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When it comes to revamping your old shower and making it more functional or building a new one, you may want to consider purchasing is a shower slide bar.
A shower slide bar, also known as a vertical slide bar, is a metal bar that you can mount in your shower. It allows for handheld showerheads to be adjusted for height or be used as mounted showerheads.
These are very convenient shower accessories. They allow short and tall people to shower with ease, and they can make life easier for people with mobility issues, especially if you go for a slide bar that doubles as a safety grab bar which will help you in water balloon games for sure.
The best handheld shower head with a slide bar can provide quite a few advantages. That said, before you can install your slide bar, you’ll need to know how and where to mount it. So, where doe the shower slide bar go?
Where to Place a Shower Slide Bar
The purpose of a shower slide bar is to allow for easy height adjustment of the handheld showerhead. It also allows you to direct the stream of water at a certain angle. However, to make full use of this accessory, it needs to be mounted correctly.
Ensure there is no plumbing you might hit wherever you plan on drilling the holes for the screws. You don’t want to drill a hole into your pipes; you could end up with a costly mess to clean up, so make sure you know the pipes’ location behind the shower wall.
You want to check for wall studs the beams behind the panels in the wall that hold everything in place. We mention this because it is much easier to install a shower slide bar if you can screw it into the wall studs instead of using wall anchors.
You want the shower slide bar to be in the middle of the wall, both for functionality’s sake and for aesthetic purposes, and this consideration should take precedent over the whole wall stud situation.
The other thing to keep in mind when installing a shower slide bar is the height at which you mount it. The recommendation is that you mount your shower slide bar about 52 inches above the ground. This way, if you have a 24 inches slide bar, you will adjust the showerhead from 52 to 76 inches in height. However, the exact mounting height will depend on the slide bar’s length and what your needs are.
Installing a Shower Slide Bar: Step by Step
Let’s go over a quick step-by-step guide on installing a shower slide bar (one that includes the showerhead) the right way.
- Remove the existing showerhead. Do this by using a pipe wrench to loosen the fitting. Unthread the pipe head by hand once it is sufficiently loose.
- Get some Teflon tape and wrap it around both ends of a brass nipple (1/2″ diameter x 1/2″ long). Thread that nipple into the pipe stub outside the wall, leaving about 9/16″ protruding from the wall, and tighten it with your pipe wrench.
- Now thread the wall supply elbow of your new showerhead onto the nipple you have just mounted on the wall. Tighten this using a pipe wrench.
- Now you can start mounting the slide bar. Slide both the top and bottom mounting brackets onto the slide bar and then hold it all up against the wall. Use a pencil to mark the screw holes you will need to attach the mounting brackets to the wall. Remember what we talked about in the above section in terms of choosing the height.
- Get the appropriate drill bit in terms of size and material, and drill the holes as marked in the above step. Also, keep in mind what we discussed in terms of those wall studs and possible wall anchors. Now you can simply screw the mounting brackets along with the slide bar into the holes you drilled, attach the showerhead, and you’re good to go and to give your bathroom an edge then bring in some dracaena varieties.
Conclusion
Now you have everything you need to know about how and where to mount your shower slide bar. It’s relatively easy, but if you don’t have the right tools, particularly for drilling through various shower wall materials, you may need to hire a professional to do it for you.
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