How Much Room Does a Shower Stall Require?

The building element that most distinguishes old bathrooms from new is the number and arrangement of fixtures. This is especially true of showers. Busy lives increasingly consign the bathtub to small children during the week and soaking adults on weekends. For two-career and multi-teen families, showers are essential; and adding an extra stall shower can make mornings sane again. Calculate whether there is room in your bathroom for a stall shower.

The foundation of a stall shower, or the shower pan, comes in standard sizes, but a surprising number of standard sizes. One supplier carries in stock 24 different sizes of standard shower pan ranging from a square 32 inches by 32 inches to a curved curb model 60 inches by 38 inches. You need to add a few inches for curbing, so a safe estimate of minimum floor space would be 36 inches by 36 inches.

A review of retail offerings yields shower stalls that range from 72 to 84 inches tall. Ideally, this means a ceiling clearance of 8 feet or more, for two reasons. Some shower stalls are roofless, letting moisture dissipate upward. Others may be roofed but still constitute a source of extra warmth and damp in the bathroom. Either way, paint surfaces can be affected. In addition to ceiling clearance, a good exhaust fan should be included in your planning.

One of the most frequently ignored calculations in adding a shower stall to your bathroom is allowing enough room for the stall door to open completely. Calculate the additional floor space based on two factors. First, there must be enough room for the door to swing open fully without hitting the sink or other impediments. Glass on shower stalls is impact-resistant but frequent banging threatens its condition. Second, someone taking a shower should be able to both step out of the shower securely and close the door behind him/her. Bathers can dry off with the shower door open if absolutely necessary, but there will be a considerable steam dissipation throughout the room. Allow enough space for the full sweep of the door or, for early planning stages, add an area 36 inches by 36 inches in front of the shower to allow for safe exiting.

Before adding a shower to your bathroom, check codes and permits with your local building department. Information may help you think out your renovation; the City of Newark, Calif., for example, requires at minimum a shower pan of only 30 inches by 30 inches with a minimum stall interior size of 1024 square inches and a waterproof surface a minimum of 70 inches in height. This might enable you to squeeze a shower stall in the guest bedroom after all. Your project must, however, meet local requirements to be a legal improvement. Most important, your work may well require building permits and inspection.

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