Two Person Shower



Joe and Sally were thrilled when they moved into the old house. It was a fixer upper and needed a lot of reconditioning. But they loved this kind of construction work and they were ready to begin. What excited them most were the two baths. But one of them in particular, with it's antique brass lavatory and old shower, they would restore it to a fabulous vintage condition. But it was rather small, so they decided to remodel it and make it a two person shower.



Friends gathered with them at the house on the big construction day. It was only the first of many, but it was a start. Joe and Sally would work on the shower while each other person would put work on the living room, the kitchen, or one of the bedrooms. Although they had tried to get everything they would need in advance, two persons had volunteered to be runners, going back and forth to the hardware store to get materials that were needed.

They had planned everything out pretty well: What repairs needed to be made, and what colors to pain the rooms and porch. But the bath was the most complicated. They needed at least a 4 x 6 foot space to have enough room in the shower for two people, and preferably a little more. But the shower was only 3 x 3 feet, and the bathroom was small. They would have to knock out one wall to an adjacent room.

They made sure there was no plumbing in the wall, but the adjacent room had electrical wires and two outlets on the other side, so they had one person help them as they cut off the electricity and moved the wires and boxes out of the way. They had located a prefabricated fiberglass shower receptor floor that was just the right size, and they had that same person help them install it. The bathtub would be left in because not having a tub when they eventually sold the house would mean a deduction of thousands from the resale value. Besides, Sally liked to take bubble baths.

After taking out the wall, they built two new walls from 2 x 4's to extend the shower into the adjacent room. They could have gotten a fiberglass enclosure for the entire space, but it would not have fit through the doorways. They planned instead to lay mosaic tile for the walls, being sure to include dual receptacle on opposite sides of the shower for the toiletries.