It’s important to pay attention to the height when installing the shower fittings like valves, faucets, and showerheads. This will allow comfortable shower use by both short and tall individuals in your home.
A standard tub shower valve rough-in height in shower stalls is 48 inches and 28 inches in bathtubs. However, the shower stall height may differ from 38 to 48 inches from one location to the other.
It’s usually hard to see a shower valve as it’s hidden behind the shower walls and is fitted just below the faucets. However, in some scenarios, the shower valve is all out on the wall, some inches from the shower head.
The shower faucets are designed to work hand in hand with each other, and you should buy the same design for easy compatibility.
Understanding What Shower Valves Are
A shower valve is a knob-like object used to control the movement of water in your shower by controlling the heat and the water pressure.
A shower valve with a single knob controls how warm or cold the water should be and can turn through 180 degrees. Besides, the ultra-modern shower valve features three knobs. One regulates the water pressure, while the other controls low or high temperatures.
Finally, there’s the valve with two diverter knobs; one for temperature control, and the other diverts the water to different outlets.
Types Of Shower Valves
Shower valves can be majorly divided into;
- Water balancing valve – Also called a mixer valve is where cold and hot water get mixed to create a desirable temperature. Since the valve deals with water at different temperatures, it’s made with an anti-scald material for burns.
- Manual shower valve – These shower valves used to be a darling of many people but are now old-fashioned. This is due to the entrance of more user-friendly ones. The manual shower valves feature two handles used to achieve the desired water temperature.
- Thermostatic shower valve – A thermostatic shower valve features a spinning dial to control a gauge’s temperature. The valve is seemingly the easiest to use as you don’t have to feel with your hand to determine if the water is hot or cool.
Shower Valve Height Scenarios
The height to which a shower valve is put above the bathroom floor thins down the place it’s applied.
Shower stall valves
The recommended shower stall valve rough-in height is 4 feet or 48 inches. Many people prefer shower stalls because they allow you to bathe when standing or sitting on a chair due to the easy handle access. This is because the 4-foot height range allows easy adjustment of the shower settings to any person.
Bathtub shower valves
A bathtub’s standard shower valve height is 2 feet 4 inches or 28 inches from the floor. You may wonder why this distance is so short. This allows easy use of the valve and bath taps when using the bathtub.
What Determines the Tub Shower Rough-In Height?
Following the standard height of shower valves is not always mandatory as this won’t match different people’s preferences.
Here are some factors to help you determine the height of your shower valve;
Multiple shower heads
Maybe you wish to have 2 or 3 shower heads in the same bathroom for stress-free use with either short or tall people in the home. So you must have more valves, although you can’t expect them to fit in one place.
Therefore, the valves should be placed in different positions, each with its rough-in height. However, the height adjustments must align with your local construction codes.
Adjustable height
Though some shower valve heights can be adjusted easily, others can’t. The adjustable valves allow the comfortable use of the shower head to all parts of your body without any tiresome manipulations.
Shower valves can either be self-adjusting or manually operated. The self-adjusting valve moves in line with your shower head height, thus eradicating the pain of adjusting the valve and showerhead individually. Other shower valves feature a hand tool that lowers or raises them to a preferred height.
Need for a shower seat
Some bathtubs are custom-made with shower seats for special use by pregnant women and disabled people, among other conditions. Hence since it’s almost impossible to maintain the standard height valve of 28 inches, the seat is constructed at least 17 to 19 inches above the bathroom floor.
Local codes
You might be surprised to know that there’s a set standard height for shower valves for each locality. The rates tend to differ from one state to the other, so as much as you’d want comfort in your shower, it’s important to comply with the set rules.
Installation Of a Tub Shower Valve
Luckily, most shower valves come with installation instructions. Here are some general instructions to guide you on the installation of the tub shower valve
- Measure the convenient height you want to install your shower valve, bearing in mind all heights of the people living in your home.
- Take the backer board and cut out a piece, then screw it to the bathroom wall.
- Place the valve over the tile you intend to use to help you get the exact measurements of the blocking wood for correct depth achievement.
- Use construction screws to position the blocking wood.
- Take the riser pipes and connect them to the shower valve.
- Prepare and deburr the copper pipes with an emery cloth or nylon grit pads.
- Spread over the flux around the pipe and put drop-ear elbows.
- Prepare the copper pipes by soldering them with a trigger-start torch. Put protector pads around your working surface to prevent the torch from burning the walls.
- Wait for the pipe to cool down and rub off the excess flux
- The above soldering steps should be repeated for connecting copper pipes to all the inlets of the shower valve.
If you are moving into a new house or renovating a bathroom, consider the rough-in height tub shower valve. The shower valves in your bathroom should be set at a height convenient for everyone to use to prevent straining. Correct positioning of the shower valve is handy with kids, pets, or visitors.