Outdoor Showers

By: Nancy Beiles, This Old House magazine (Page 1 of 5)

Photograph by Julian Wass

Space to Spare
This extra-large, 8-by-12-foot shower in Bridgehampton, N.Y., has mahogany walls, built-in teak benches, and stainless-steel fixtures. Perfect for a post-surfing rinse, it features a foot wash, hand-held spray, and oversized showerhead. The floor is hand-cut Indian stone with river-rock gravel.

Photograph by Courtesy of Lindal Cedar Homes

Unobstructed Views
Stripped of their bark, eastern red cedar trunks are used as the posts for the enclosure of this shower in central Virginia. The white pine door and walls are elevated off the ground to promote airflow at the bottom, and stop at about 5 feet at the top so the homeowners can take in views of the surrounding Blue Ridge Mountains.

Photograph by Julian Wass

Foot Bath
The lever for the foot shower outside this Sag Harbor, N.Y., home is low to the ground so the homeowners' two young daughters can reach it. A sailing rope tied to the lever and looped through a pulley placed high on the wall lets adults easily turn on the water, too.

Photograph by Courtesy of Rohl Corporation

Spa Treatment
The built-in shower panel from Rohl can be used indoors or out. It has a glass face and stainless-steel shelves behind for shampoo and soap. An 8-inch rain-style head, hand shower, and three body sprays rinse every bit of you. (About $4,731, ROHL)

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How to Install an Outdoor Shower

In this how-to video, TOH's John Taylor comes clean on his outdoor shower installation.

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You don't have to be shivering in a sandy swimsuit to appreciate an open-air shower. Even landlocked homeowners—stressed-out townies, gritty greenthumbs, suburban soccer dads—are discovering that bathing outdoors is not just practical, it's downright luxurious. That's how architect Howard Backen sees his shower. Every morning, he's out there, lathering up to the sound of birds in his garden and the sight of mountains beyond his home in California's Napa Valley. "It's invigorating when it's cold, it's interesting when it's rainy, and it's incredibly refreshing when it's sunny and hot," he says. Whether the goal is to wash off the day or to commune with nature, there is an outdoor shower for you. The simplest is a foot sprayer hooked to an existing cold-water spigot. The most complicated and expensive is an outdoor shower with cold and hot water, a custom enclosure for privacy, and a built-in changing room for convenience. What's universal about any alfresco shower is that it beckons you outside. And yes, for some, it's also about the exhilaration of being in the backyard in the buff. Here's what you need to know to create the outdoor shower that best suits your naked—or not-so-naked—ambition.

Site Selection
Determining the best location for an outdoor shower depends on how you'll use it. Luke and Allison Babcock put the foot shower at their Sag Harbor, New York, home near the front door so when the couple and their two daughters return from the beach they can spray off the sand before going inside. Others opt for a shower by the pool for a postswim rinse, or close to the back door for the resident athlete just back from a sweaty jog.
The best outdoor showers also take advantage of the natural beauty of the surroundings. For a family in Bridgehampton, N.Y., architect Nick Martin designed a shower with a mahogany enclosure that he situated toward the back of the house to offer views of a rose garden and a farm across the street.

Plumbing can also dictate site. A shower on a deck near the kitchen or bathroom or on a ground-floor patio off the laundry room means you can tap into existing hot- and cold-water lines. One placed in a remote cluster of trees, though appealing, requires digging a trench and running pipe to the destination.