Shower Bench - Pros/Cons

12 years ago

I thought I had made all the decisions in my remodel. But just when you thought it was done you run right into a post from GW....So many people are saying don't do a bench in the shower. I just gave away my teak bench, all it seemed to good for was keeping the overflow of hair products, never sat on it to wash feet or shave legs....the marble bench will be right at the entry into open shower, we are nearing those golden years, so is this good or bad choice?

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Comments (4)

sas95
12 years ago
In the year since our remodel, neither of us have sat on our bench. However, I'm glad we have it. There have been times due to injuries, surgeries, etc., that one or the other of us has not been able to stand in the shower, so you never know. That said, I'm glad we did a small corner bench rather than a larger one.

As for your marble bench, you will probably not be using it for overflow hair products. Husband left the shampoo and conditioner bottles on ours, which resulted in two great big etches. I wish I had followed my instincts not to use marble there in the first place, but GC thought it was a good idea and I had decision fatigue by that point.
mydreamhome
12 years ago
We put in a bench and while I don't use it for much other than to prop my leg on to shave, DH uses it practically every night. We had the handshower (with massage settings) placed on that end of the shower which allows DH to sit on the bench and have the massaging spray hit his back. As it's on a slide bar, he can adjust the height and angle whenever he needs to. I did test it out one time when I slept wrong and woke up with a sore neck and it was indeed therapeutic. The one thing I will say is to make sure your bench is at least 15-18" deep. GC talked us into 12" and it's a little too narrow IMO.

As far as surface material--are you tiling the shower? If so, why not just have them build a bench in and tile it? I originally wanted a marble bench, but the tile was much less expensive, so that's what we ended up going with. Now that I know about etching of marble surfaces by shampoo, I'm very glad we went with tile.

Let me know if you want a pic. Hope this helps!
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fall
12 years ago
I would recommend a triangle corner bench, using the "better bench" product. It gives you a bench without taking up alot of space as a rectangular one. Plus it is cantilever like, so it does not stand out as a seat to floor built in would look like. It can be tiled over or you can drop a slab of stone on it.
debrak_2008
12 years ago
We have the triangle corner bench. While I don't sit on it every day I do find it useful and glad we did it.