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Drop ell / slide bar hand held shower

jasperdog
10 years ago

How high is your drop ell for your slide bar hand held shower? How high did you put the top of the slide bar? If you have a slide bar in your bathtub as your primary shower head, did you center the slide bar, center the shower head, or is the whole thing offset?

If you have pictures, that would be helpful.

Comments (4)

  • MongoCT
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    There's no one correct answer regarding elevation. The slide bar should be installed at a height that makes its range functional. That can make it dependent on the highest height you want, the lowest height you want, as well as the length of the bar itself.

    Some folks simply want to take a traditional shower. Some want to be able to lower the head so there is no way that their head can get wet. I've had some require a height for waist-down showers. And for shaving legs, some have requested the head to be able to be lowered to a mid-thigh height.

    I do have to say that I prefer the shower head to be able to be raised about 8" above the height of the tallest user. If there is no "tallest user" then I shoot for the bar to be set so the head can be raised up to a generic 7' above the shower floor.

    As far as centering things, again, that can depend on the style of the bar, the bracket, and the head. I do prefer the head to be close to centered. It can depend on the length of the hose too. Let's say the bracket offsets the shower head to the left of the bar. I might install the sliding bar to the right of center so the head can be centered. I might install the wall outlet just to the right of the bar. That way the hose will hang down from the wall outlet, make a "U" under the bottom of the slide bar, then go upwards to connect to the handheld. But again, that's dependent on the length of the hose and the length of the bar.

    But that layout will allow the hose to hang in a "U" shape flush to the wall instead of the hose crossing over in front of the bar and projecting out into the shower, or getting looped over itself in a twist. Sounds like a weird point to make, but it does neaten things up.

    The height of the wall outlet can depend on those same things. Your configuration, the length of the hose, etc. What you don't want is your hose to snag on anything when you adjust it upwards or downwards, the location of the wall outlet can be varied to minimize the possibility of that happening.

    Again, it all does depend on the fixtures in the shower. The length of the bar, the length of the hose. It's easy to mock things up with tape on the wall and a piece of rope for your proposed hose length. Don't forget that the style of the handheld itself can result in the actual shower head being several inches higher than the height of the sliding bracket. Some brackets are adjustable so that the handheld can be rotated up/down on the bracket, as well as the bracket sliding up/down on the slide bar.

    So a sort of ambiguous reply, but there is no hard and fast rule.

    Example, in my own shower? I'm 6'4, my wife 5'1. I have a 40" long slide bar. I have a large shower, so I have an 8' long hose. The shower head can go from well above my head to below the height of my wife's head. The hose allows the head to reach out and touch every point within the shower for bathing or for rinsing the shower walls down if needed.

    Depends on what you want. Some want the head lower for kids using the shower.

    Lastly, you can usually by just a wall bracket that can get mounted to the wall. So you can have your handheld on a slide bar that goes up and down as needed. If you then need an out of that range height, say for shaving legs, you can mount a small wall bracket lower on the wall just for that.

  • jasperdog
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Guess I'll just have to wing it. Thanks

  • PRO
    Rebecca Pultorak
    8 years ago

    I know this is an older thread but that was an excellent reply. Extremely informative, especially because I am laying out one of the showers for the first time I definitely want everything to be neat and tidy with no ergonomic snags. Add to that designing in a custom niche with a leg shaving ledge and the reach of the hose with just enough but not too much slack is even more important. Thank you very much!!

  • PRO
    Rebecca Pultorak
    8 years ago

    P.S. I'm laying it out with fixtures and clamps as in photo. Add in the need to space things out in line with the future subway tile pattern. This is complex indeed!

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