IMO showering as a function is poorly explored and I've never read any book which discusses the issues and comes up with recommendations. Most simply deal with aesthetics, impermeability of surfaces, or cost and difficulty of installation.
To give you an idea of what I'm talking about just take the handles of the average shower faucet: short lever, long lever, cross, ball, ... Should it turn right or left? What level of sensitivity should the faucet have? This is not opinion! There is a right answer although the right answer may not be implementable because of costs or aesthetics.
Does anyone know of a book or website that discusses bathroom design considerations from a perspective of functionality and ergonomics?
Just visited a friends bathroom remodel in a San Francisco Victorian.
I couldn't believe how much bad design was put in the name of fashion. The claw foot tubs were riding high and difficult to step into, the surrounding shower curtain is icky to touch and gives a feeling of claustrophobia. The diverter valve required a full 360 turn to turn on the shower. Single handle faucets are much easier to control flow and temperature, but these were nowhere to be found. She had a portable shower nozzle on a hose, but it weighed a ton and was awkward and difficult to aim and adjust.
Not one bathroom vanity had a single handled valve. Just the inferior hot and cold mixing valves. I longed for my simple design 1991 molded tub shower combo and solid and functional Moen Faucets.
Not opinion? Right answer? I don't agree. Can the ergonomics be improved? Here is where I agree.
Here is how I would approach your design, form follows function.
Is this a straight shower or a shower bath combination? In a straight shower I would put the valves at a convenient height. Consider who is going to usually use the shower. I prefer not to bend over to adjust the valves so somewhere around elbow height is good, but if you have kids lower might be a compromise position.
I also like either a single handle or a dual handle with easy and shower actuation. Specifically I like those ceramic disk valves. they give you
1/4 turn from full on drip-less shut off.
If you have a tub/shower combination then you need to set the valves lower so they can be operated from sitting in the tub or put in two sets of valves.
I find the valve placement to be the least of my complaints with showers however, it is the height of the shower head. When I redid the shower valves in my house I set the shower head a little above 6 feet and got one of those swing arms. This allows the user to put the spray where he/she chooses.
Now I can't agree with your desire for single handle controls. I very much prefer double handles. The past few years I have been redoing the fixtures all over the house and putting in double handles, except in the shower. I find that I can much more precisely control everything by having the double handle controls.
By the way the shower has a single handle control only because that is the way pressure balancing controls come, unless you want to spend quite a bit more money.
What's worse is she probably paid a huge sum of money for that nonsense. When they sell the house someday, the buyers will probably want to subtract $15 thousand from the selling price to make the room normal again. :-)
SpamFree wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:
I don't think you will find a book describing the ergonomics of faucet handles, and some of your questions won't have any "right answer". Faucet handles should be easy to grasp, obvious in function, consistent in their actions, and require low force levels to move. Everything else is style.
If it worries you, you can put in automatic sensors that turn the water on whenever you get near the shower nozzle -- no faucet handles at all.
For a book that describes human body sizes, movements, and the required spaces:
Human Dimensions & Interior Space Juliues Panero and MArtin Zelnik ISBN 0-85139-4574
If you want recommendations for your shower, just ask. I am certainly happy with my latest shower, including the faucet handles.
OK, that's ergonomics but it's not as obvious as you make out. Is a "knob" (usually cheap and often crystal) type easy to grasp with soapy hands? I have some cross types (Chicago Faucets) for my bucket filler which are lethal: the arms of the cross are too long and too sharp. Lever types (especially singles) are not obvious in function, at least to me. The first time I saw one (in a hotel somewhere) I asked for an instruction manual. "Low force levels" would seem to be correct but really you don't want such low force levels that the lever moves on its own, nor that the slightest nudge from you goes from boiling to freezing.
But if you do the Consumer Reports -type testing or where appropriate the epidemiologist's scientific type you'll take all the above and many more items into consideration and arrive at a correct solution. It's this work and testing that I hope someone else has done and published.
I'm not sure that's quite what I'm after but thanks anyway.
Now if I could collect a few thousand people like this, structure their responses, have them shift to other people's homes (get some experience), I could write my own book.
Wouldn't this have expansion and contraction problems? Further seamless SS the size of a bathroom would be impossible. Maybe welded seams. The central floor drain however is a great idea but you know what you're probably going to end up with: institutional showers as in a gym. Monolithic concrete walls and floor and indeed a high pressure hose for cleaning.
Aaagh! The Chicago School, I believe. Ratbag architects who announced that principle and then immediately put gargoyles on their buildings. (Alright warding off demons IS a function but they can't be serious.) If they actually followed this principle all our buildings would be Stalinesque. Personally I think that would be a great development; I have no patience with the architect as "artiste". Death to I.M. Pei for his Louvre glass monstrosity; to Joen Utzon for the Sydney Opera House; to Frank Lloyd Wright for the Johnson Wax stupidity and Falling Water; and to whoever did the Guggenheim. (If they're already dead, go desecrate their graves.)
(Sorry I got carried away there. )
You can't (put them at a convenient height). Too many! Consider the following showering functions:
- bucket filling (not quite showering but a convenient place for it and also performs the function of bringing full heat hot water to the valve panel)
- full pressure wall- and floor-washing hose
- general full body shower
- intimate area washing shower (hand held)
- hair washing shower
- feet soaking tub (not quite showering but has to go on concurrently)
Each of these has to have a valve(s) plus drainage diverter valves to empty the pipes so that next time you use each of them you won't have a head of cold water. In total I count 16 valves or at least handles.
Showering is incompatible with a bathtub. Tubs are for small children and dogs.
OK but I suspect that you haven't investigated Chicago Faucet's Quarturn valves, or the Grobe, or some of the English faucets using ball valves.
Has it leaked yet?
The principle though (of height of shower outlet) is of maximum importance. It's amazing what even an inch up or down can do. For children the answer is multiple level shower heads with the desired one chosen by opening and closing tile stops. (More valves! )
SpamFree wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:
Not if you are looking for the part number of the "perfect faucet" -- that's as likely as finding the "perfect car". Personal preference plays too big a part for there to be any single "correct" faucet.
That's a different book than the one you asked for.
Please don't misunderstand me here -- I am very aware that there are very many badly designed and built faucets. They can be too difficult to grasp or turn, poor temperature adjustment, uncomfortable, difficult to clean, even short lived and leaky. On the other hand, there are some out there that are well built and ergonomically satisfying. The trick isn't finding the perfect faucet, but to find one that is "good enough" (or even "great").
SpamFree wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:
Why not just buy a European style slide bar, with the shower nozzle on the end of a 5 foot hose? The slide bar allows the head to be infinitely adjusted over a 2-3 foot height range, and the hose allows you to use it directly on your pet dog (or the bottom of your feet :-).
Of course - welding would be the only way. That works, though.
Why concrete? Regular studs would support the metal. And, I like the idea of the hose! Think of the typical bathroom - you need two or three approaches for cleaning the various materials (tile, painted wall, or wallpaper, if you're insane). Stainless steel - one approach.
I did something similiar when I built my bathroom; I have separate calves for shower and tub, both placed on the SIDE where you can adjust temperature without getting scalded. The tub spout has a diverter and a shower head on a hose for tub cleaning, kids, etc.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.