Hi, it’s Matt from One Week Bath with our continued series of short videos on bathroom design, product selection, and remodeling. Today we’re going to talk about types of showerheads and multi-showerhead setups as there are a bunch of different options available to you.
Although there are numerous ways to customize your shower, showerheads fall into four basic categories:
Basic Showerhead:
Your first option is a basic showerhead, which is a single unit but can be a single-function or multi-function. This set-up will allow you to have this serve as a hand shower or handheld which has the option to be on a slide bar to move up and down. Previously, this option presented a problem because of the angle and size.
First, you have your basic showerhead which can be a regular function or multi-function, which is actually just one unit. You also have the option to have a hand shower or handheld as your showerhead which has the option to be on a slide bar to move up and down. In the past, the angle and size of these have been an issue due to the way brackets were used. Typically, they were small and didn’t angle properly, but Moen and Delta have both come out with larger heads that are angled correctly.
The other option that you have is to put this on a slide bar. This is a good idea if you have individuals using the shower that are different heights and you can move it up or down.
Separate Diverter/Separate Showerhead:
The second function would be a separate diverter, separate shower head situation. So, you have a diverter valve that flips between a fixed shower head, that can be multi-function or not, and a handheld that hangs on the wall. Since having the two next to each other doesn’t make a lot of sense, especially in a smaller shower, a lot of people like having the handheld next to them when they’re sitting on a bench, for example. That way they can have one when they’re standing up and one that’s next to them when seated on the bench. So, if you’re going to spread these out, it’s actually really great to have a separate diverter valve. Just keep in mind that it does require more plumbing and more hardware.
The third way that you can do this is what we call a hydrorail. You’ve probably seen a surface mounted rail which can have a rain head associated with it and then a handheld attached to the hydrorail. The great thing about the hydrorail is it doesn’t require any extra valves. Often this can be retrofitted into your existing shower because it just connects where the showerhead would be and where the existing valve is. There are some other hydrorail systems, as well that allows you to have a regular shower head, or a rain head, and a handheld function without all the extra plumbing and hardware and valves. Plus, they look pretty cool.
Those would be your three options in terms of how to do multiple shower heads in a bathroom. Obviously, you also have the rain head coming from above. I’ve shared with you when most people have 2 options but you can also do three options. You just have to make sure that the diverter valve that you’re using can move to three options. Your max might be an overhead rain head, a standard showerhead, and a handheld. Know that in California you really can’t run these all at the same time because you’re only allowed to have one water source going to these units. In the past, you could have separate valves in the shower and you could have each one on running on a different valve. But unfortunately, with the water requirements now they’ll only let you have one source. You can run these together, but the water volume is going to be very weak, which means you’d typically run them separately and use them for separate functions. So, those are some examples of some multi-function options in the shower to use different types of showerheads to get different types of results.
So, that’s our short video for today. You can find more videos on YouTube or our website at oneweekbath.com. And we’ll see ya again!
