After working hard in the backyard or after heavy exercise, what could be more pleasant than taking a hot shower outdoor? Have you ever thought about this? Outdoor showering is a remarkable luxury that allows a slow transition from activities of the day to a relaxed evening. Outdoors showers keep your house cleaner as sand, grass, and dirt are kept out of the indoor shower tubs and pans. Also, kids who hesitate to take a bath under an indoor shower are most often lured by the novelty of outdoor showers.
A creative and fun project for summer or warm spring day, building an outdoor shower needs basic knowledge of plumbing and light construction. Since you are not building a watertight shower wall, like with the indoor showers, the range of choices for privacy walls is endless. With this project, you will be building privacy walls from beautiful, affordable red-cedar fence boards.
Have a look at the local building permits and codes
It is likely that the building code of your municipality regulates the plumbing-related aspects of the installation of an outdoor shower. Any new plumbing installation generally demands a permit. The shower drainage can also be regulated. Some of the communities may allow your outdoor shower to drain through wooden deck boards and into a pebble drain bed. In other areas, outdoor showers are not permitted to drain in the ground or storm drainage systems and should be connected to the waste system of your home. Not only this, a sloped shower pan with built-up lips just like those found in the interior applications must be utilized so that the drainage flows properly inside the waste system.
Decide where to place the shower
Cold outdoor showers might be satisfactory but hot showers are much better. The best thing about building an outdoor shower against the home is that you already have a fixed source of hot water that you can tap into the home. Inside your house is a hot water supply pipe leading from a water heater that feeds different places in the house. Bathtubs, utility sinks, dishwashers, washing machines, and showers all have hot water taps. If you can place the outdoor shower on the other side of one of these services, you can get both cold and hot water supply lines.
Expose water supply lines
Find the cold and hot water supply lines within the home that is nearest to the area on the contrary side of an exterior wall where you want to locate your outdoor shower. If these lines are not covered as we see in crawlspaces, attics, and basements, drywall removal is not mandatory.
If there is drywall, first you must close the water at the nearest intermediary cut-off valve up from the point of installation. If there are no intermediary cut-off valves, close the main cut-off valve of the home. Also, turn off the circuit breakers for electrical supply line that runs through that area.
Tap into the water supply
By keeping the water supply off, reduce the cold and hot water supply pipes. You must fit a push-fit by half an inch into every line. Push the PEX pipe into an open end of each tee and run PEX pipe up to shower handle rough-in the point.
Join the handle and shower faucet
Install the shower handle assembly into a side of the house per the instructions of manufacturers. Cut two PEX pipes to size and join them to the shower handle assembly. With the leftover PEX pipe, continue one length up to shower head rough in point. Install the head and shower faucet and then join the PEX pipe into it. Plugin around the shower faucet from outside the house.