What is a Shower Bath?
What is a Shower Bath?
When your bathroom is too small to have both a shower and a bathtub, a shower bath combo is an excellent choice that gives you the option of taking a refreshing shower in the morning before work or a lengthy soak in the tub in the evening. A combination shower and bathtub truly gives you the best of both worlds.
We’ll start by defining a combined shower and bath, outlining the many ways to install each of the three primary types of shower baths in your bathroom, and then providing some additional general design advice to help you get the most out of these units. After that, we hand-picked five of our top designs for a combined bathroom and shower and addressed some of the most frequently asked questions to help you get started with installing your own.
What exactly is a shower bath?
A shower head installed over a bathtub is the basic component of a combined shower-bath. The growing demand for shower-bath suites has led to a wide variety of sizes, shapes, and styles to fit your bathroom suite design preferences.
While you can add a shower to a bath in the future when you update your bathroom, we have a number of shower-baths that are designed to be placed as a single unit. The free-standing bath, P-shaped, and L-shaped are the three primary designs of single shower-over-bath systems.
The Best Way to Include Bath Showers in Bathroom Design
Let’s explore the three primary types of combined shower-bath units to get you excited about creating your own.
Free-Standing Shower Baths
A free-standing bathtub with an attached shower will look great in your bathroom if your love for period-inspired traditional design is strong. It’s important to keep in mind that, unlike P-shaped and L-shaped shower-bath sets, free-standing bathtubs do not have surrounding walls, so you will need to take extra precautions to keep the water from hitting your bathroom. One architectural strategy is to place a curving rail above the free-standing bathtub on the ceiling, from which shower curtains can be hung.
P Shaped Shower Baths
A P-shaped shower-over-bath gets its name from the way the bath is shaped: at one end, it has a rounded area to give you more arm room when you shower, and at the other end, it has the typical rectangular shape of a bath. The shower head and controls are set up at the rounded end, along with a curved glass screen to keep water from soaking through the flooring of your bathroom.
L Shaped Shower Baths
Consequently, an L-shaped shower-over-bath has an angled bathing area at one end and extra arm room at the showering end. L-shaped units’ geometric curves and modern appearance make them ideal for a modern bathroom’s furniture design.
In addition to saving space, our Nuie L-Shaped Shower-Bath is a stunning addition to any modern bathroom thanks to its sleek, white colour and long-lasting acrylic construction. Two screens, including a stylish shower screen, will be available for you to choose from to maintain consistency with the rest of your suite.
How to Prevent Splashes
When building a shower-bath combo, one of the most important things to keep in mind is making sure you have the right measures in place to prevent water from splashing out onto the floor of your bathroom.
Choose a glass shower screen for a more modern look. A fixed screen or one with a number of hinges and a rubber seal at the base to stop undesired leaks are your options. Because the screen can fold in on itself when not in use, it eliminates the need for it to swing out at an angle into the room, making it an excellent choice for small spaces.
Another excellent method to keep water from leaking into the room is to hang a shower curtain on a rail above a free-standing bathtub if you prefer a period-inspired look. When it comes to adding patterns to your bathroom, shower curtains give you the chance to be a little more imaginative. You might go with a simple white curtain or choose curtains with a complex pattern to highlight an old wallpaper. A rail that expands the showering area is what we would advise choosing; an oval or curved rail will do this and provide you with additional space in the shower-bath.
Tips for Improving a Shower Bath
You can improve a shower bath even further in a few different ways, such as incorporating a traditional shower or a modern shower screen. First of all, it might be beneficial to keep a textured grip mat handy to secure the bathtub while taking a shower. This will lessen the possibility of slipping while standing up straight. For this reason, a rough surface at the shower end is often already present in single-model shower baths.
For a modern look, you may hide any pipes for a simple, minimalist design. To truly improve this, consider installing a ceiling-mounted rainfall shower with chrome wall-mounted controls. Another option is to expose your plumbing, which is a classic look for a bathroom with a Victorian feel. When installed above a claw-footed free-standing bathtub, exposed brass and copper pipes add a touch of the past.
Inspiring Examples of Shower-Baths
After guiding you through a variety of shower-over-bath options, let’s use a few more samples from our inventory to help you become inspired and come up with more ideas for your own bathroom.
