Great showerhead makes for great shower

Nothing beats a relaxing shower after a tough day of DIY projects! And to make that shower the best it can be, you need a great showerhead. There are certainly a lot to choose from, so let’s take a closer look.

• Water flow and nozzle design: According to the Environmental Protection Agency, showering accounts for about 17 percent of the average household’s indoor water usage, so the government has long regulated showerheads to an output of no more than 2.5 gallons of water per minute. Water-saving showerheads use no more than 2 gallons per minute.

But there’s a lot more to the picture than just water flow. The number, spacing and design of the nozzles make a huge difference, and dictate whether a showerhead is too anemic to get the shampoo out or it can give you a nice invigorating shower, all while using the same amount of water.

Look for a showerhead that’s adjustable through two or three spray patterns. Wide coverage patterns are the standard for everyday use, offering a wide spray at relatively light pressure, while a narrower, more drenching pattern is good for shampooing. A third pattern, if desired, concentrates the water to a narrow, sharp spray to soothe tired muscles.

• Standard showerheads: These are the most commonly seen showerheads, mounted on an angled or curved arm coming out of the wall. You’ll find the biggest selection within the standard heads, in size, number of nozzles and adjustment of spray patterns.

Most standard heads are set at a fixed height in the shower. This can be adjusted by changing the size and configuration of the arm coming out the wall.

• Hand-held showerheads: Hand-held showerheads offer a lot of options to the bather. They consist of a long, flexible hose connected to an outlet pipe on the wall. At the other end of the hose is the showerhead, which hangs on a bracket or an adjustable arm.

The head can be left in place on the bracket at a fixed height like a conventional showerhead; it can be moved up and down the arm (if so equipped) and locked in place to accommodated bathers of different heights; or it can be taken off and used as a hand-held showerhead. This latter feature makes it ideal for reaching and washing or massaging all parts of the body; bathing children and pets; and even rinsing down the inside of the tub and shower stall.

Hand-held showerheads are available in the same finishes and nozzle configurations as standard heads. If they’re installed independently of a standard showerhead, they’ll have their own control valve as well.

• Hand-held conversions: If you’d like the convenience and versatility of a hand-held showerhead but don’t want to remodel the shower to install the plumbing, there are simple conversion kits available. The standard showerhead is removed, and a bracket with a hose and a new head is installed in its place on the end of the shower arm.

There are lots of variations of this, including partial fixed heads with a hand-held head that snaps into the center of it, and dual head conversions that include a fixed head on the shower arm and a hand-held arm next to it.

• Rain heads: As the name implies, this type of head is mounted overhead on a pipe that comes out of the ceiling and pours water directly down on you, like a rain shower. The typical rain head differs from standard heads in that it’s designed for a softer, more drenching spray, as opposed to the somewhat more directed and cleansing sprays of standard heads.

Higher-end rain heads are fairly large to cover a wide area and enhance the “raining” experience. Their internal design mixes air and water efficiently to create larger water droplets, while at the same time minimizing water usage to under 2 gallons per minute.

Rain heads are installed with their own control valve, independent of the standard and hand-held valves.

• Body spray heads: A body spray is a small, short showerhead that mounts close to the wall of the shower. It typically pivots in all directions and usually has an adjustable spray pattern ranging from cleansing spray to massagetype intensity. Body spray heads are typically installed in groups of two or more, and the controls are installed for either individual heads or groups of heads, independent of all the other heads in the shower.

The most common use of the body spray head is to stimulate particular parts of the body. As such, and since they have a fairly limited range of motion and coverage, they’re usually installed to point in the general direction of shoulders, lower back or other specific areas.

• All-in-one conversion panel systems: One other option worth noting is the all-inone conversion panel system. These come in a wide variety of configurations but are basically a big panel that mounts to the wall in place of your existing shower valve and showerhead, without tearing into the wall and doing a lot of replumbing.

Contained with the conversion panel is typically a shower head or a rain shower; a handheld shower; several body sprays; and individual handles to activate and control each of the heads. Some types also contain a tub filler spout.

When shopping for one of these panel systems, you’ll want to pay particular attention to the size, layout and configuration, and make sure that it will work with your existing plumbing setup.