What shower?

[vonnyh]

We're fitting out the en-suite in the loft conversion, and we have to choose a shower. The builder has helpfully(!) left us a ton of catalogues to look through, but I'm a bit (make that A LOT!) bewildered by the choices. What did you go for? I know we need a thermostatic shower, but that's as far as we've got. Thanks in advance!

its much cheaper to source this yourself than through the builder! they will probably charge you double the cost remember they get trade disscoubts of up to 50% then charge you the top price! Would definately reccomend the thermostatic shower so good choice. Now the next step is do you need it to be electric or not you probably do if its up in the attic. other than that its just what you like! they vary so much in price as well check out ebay as they have some really good prices. i have fitted several showers now by myself i might add ( yes i know im a women buthey ho) recently moved into a new house and am about to put in a cloakroom down stairs and am putting a small shower in also as have three kids! i just bought one in chrome on ebay for £33.00. Bargin. if you are not sure what you like best thing is to look around at some bath stores or diy shops and you will soon see the type of thing you like its just taste, chrome is the current trend and square shaped if thats any help.

I second caution about selecting from a builder's catalogue - a recipe for spending a fortune on nothing special.

If your water pressure is up to it, I would consider one with a big head, other than that it's just a question of taste. I always go with something simple and unfussy, they tend to fit better with the whole room imo.

Thanks!

We have a walk-in shower with a Dornbracht shower head and thermostat. We browsed our builder's catalogues, then went online and searched for best deal. And that was a lot cheaper than his offer.

if it helps, we got one like this and I'm very happy with it.

Aqualisa Quartz digital. Big bucks but has a pump built into it, so you don't need to get a pump fitted (plus it is quieter than a normal separate pump). You can even buy an extra remote control thing so you can switch it on from the bed (which we didn't go for). However the light does flash on it till it gets to the required temperature. Therefore you know when it is safe to step into the shower and not be scalded or frozen.

We are in the process of getting a couple of showers. So here comes the dense questions. How do you get a shower that is not thermostatic? Surely they all are or have I misunderstood what the word means? Thanks

If you can, I'd recommend getting the builder/plumber to place the controls on a different wall of the shower to the head. That way you can turn it on/off without getting your arm soaked.

My dad suggested this when we had our shower done - we didn't do it and I regret it every time I turn the thing on!

Thermostatic means that instead of having a control on one side for hot and on the other side for cold, you'll have on control on one side to regulate the temperature (so once you find the one you like you don't need to touch that again) and another control on the other side to open/close the flow.

Still confused (I am a bit slow).

Can't you have it so controls are outside the shower altogether? You then set it and when it reaches correct temperature you then get in.