hand held shower devices

[CTyankee]

Are they generally popular in this country? Do they add or subtract from the value of the house?
or does it not really matter? I know nice bathrooms are a big selling point.

I recently had to get one for our bathroom because my husband has mobility problems due to nerve damage in his leg. We're in for a long haul.

We also have installed 2 more grab rails. The bathroom is well kept, very clean and shiny and everything looks good. Was just wondering if the hand held shower (which attaches to one of the grab bars so he can access it from the shower transfer bench he sits at when he showers) is a downer when we go to sell the house...

[OffWithTheirHeads]

1. Makes no difference. Now, a remodeled kitchen...

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. Are they not fairly easily removeable????

As I understand it, they just hook onto the showerhead outlet.
Seems one could put a new showerhead in if needs be at selling time?

[CTyankee]

3. Yes, this one does but I didn't install it and wouldn't know how to de-install it...

does this tell me that you wouldn't want one in a house you were buying?

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. oh, to answer your question:

It would depend on the actual shower, to be honest.
We have a very small shower in the older part of the house and there would not be room to comfortably use a hand held shower head,
but
we have a larger bathroom with an old fashioned claw foot tub that I am thinking of turning into a shower and I could use a hand held in there, it would be easier in many ways, and I could bathe the dog, which would make one handy.

Mr. Dixie, who cannot stand easily on both feet, would prefer to NOT have a hand held unless, like you said, there was a bench in the shower.

So it depends on a lot of factors.

[CTyankee]

5. I think it sounds like there are variables of opinion here. I do not have a "high end" house.

It's 3 bedroom (the 3rd being used by an office by us cuz it's so small) and 1 1/2 baths. A good starter house or, for us, an "ender" house since our kids were grown and gone. As such, I think a hand held shower head might be a plus, esp. for young couples with a baby. A hand held shower would be nice for the kid!

It is also helpful for cleaning the shower, I have found. For women, that is a great advantage...

[dixiegrrrrl]

6. Agreed on the cleaning part.

Some showers have both, a nice feature. If I had one in the tiny shower, I could bathe the dog, sorta. The shower is too small for him and me to fit in it ( he is huge) but now that you mention it, a hand held would work.
Hmmmmmm.

I honestly do not think it would be a big deal in selling. Switching out hand helds to shower heads is very easy for most folks to do.

[CTyankee]

7. I have kinda come to that conclusion. At first, I was unhappy about the change but when I look

at it, I can see it looks kind of artful and nice, esp. since I have "bathfitter" space-age acrylic covering on my shower walls and tub (the best investment I have ever made....I literally never have to scrub tile!). So my bathroom always looks clean and very nice.

I am convinced that a clean pretty bathroom is a BIG part of the sale, esp. for women!

[Warpy]

8. Hand held showers are great and if there isn't one already in a place

it will be one of the first things I install. Not only does it allow you to direct the shower at what needs one the most, it also makes cleaning out the tub and stall much easier because you can just hose it down after you've soaped it and scrubbed it.

They're an absolute must for anyone with mobility problems.

They don't affect the purchase price of a house because they can be put on any shower, the connections (at least in the US) are universal.

[northoftheborder]

9. Just sold my home, which had needed a lot of general repair and replacement of various things.....

.....one of them being my handheld shower heads. The terrfic repair man didn't even ask me...they were just gone, replaced, including anything "brass" in the house (apparently totally out of style, what do I know). Also my beautiful cranberry kitchen walls had to be reduced to their previous whiteness (red walls out of favor, what do I know?) Realtor agreed, so I just took their advice. Got top price, so I'm not complaining.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

10. I'm not sure if you are saying the hand-held is in addition to a regular shower head or ....

........in place of a regular head.

Either way, I think they are a plus. If you hav ONLY a hand held, you can always install another hook up high to make it a regular shower. I've seen some units that have a sliding adjustable pole for variable use.


We installed one at waist height in our new shower to give the dog baths. We have a regular head and rain head so we only installed the hand unit for the dog. An added bonus is it works great for cleaning the shower too.

We are going to be building out our neighbor's shower installing two regular his and hers heads and a hand held to be used as a mini shower for their now 2 year old when he gets a little older (and for their dog).

Here's ours. We kinda went all out because we did it ourselves. It was my plumbing opus:

[CTyankee]

11. yeah, we're seniors so we'll be selling our house in the future (don't know exactly when) so

I am concerned about this stuff.

I actually like the look of the hand held shower head. Since the rest of the bathroom is extremely clean and actually shiny I think this won't be a big problem...