Unless you are buying an all in one shower cabin, you will have to combine various different shower parts to install a shower in your bathroom. While it is a challenging task, it is also one of the most enjoyable parts of modelling a house.
Every household must have at least one shower. Sometimes you might need two or three of them if there are more people in your household. Even though logically, the shower is just a functional item in your house that you use to freshen up, it has become a thing of decoration in the bathroom. Every year, we come across newer and newer designs of them. But this wide range of options also makes it harder to make a choice. Read this article to know more about shower parts. Having a better understanding of them will help you when you are shopping for them.
Most common shower parts
When it comes to a shower, there are parts that are necessary, and there are parts that are optional. Examples for optional parts include body jets, shower panels, curtains, dual valves, etc. But there are some essential parts without which a shower wouldn't be usable. So, whenever you are installing a shower, the first priority should be for those essential items. After getting them all right, you can move on to other less important bits. Here is a list of the four most important shower parts.
Shower head
The most conspicuous part of a shower is obviously the shower head. Depending on your shower model, the shower head can be four or five times the size of a shower valve. Basically, a shower head is a steel housing that consists of tiny pipes that connect to the main water pipe. The network of smaller pipes in a shower head spreads out the water evenly across the surface. So, it is not difficult to design shower heads in a lot of different varieties. But usually, the shower head matches the design aesthetics of the shower valve.
Shower valve
A shower is completely useless if you can't control the flow of water through it. You should be able to open and close a shower valve whenever you want. In a shower, the part that makes it possible to do this is the shower valve. Unlike a faucet, you won't see the entire part of the valve in most cases. This is because many models hide the actual valve under the valve, and only the valve handle is visible outside. A shower valve can have two or three positions depending on the model. In models with only two positions, it will be either open or close. In models that have three positions will have an extra position for cold water.
Shower pan
The shower pan is one of the most basic shower parts. But it does the important job of containing the shower water and not letting it flow out onto the bathroom floor. If your shower pan happens to leak, the water will stay under the pan and will eventually rot the floor or dissolve the grout. While this can happen to stone flooring, you have to be even more careful if the flooring is made of wood. So, if you notice a leak on the pan, you should immediately fix it or replace it. Shower materials come in a wide variety of materials.
Shower drain
A shower won't be usable if the shower drain is not working properly. It is the part that handles the wastewater, filters it, and routes it to the sewage system. However, the shower drain itself consists of a few different parts. The part that is visible outside on the surface of the floor is the shower strainer. The strainer covers the drain and keeps objects that are too big to flow through a drain from falling down into the drain. The strainer is also the part that has more emphasis on appearance. While you won't find a lot of variations among the rest of the drain parts, strainers come in a lot of sizes and shapes.
