Totally Enclosing the Shower or Tub and Then Ventilating It
Right now (Feb 21, 2023) there’s an article on this site called “A Look at Steam Showers” which got me thinking about shower installations.
In looking at steam shower installations in the past I’ve seen that they are typically enclosed right to the ceiling (there may be a glass panel at the top that can be opened for fresh air or to help dry out the shower after using it) but I was wondering if enclosing a regular, non-steam shower right to the ceiling would be a good idea?
I’ve always disliked the fact that even having a regular shower steams up the entire room so running the glass all the way up to the ceiling would solve that problem (also if you’re using sliding glass doors for the tub you could run them right up to the ceiling) but would that cause moisture problems within the shower or tub space?
I’ve seen videos from Corbett Lunsford on Youtube where he talks about how the proper placement for a bath exhaust fan is actually within the shower or tub space but then those showers weren’t totally enclosed (I guess you could have two bath fans – one inside the shower for moisture and one outside the shower for odors).
Here’s Corbett’s Youtube video on bathroom exhaust design.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjeOhCfOhO4
Any thoughts?
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Replies
I think if you want to do something like this, you'll also want to fur out any walls (especially exterior ones) and drop the ceiling, so there is an air gap between the backside of any of the shower walls and actual walls as well as the shower ceiling and actual ceiling.
I don't know if it's absolutely necessary, but it would probably eliminate any risk of moisture build up inside your walls, especially exterior ones.