrower.

Shower used to have only one 6" can light. We changed it to 2 x 4" LED can lights. All light will be on dimmers.

Our sinks and toilet are also in the same place as option#10. Our bath is a bit larger to the west/left side with room for a freestanding soaking tub. We are 5 months into the remodel, but the quartz fabricators are here right now installing counter, bench and shower door jamb/threshold, so other parts can now be finished and we might actually have a finised bathroom in 2 weeks.

Have you thought about using a frosted glass door for the toilet room? This way you would always have natural light in the main room and still have privacy in the toilet room.

You might have too many sconces over your vanity! I have 3, but each have 2 bulbs so lots of light. I will also have a dimmer. I'll link my sonces below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hudson Valley

Very good point Olychick. We are planning on a dual swing shower door, so you bring up a point I had not thought about -- if we swing theh door out the distance will not seem as far to the bench if mobility is ever an issue.

chispa: Thanks for all the extra tips and help. The frosted door for the water closet is an excellent idea. I do think I will endeavor to keep the door open when the water closet is not in use, but the frosted door is a perfect solution for light when the door is closed. I am looking forward to seeing your finished bath (you will post it right?). We have not finalized our lighting in the bath yet (electrical rough in is not done). I agree two 4 inch can lights in the shower are in order. I like the vanity light you posted too.

In meantime as I wait for your bathroom reveal, do you have a floor plan of your bath I can see for further ideas? If not, can you let me know the dimensions of your shower?

Carol

Carol, my shower is 45" x 80", bathroom is around 210 sq.ft, (14' x 15' ) including toilet room and a walk-in linen closet. There is some wasted open space in the middle, but I wasn't about to reconfigure everything!

Vanity with double sinks is 84" long.
Toilet room 93" x 39" with toilet and bidet opposite each other.
Big window near tub area, small window in toilet room and awning window above bench in shower.

Hey chispa,

Any chance you could post a reveal picture of your shower so I can see it please? There was a thread started this week with info on designing for mobility issues which is making me guess again whether I want plan 4 or plan 10. I am just so tired of agonizing over decisions. Maybe if I see you shower I will feel better again about option 10.

Carol