Bath or Shower?

[Normandy Cow]

We've been renting our house in France for nearly 10 years and have just one large shower room (for up to 8 guests!).

Yes, it's very likely that we will have lost bookings for this reason, but there have always been other people who will book instead (we average 40 weeks per year).

Having said that, we are finally taking the plunge(!) and instaling an en-suite upstairs (yes, with another shower).
Found this website (B&Q) very helpful:
http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/templates ... ensuit.jsp
It's amazing what you can fit in to a small space. Try their online bathroom design planning tool and you may be surprised...

[charles cawley]

Bath people usually tolerate a shower. Shower people usually have a greater intolerance to using a bath.

The general approach is that if there is an 'either or', go for a high spec shower in favour of a bath. For some reason shower people seem to have an ideological dislike of baths where bath people like to soak and warm up but can put up with showers.

There is absolutely no logic to all this. Some owners compromise and go for a bath with a shower attachment.

But they often refuse to provide a mounting on the wall to be able to stand under the shower because they do not want to spend or maintain a glass shower screen. This does nothing to please shower people and bookings are lost for the want of a wall fitting and a glass screen.

[Hells Bells]

I'm a bath person, but use the shower more often than now,as it is quicker when I need to leave the house at 7.30am. However, we have always had a glass shower screen,so much pleasanter than a clinging shower curtain

[charles cawley]

100% agree.

Shower curtains are best avoided.

Difficult to maintain and they reduce the pleasure of the whole thing. I, too, am a reluctant shower user when in a rush.

[Nightowl]

I agree on the shower curtain thing to some extent and did my best to avoid a curtain - but the curved bath screens just (in the main) leak like a bucket... so we compromised with short glass screen against wall and a shower curtain.

But we use a simple white stripe fabric shower curtain with weighted rods in it so that it doesn't fluff and curl around you as you shower and as the bath is quite wide it works really well. We've stayed in our flats ourselves and it's fine, not claustrophobic and nasty.

The overall effect is nice; we don't allow the curtain to get grotty in any way; It's easy to clean as it can just go in with the washing; and I keep spares. The bathroom still looks nice as the curtain is unfussy and classic.

Ideally I would have liked to keep the curved screen but they were a PITA. Added to that, the curtain does make it a lot easier for people to get in and out of the bath cos they can move it right out of the way; it also works better for parents bathing small children for the same reason.

Having had both, I actually am much happier with the bath/shower/shower curtain option. And the curved screen was also a right pain to clean properly with our hard limescale water, whereas the short one seems to only need a quick wipe because as it's on the corner of the wall end, it doesn't really get splashed so much.

So there's pros and cons to everything.

[charles cawley]

Useful stuff.

I sometimes get carried away with the drive to get good photos. The weighted rods thing seems a really good idea.

[B&B netherlands]

2 years before i started my B&B, i had a bathroom built with jacuzzi. a glass screen could then, afterwards, not be installed because of the way the jacuzzi was 'built in', so i placed a rainshower on the wall (adaptable to the length of the person showering) and bought a coated washable shower curtain, that doesn't cling.

as i do get lots of guests over 60, even 84 years old have showered in the tub! i think (as it was the only solution...) for safety reasons (tripping in the bath, falling through the glass...) i should be happy with my shower curtain.

for the newly built bathroom with the other guestroom, i chose for a walk in shower, divided from toilet and wash basin by a glass screen screwed to wall and ceiling, no movable parts (they can break...), with a massage shower!

http://www.saniscape.nl/styles/design/atlantic.html

the guests just LOVE it. the jacuzzi/bathtub is used maybe 5 times a year... most of the guests (dutch) prefer to shower quickly after arrival, and then go out for a meal, or take a short shower in the morning.

[Beach Balls]

Many thanks for everyone's views and opinions. Plenty for me to digest! Can't say I am any further forward to making a decision!!

I guess I will keep 'googling' and researching and re-reading all the posts, in the hope that it all becomes clear!

I will let you know what we finally decide and post some pics.

Many thanks again
Nikki