Good Questions: Sources for multiple showerhead systems

Hi AT,

SO we are gutting our master bath (finally) and we will end up with a 4x6 foot shower area instead of a weirdo tub. I want this to be a real addition to my home's value and someone suggested that multiple showerheads would be nice in such a large shower.

My husband is set on having a rainfall showerhead so I would think we could have that at the top and maybe something else a little lower down. Any advice or sources would be wonderful.

Thanks so much.
Anne

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Dear Anne,

We put your question to some friends who have a wonderful multihead shower. They recommend the Grohe Multi-Head Shower system. Its heads are designed not to clog and its valve to keep the water temperature automatically. Grohe is on the expensive side, but our friends cleverly saved about 50% of the cost of an integrated system by designing their own: picking fixtures from the Grohe catalog and having their plumber locate them in the shower.

Anyone else with ideas on this one?

Comments (8)

I don't know where to tell you to look, but I would advise you to definitely get another shower head in addition to the rainfall one. We have a tiled shower that has two heads,(one one each side, so that two people can shower at once if desired). One of them is a rain one and I can't stand the way the water from it falls into your ears when you're showering. It bugs me a lot!

I plan to replace it soon with something like this.
http://www.plumbingsupply.com/sloanshowerheads.html

I ordered the Hansgrohe Interaktiv S Thermobalance Shower set from homeclick.com. (link on my name below.) I have yet to install it as my remodel is currently on hold, but would advise that you get a hand shower as it makes cleaning easier and the thermobalance valve so that the temperature is always right.

i'm all for increasing the value but truly hate the idea of encouraging all that water usage. two showerheads just seems so wasteful, no matter how nice it looks. sorry!

two shower heads does not mean both need to be on
at the same time. With a diverter you can have
either or both shower heads turned on.

Almost embarrassing to admit, but my mom bought my husband and I a dual rainfall/massage shower thingamajig from QVC - http://www.qvc.com/qic/qvcapp.aspx/app.detail - love it. There is a dial so that you can have either one or both heads on at the same time.

My only comment for improvement...If I was starting from scratch like you, I would plumb two different sytems so that each shower-er could select their own preferred temperature. With the dual system that we have, water to both heads is the same temp. What is comfy to me is cold to my husband, and what he prefers is absolutely scalding to me!

Elaborate shower systems are very popular, we create them for clients all of the time. I would recommend Hansgrohe, as a brand as their design is great and their valves are set up to provide really great water flow.

Things to keep in mind whe you design your shower set up are: making sure you will have enough water pressure to run all of the items that you install(1/2" water pipes in your walls are good , 3/4" are better), making sure you have enough hot water output from your waterheater to power your shower(our home rain head drains our 60 gallons in about 15 minutes), and lastly that your plumber knows how to install these types of showers (we've seen some botched installs before).

Enjoy the shower!

Thanks for all the feedback guys, mostly what I was looking for was an either/or type of system, all these multiple jetted things look lovely but I am A. on a budget and B. living in a desert. Felish, I feel your embarassment, that QVC thing is exactly what I want! Now the mister can have his rainfall dealio and I can have a normal showerhead! Thanks for all the tips and ideas everyone! I'll post an After picture someday...

Hi
I would also recommend having one showerhead with a handle..ie removable. I would strongly encourage installing a shower seat at one end. My folks did this and it has been invaluable for washing the kids. It is also extremely useful to have a shower seat when/if one has physical challenges.