Bathroom shower history:

The first showers were something nature has to offer.  Ancient tribal people would cleanse themselves by standing under falling water. This included waterfalls and rain.

Showering and bathing became more commonplace when civilization began to progress. The ancient Egyptians would have jugs of water poured over hem by servants.

The ancient Greeks invented the precursor the modern showers. They used aqueducts and sewerage systems to pump water into communal shower rooms. Water spouts on the sides of fountains were also used as outdoor showers.

Romans continued this bathing trend by creating their famous bathhouses. These were huge communal baths where large numbers of people would go to wash themselves.

Good hygiene became a religious taboo and a sign of vanity with the rise of Christianity. Cleanliness became popular again after a third of Europe died from the Black Death in the 14th century. The health benefits began to be more widely recognized.

William Feetham was a stove maker from Ludgate Hill in London. He was granted the first patent for a shower in 1767. Early showers had a hand pump to pump water from a storage container. Showers became more popular than baths because they used less water.

Showers continued to grow in popularity after the health benefits were recognized. The first designer was created in the early 19th century. It was named The English Regency.  The shower was invented anonymously. It consisted of a metal frame painted to look like bamboo. A hand pump pushed water through a tank.

In 1850 indoor plumbing was invented. Free-standing showers could be connected to a running water source.

In the 20th century, tankless water heaters became popular for their ability to generate an instant supply of hot water without relying on a hot water tank.

In the 1980s,  shower manufacturers began to respond to customer demand for more versatile showers. Body jets, colored lights and drencher heads followed soon after.

In the late 1990s, a rough estimate of 62% of people in developed countries had showers in their households.

In 2001, a UK company by the name of Aqualisa, pioneered digital showers. This brought a new era to the world of showering. It allows the user more control over how the shower operates.

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5 easy step to buying bathroom showers

1. Inspiration

Be sure to visit your plumbing supplier or home improvement center in order to look for the perfect look.

2. Research

Find out what bathroom water supply system you have. This will affect the style of showers you can install.

3. Measurements

Work out how much space you have in your bathroom. This will determine the size of your shower and if you need to go with an over-bath shower instead.

4. Choose

Pick a shower that fits in the space and hot water supply.

5.Finishing touches

You can personalize your shower and create the perfect package. It can be accomplished by getting a few accessories that ranges from multi-spray showerheads with selectable spray patters, to clearly labeled dials, soap dishes and shower racks.

What else do I need to consider when buying bathroom showers?

You need to work out which type of hot water supply you have in your home. This will have a huge impact on the pressure of your shower and what type of shower you can install.

What type of shower should I choose?

Mixer showers

These are simple to use showers that rely or your existing water pressure. This makes them perfect for homes with high water pressure and lots of hot water. With mixer showers, the pipework can be wall-mounted or concealed behind the tiles to create a clean, sleek design. Many models also feature thermostatic valves for consistent water temperature and enhanced safety.

Power showers

These showers are ideal in homes that suffer from low water pressure. They work by pre-mixing hot and cold water, then increasing the water flow rate with an electric pump to provide a high-pressure shower. Whilst they provide a powerful, invigorating shower, they do use more water than standard electric showers. This means that power showers are slightly more expensive to run.

Electric showers

Electric showers draw cold water directly from the mains supply before heating it. This helps to keep running costs down, which makes them an economical option for busy family bathrooms.

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Your bathroom water system controls how and when your water is heated and distributed. All of us want our water to be heated immediately, at just the right temperature. The reality is that many of us end up disappointed. Our showers produce a small trickle that becomes too hot, too cold or completely disappears when another tap is opened. This can be changed or improved; by looking at how your bathroom water system functions or which would be better for you.

Three well-known bathroom water systems:

Gravity Systems

These are extremely common in older homes. There is a hot and cold water feed, with a cold water tank installed. The tank is usually located in the roof, with a hot water cylinder found in another location. The contents of the hot water cylinder can be heated either by an external heat source like a boiler, or an internal heat source like an immersion heater. The pressure of the shower connected to this system, depends on the distance from the bottom of the cold water storage tank to the shower head. he greater the distance, the higher the pressure. It is recommended that there should be between 3 to 4m of distance to get adequate pressure. For those households that struggle with this bathroom water system, you can install booster pumps to increase the water pressure.

