Primary Bath

Reply to: Is the hand held going to be the only shower head? Then get a sliding bar and be sure to situate it high enough that someone 6’4” or so does not get whacked every time they shower. If this is the second or third shower head, you have choices. I have 3 heads in my 3x5 shower; a wall head on the side wall, a big rain head from the ceiling in the center of the shower, and the hand held. I use the last two every shower. If I am deep conditioning my hair, I appreciate being able to put it on the bar and adjust it so I can sit on a stool, bend so I do not get all wet, and use both hands in my hair while the water is pointed just right to keep the rest of me dry. If I am using it just to rinse my body, the single wall holder works well for me. Think about how busy you want the wall to look and whether you might sometimes use the hand-held as a body spray, too. In that case, you will want the sliding bar on the side wall. Here is my very busy handicapped shower.

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Reply to: Control moisture: 1) Consider a topical or surface-applied membrane behind the tile. It'll eliminate the deep wetting into the walls and floors of your shower. With one, the only thing that can get wet is the tile, grout and thinset. 2) Have a proper vent with proper duct for that vent. Put vent on a timer so it runs a specified length after the shower light is turned off. That'll promote drying. 3) Miminize water held by the walls and floor: Have a properly sloped floor. No lippage between tiles that can dam water. No raked out grout joins that can hold water. Tile: Porcelain would be your better bet. Anything on the walls, but on the floor you do need to provide some traction to prevent slips. You can either go with large tiles using tiles with a high wet CoF. Or you can use slicker tiles but in smaller sizes so the grout lines will provide traction. Grout: Most cement-based grouts have microbial protection. But there are non-porous all-in-one grouts that are urethane or epoxy. They behave differently than cement-based grouts regarding installation and clean-up. Or you can use a cement-based grout, if it does get gnarly, you can coat it with an epoxy-based grout colorant some time down the road. Aqua-Mix Grout colorant is one. There are others as well.

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