Handheld shower in addition to fixed head
 

Hi,

Looking for advice whether the product I seek exists, and my intended hook-up will work.

Currently, the shower head stem comes out at the top of the wall. We attached to that: one of those units that is a holding bracket, a hose, and a hand-held shower head all-in-one.

We are re-doing the bathroom and I would like to change this. However, I don't want to get into a lot of money, thermostatic multi-head valves, etc.

What I am envisioning is:

• Shower supply pipe inside wall like standard and fixed shower head mounted to it (like standard).
• Piping in wall splits off in that supply pipe, T-ing over to a hand-held unit. The hand-held unit attaches to the wall either directly where it's supply hose is connected through the tile, or on a separate bracket that mounts nearby.

This allows me the flexibility of mounting the hand-held shower head at a child-suitable height and away from the taps (so the hose isn't hanging by the taps all the time).

Also: no, I do not want one of those single-head units that slide on a pole visible within the shower stall.

If I do find products like this, how do I switch the water between the heads?

1. I have seen a couple of hand-held units that have an on/off switch build right into the head. This would work. My (probably silly) question is: If you open the hand-held unit, does the resulting diversion of water/pressure away from the higher fixed head automatically mean it won't be running anymore? Or will it still dribble? We had a set-up like this in my childhood home and I know there wasn't a shut-up on the higher fixed head b/c we kids could run the whole thing ourselves.
2. Or, is there a simple/inexpensive valve I can install on the wall of the shower to toggle the supply between the two heads? This would greatly expand my choices for buying a hand-held unit at a reasonable cost.

Hope this made sense. I appreciate any help you can offer.

Get a slide-bar setup. You attach the slide bar to your shower wall maybe 6-8 inches to either side of where the arm comes out. The shower head mounts on the slide bar, which then creates an adjustable showerhead, and it is also removeable for use as a personal spray.

Seems a little easier to me than trying to redo the in-wall plumbing.

Thanks for the reply, however, I'm hoping others will jump in as well.

As I mentioned in my original post, I am not interested in a shower head that adjusts higher and lower on a sliding pole.

I know of a few people how have had these and based on those experiences, the units are poorly-constructed junk with lots of breaking plastic parts (and yes, some of them were expensive "quality" units!). I have also experienced that those types of units are a PITA to clean. :innocent:

As far as the installation of a slide bar being easier than trying to re-do in-wall plumbing, that is not a concern in my particular situation. This is part of a bathroom renovation where the wall is being opened (well, completely moved, actually) to allow for a longer tub.

Sorry about that, not sure how I missed reading that line. :laughing:

What you need is a simple 2 function diverter valve. They make multi function ones, but they're upwards of 200 bucks just for the valve itself I'm not sure what a basic one would cost honestly. Maybe someone else can chime in.:whistling2:

Thank you for the follow-up! :) I appreciate the advice.

Now I know what to go asking for! :thumbup: "two function diverter valve". Part of my difficulty in Googling this stuff is that I don't even know what to start trying to call it. :)

This probably has me on my way, but if there are any other new ideas out there, please chime in.

Thanks again!