Semi-Framed Double Slider Door for Lakes Over-Bath
The Lakes Over-Bath Slider Shower Door is the perfect way to have the best of both worlds if you don’t want to give up the enclosed showering experience. With its hardened door that will prevent water from overflowing over your bath, this stylish bath and shower set is perfect for a compact space. Unlike upright shower enclosures, which tend to outshine other fixtures, the ultra-clear finish will maintain the sensation of openness and space in your bathroom. This is a sensible choice that is simple to install, making it the perfect shower-bath combo.
Linton Nuie Shower-Bath
The Nuie Linton, which includes the Elation Combination White Furniture Suite, is our second shower-over-bath. This is a stylish shower and bathtub set with squared-off edges, geometric lines, and a modern shower screen. This suite, which has a screen-equipped bath and a spotless white shower, can be used in a larger master bathroom or a smaller en-suite. A modern basin that is merged with the toilet to create a stylish vanity is part of the Elation furniture set. This opulent suite, which makes use of every available centimetre of your bathroom, uses a modern design to modernise your area.
P-shaped White Furniture Suite with Elation Combination
This Elation Combination Suite will be a chic addition to your bathroom if you’re searching for a P-shaped tub-shower with a soft curvature. Giving you the best of both worlds, this is one of our favourite opulent shower bath ideas. It will give you the extra space for showering that comes with a P-shaped shower-over-bath combo, as well as a comfy bathing area for long soaks. The April Prestige bath screen boasts durability and has been customised to fit the bath. A slimline floor-standing toilet with a hidden cistern built into a vanity with a stone basin on top is part of this suite set.
Bliss L-Shaped Shower and Bath Suite
Next, the Bliss L-Shaped Shower and Bath Suite features sharp edges and a glossy white finish that is always in style. The bathtub offers plenty of shower space and comes in a variety of lengths to fit both small and large bathrooms. The geometric shapes of the square toilet, soft-close seat, and clean-cut basin give this combined shower and bath an impression of symmetry that adds an eye-catching level of consistency. Without sacrificing its overall contemporary look, this suite may be installed in any size area, including a compact corner bath.
Nuie/April Shower and Bath
The Nuie/April Shower and Bath combines an efficient April Prestige screen with the Nuie Linton bath. The Nuie Linton bath is a high-quality design that is the ideal base for a modern tub-shower. It is made of lucite acrylic for durability and combines smooth curves with defined lines for a modern look.
Hinged bath screens minimise space by folding back when not in use, allowing you to enjoy the full luxury of a bath or, when unfolded outward, a safe shower that prevents water buildup on your bathroom floor. This bath screen is perfect for shower-baths and folds into four halves. It has a polished silver profile, hinges, and seal for a classic look.
Frequently Asked Questions
We’ve answered some of the most frequently asked questions about turning your shower-over-bath ideas into reality.
1. What is the cost to convert a bath to a shower?
It is much less expensive to convert a bath into a shower than to add a separate shower enclosure next to a bath. The cost will differ based on whether you’re just installing a shower curtain, shower bracket, and mixer tap or if you want to install an opulent rainfall shower with a glass screen, hidden plumbing, and wall-mounted controls. There isn’t one solution that applies to all situations because there are so many variables that affect the final cost, but you can expect spending between £150 and several thousand, depending on whether you choose a spa-like ceiling-mounted head or a basic shower handset that is connected to a mixer tap.
2. Is it possible to install a shower above a bathtub?
Almost any bathtub, including a standard bath, may be fitted with a shower. Because of this, some shaped baths will work better with it. Even a regular rectangular bath will work with your shower-over-bath ideas if you add the right shower curtain or screen, but an L-shaped or P-shaped bath will work best. Although it is a little harder, it is still possible to convert a free-standing bath into a shower and bathtub. To prevent water from gathering on your bathroom’s flooring, make sure you install a rounded rail above your bathtub and hang a shower curtain long enough to fit inside the free-standing bath.
3. What can I place over my shower surround?
We have several ideas for answering this question. To improve your design, you can hang anything from bathroom-friendly wallpaper to patterned tiles over your shower surround, provided they are securely waterproofed. Feature walls are excellent ways to divide a bathroom into different areas, and they look wonderful above a shower. Even installing a brass picture rail and hanging watertight framed artwork would give the space a Victorian atmosphere.