Mains Pressure System

The mains pressure bathroom water system is one of the mostly-used systems today. Instead of using a cold water storage tank with a hot water cylinder, this is one unit. The pressure in the wains water supply connected to your home, is used to pressurize the hot and cold water. A minimum pressure of 1.5bar is necessary but 3bar is ideal. The cold water can be heated directly on demand by a combination boiler or a thermal store. The cylinder has to be specially designed to store hot water under pressure. A pressurized system with a sealed cylinder will provide a powerful shower, without the need for a booster pump. The balanced hot and cold water pressure can eliminate the need for thermostatic mixer valves.

Combination Boiler Bathroom Water System

Pressurized cold water is heated on demand, and in theory should not run out. A powerful shower with a combination boiler will need a water flow rate of at least between 12 and 15 liters a minute. The larger the shower head, or number of nozzles, the more pressure you require. It is best to choose a thermostatic shower mixer valve, so that you can even out temperature fluctuations. These fluctuations occur when other taps are opened or when the toilet is flushed.

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Prefabricated shower surrounds and fancy imported tiles are undoubtedly good looking but they are very expensive and often too pricey for most of us to afford. That does not mean you cannot have a great looking bathroom for just a few rands. It does not matter what the cost or quality of the materials are. Your shower wall will either look well made or very bad depending on the amount of time and effort you put into the project. One of the main points is appropriate attention to detail.

Broken Tile Mosaic

You can visit construction sites, tile shops and DIY stores and ask them for free broken tiles. Be creative and try out a few designs on a scrap piece of wood or paper. When you are happy with your design, use it as a guide to install the broken tiles on the shower walls. If your shower walls are not waterproof, you can use cement-fiber board as a subsurface. Leave at least about 1/8 inch between pieces so you could grout between them.

Pebbles

You can use a technique similar to laying tiles to create a shower wall that reflects the seaside or a river’s edge. Instead of broken tiles, build a mosaic of interesting, small, polished river pebbles. Use a sand-colored grout between each pebble to resemble the beach or a riverbank. If you want to make it more interesting, intersperse seashells or beach glass. This whole project is free to collect, except the tile glue and grout. If you cannot collect your own pebbles, purchase pebbles from a quarry or pebble tiles that already attached to a backing for easy installation.

Galvanized Sheet Metal

If you want super cheap but durable shower wall, you could use ordinary galvanized steel roofing. It is easy to install, horizontally or vertically, with ordinary screws and rubber washers to prevent leaking around fasteners. It comes in many lengths to suit different ceiling heights, and you can cut it with tin snips or drill with ordinary metal bits or hole saw for installing fixtures. Coat it with a clear sealer to keep it bright and shiny, or allow it to oxidize naturally for a mellow rust effect. If it rusts too much, replacement is cheap and easy as well.

Stained Glass

Like broken tiles, broken glass is a resource often overlooked or disposed of. Set clear or colored glass pieces with white tile adhesive that dries to allow the colors to show at the best they can. These techniques works equally well with broken mirror pieces. With a little bit more effort, you can use a glass cutter to cut pieces to interesting shapes before installing them for added appeal. A dark grout between colored pieces of glass, will give it a stained glass effect.

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Mixer showers

They mix hot and cold water from your geyser to reach the desired temperature. Mixer showers are normally faster than electric showers. You can make the flow stronger by adding a seperate pump. They are ideal for combination boilers, unventilated and thermal store systems.

Electric showers

These take water from the mains cold water supply. They then heat the water when you turn the shower on by passing it through a heating elements inside the shower. They are ideal for households where here is a limited supply of hot water.

Venturi showers

This is not a common type of shower. The shower does not use any pumps or electrical connections that can work with cold water and gravity-fed hot water. The velocity and pressure of the cold water passing through the venturi, creates a suction effect which pulls in hot water from your geyser. The water then mixes in the valve or in the showerhead.

All-in-one Power Shower

They take water from both hot and cold water storage tanks. It then mixes the water to reach the desired temperature. All-in-one power showers produce a more impressive spray because it uses a internal pump that boosts the water flow. They are ideal for home that use a stored supply of hot and cold water.

Digital shower

Digital showers allow the mixing unit and user controls to be sited seperately using a wireless connection. The mixing unit is available in two models, one which boosts gravity fed systems or a mixer valve unit for use with high pressure and combination systems.

Thermostatic and care showers

Thermostatic showers provide the safest and most comfortable experience for everyone. This is a very safe system to have if you have children, the elderly or frail to worry about.

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