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snookers1999

Shower height decision

snookers1999
9 years ago

I posted this message in the bathroom forums, but didn't really get a whole lot of response to it, so hopefully the people out at this end can help me since I need to make a decision here fairly quickly.

We are in the final days of framing on our new construction build and we have been asked by our framers if we want to keep our walk in shower ceiling at 10' in our master bathroom or do we want to drop it down. The ceiling height is currently 10' in the entire bathroom area as well. Do you think we should keep the shower ceiling at 10' or drop it down. If so, should we do 9'? 8'? As you can see from the picture of our layout below, if we do drop our ceilings, it shouldn't be a huge deal since we have solid walls surrounding our shower and only a glass door. We should be able to just frame the shower doorway in like the other 8' doors in our house and you wouldn't really be able to tell that the ceiling was dropped. If we stay with a 10' ceiling we would just keep the whole doorway open all the way to the ceiling.

My husband thinks a dropped ceiling will make the shower warmer, which I agree, but I don't won't the shower to feel small and closed in either.

So what's your opinion?


I've attached a picture of our bathroom layout if that helps.

Thanks in advance!

Comments (7)

  • jdez
    9 years ago

    Ours has a 9' ceiling and does not feel small and closed in. Seems perfect to me but I haven't actually taken a shower in it yet.

  • chicagoans
    9 years ago

    I like letting humidity out of my shower so I like having it open at the top (mine is glass on 2 walls, both those are open at top.) I think I'd keep it high with the space over the door open, and I'd even consider ending the wall b/w tub and shower at the door height, or put a window above it, to get more light in there. (Or make that wall thick glass from tub level up.)

  • mrspete
    9 years ago

    I'd drop the shower ceiling to 8'. Perhaps the whole bathroom -- like your husband, I'm thinking that I like a warm bathroom.

    The shower is a nice, comfortable size -- though not oversized. However, since it's in a corner, I do think it might feel "enclosed"; not because of the ceiling, but because of the two walls. I'd consider bumping the shower head to the back wall and placing a solid glass window between the tub and the shower. This would bring in some nice light.

    Where will you hang towels when you leave the shower?

    Note that you have FOUR doors in this bathroom. They could be a bit overwhelming. I'd consider losing the linen closet door and going with open shelving -- this'll keep it from banging against the shower door. I'd also lose the toilet closet door, but most people don't agree with that.

    Why is the toilet not centered in its closet?

  • snookers1999
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks for everyone's help. It drives me nuts when decisions like this, which I think shouldn't be too hard to make, end up being so difficult. And when I think I've finally made up my mind, I keep going back and changing it.

    My husband is really pushing for an 8' tall shower so I think we will frame the doorway for and 8' opening, but the actual ceiling inside will be just a few inches taller. (Maybe 6")

    Also, thank you for the comments suggesting using glass for the walls instead of solid walls. While I know that is definitely the style these days I am a very private person, even in front of my husband, so there is no way I would ever be comfortable showering with glass walls around me. Having a glass door is about as far as I can go. This is why I was so curious about the ceiling height since the walls will definitely solid, and I know that will close things in a little bit.

    Mrs. Pete - If you could see my entire floor plan I think you would definitely have something to say about all the doors I have. What can I say, I do like my privacy. I guess each person just have things they can't live without in their house. As far as towels, we don't use towel bars, we just use towel hooks. One thing that has worked really well for us in the past is to just have some beautiful hanging hooks over the shower door the we put our towels on. I know some people would think we are just crazy for hiding our beautiful shower and door like this, but if we do it this way, both me and my husband are able to reach over the door and grab our towels without opening the shower door. Hence, we get to dry off before getting out of the warm shower. As a bonus, I get more privacy if the towels are covering part of the door. :)

    Oh and I'm not sure why are architect didn't center our toilet, but I was thinking it was probably because the toilet closet is so wide. (48") I have debated about centering the toilet, but when I was thinking about it, I realized that if I left the toilet where it was I could actually put a small cabinet with sliding doors next to the toilet to hold some toiletries. What do you think?

  • dprae
    9 years ago

    I've been reading a lot about ceilings and trying to experience them in showhomes for the design of my own house. Sometimes paradoxically, a high ceiling in a small enclosure makes the enclosure seem even more small and closed. People have referred to this as the elevator shaft effect.

    In this situation, I would prefer either a 9' rather than 10' (maybe even 8' like MrsPete suggested). It would give the bathroom some interesting ceiling height detail and I think it would feel more comfortable. It might be useful if you can find a similar sized shower and notice what height it is an if you feel comfortable in it or not.

  • dprae
    9 years ago

    On the same note at risk of getting carried away, it might be interesting to have your water closet height at 9', and make the area over your bathtub 8' to make things more cozy, perhaps put a soffit with nice lights over the bathtub.

  • caben15
    9 years ago

    Snookers, if you center the toilet does it become too much of a reach to grab tissue from the (presumably wall-mounted) tissue holder?