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putschki

Pool shower--outdoor vs indoor ?

putschki
12 years ago

Hello. We are building a new home with our first-ever pool and, when complete, our three kids will be ages 10-15. We are currently designing a tiny shower inside a tiny bathroom close to pool (via mudroom). Our landscape designer is lobbying for an outdoor shower even closer to pool...I have no doubt he would design something pretty and discrete, and I get that it would be fun and convenient, especially when we are entertaining. And yet I worry that it will be a magnet for clutter (wet towels and suits, shampoos, brushes, etc) and too far from warm towels, a place to change, toilet, etc, to be very useful. (The only outdoor showers our family has enjoyed have been at vacation resorts where lo & behold all of the junk is magically spirited away.)

Any advice from pool owners/lovers, especially with teenagers ? I suppose we could do both but that seems over-the-top given that they will only be about 50 feet apart. Thank you !

Comments (4)

  • harleysilo
    12 years ago

    Is the only time the new tiny mudroom shower realistically going to be used during the swim season?

    Do you have enough space or the desire to enclose or provide privacy somehow for the proposed outdoor shower?

    I don't see much use in a shower if you can't remove your suit....but maybe some people just want to rinse off?

    Will out door shower have hot water? If not why not?

    Hot outdoor shower may be used to warm up if no hot tub available in those cooler time periods.

    I have had an outdoor shower, and will be building another as soon as our pool is done.

    Best solution for all the crap that accumulates is personal responsibility, tough for teenagers I know!

  • putschki
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Thanks for your input, Harleysilo. The mud room will be a large space, serving as the daily family entrance/laundry/command center...the bathroom in it is very small (3 x 8 , just enough room currently for toilet and shower) but I imagine will get used often by kids running through there , swimmers or not....the toilet seems as important as the shower!

    The outdoor shower would have hot water and some privacy...you are right to point out the limited utility without those. Unfortunately, still a walk for dry towels, a real changing area, and a hairbrush.....but maybe that's the cost of doing business. :-)

  • MiaOKC
    12 years ago

    We do not have an outdoor shower but I would like to have one! We do not have kids yet, but when doing a photo shoot for the magazine where I work, I saw a great outdoor shower along one wall of the cabana which housed a bar and dining table with floor to ceiling folding french doors to completely open it to the pool area (pool was basically courtyard style with deck around on three sides, fourth side opened to the lawn area.) Shower consisted of shower head and a handheld option, a tiled bit on the wall, and a drain. There was a storage closet just next to it; I think that had the towels and shampoo etc. No privacy at all, but cleverly incorporated into the whole outdoor area. The best thing was she could hose her kids off each night after they'd spent all day in the pool, quickly shampoo them, then send them up to get their PJs and go to bed. Her kids were younger, maybe 6 and 9 yrs old, so YMMV with teenagers.

    I just thought the whole thing was sooo convenient, rather than trying to rush the kids out of the pool for bathtime before bed. They swam 'til almost dark each night, quickie 5 minute shower, and bam - bedtime. I'll attach a link to show the photo of the pool that ran in the magazine - you can not quite see the shower, but that tiled edge at the far left is where it is.

    Here is a link that might be useful: pool photo

  • thejimbar
    12 years ago

    Our outdoor shower is one of our favorite pool area improvements we made. Not a clutter magnet, just enough shelves and hooks to hold shampoo, soap and towels. The heater is run on on a propane tank and only requires a cold water line input. Works like a charm and you can run the shower for as long as you want, you get about 12-15 hours out of a tank of propane. We remove it in the winter time and store it. I've posted this before, attached the link for the previous forum thread. The old bathroom shown in thread is gone (it was a temporary solution), we knocked the old porch down and replaced it with a new addition and real bathroom. Photo below. Check out the thread, the link to the EccoTemp heater is in there somewhere.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Previous Shower Thread