What Is a Slide Bar in a Shower and Why Use One?

A shower slide bar is a wall-mounted bar with a holder that slides up and down, so a hand shower can be parked at whatever height suits the bather. People use one to rinse at standing height or to shower hands-free while seated, without holding the hand shower the whole time. It is a holder for the hand shower and not a support bar, a difference explained in Should I choose a shower slide bar or a grab bar?.

What a Slide Bar Is Made of

The Ella slide bar kit has four parts, and knowing them makes the rest of this page easier to follow.

• The bar. A 24-inch bar that mounts to the wall on a lower bracket and an upper bracket, each finished with a chrome cover.
• The slider and cradle. A short slider, about three inches long, rides up and down the bar and locks at the height you choose. Attached to it is a cradle that rotates to angle the hand shower.
• The hose. A 5-foot hand shower hose, which gives the hand shower the reach to sit up on the wall.
• The coupling kit. A coupler that seals the hand shower connection. Because of that seal the kit is also called a leak elimination kit.

The slider holds its position by tension. That detail tells you what the bar is built to carry: the weight of a hand shower, and nothing more.

Why People Use One

A hand shower on its own has one resting place. On the Ella 5-piece fast-fill faucet as it ships, the pull-out hand shower and its hose sit in a holder on the tub deck. That is handy for rinsing by hand, but it means the bather has to hold the hand shower for the whole shower. The slide bar gives the hand shower a second home on the wall.

• Hands-free showering while seated. Set the holder low and the spray reaches a seated bather while both hands stay free.
• A rinse at standing height. Slide the holder up and the same hand shower works like a fixed shower head.
• One fixture for different people. The holder moves, so a tall person and a seated person can each set it where they need it.
• Aim as well as height. The installation video shows that the holder is easily height adjustable and pivots from side to side.

The slide bar works with the hand shower you already have. It needs no separate valve in the wall and no change to the tub or its plumbing, which is why it is one of the simplest ways to make a walk-in tub more comfortable to shower in.

How It Goes on the Wall

The video on this page shows the wall-mounted sliding bar being installed from start to finish. In order, it shows the following.

1. Decide where you would like the bar and find level.
2. Mark and drill the hole for the lower bracket, insert the anchor, tap it in gently until flush, and fasten the bracket with the shorter screw.
3. Slide the chrome cover over the bracket and place the bar into the lower bracket.
4. Place the hand shower holder onto the bar, then the upper bracket, before the top is secured to the wall.
5. Mark, drill and anchor the upper position. The longer upper screw goes through the hole provided in the bar. Slide the chrome cover over the bracket.
6. Remove the hand shower, attach the coupler and tighten it, attach the extension line hand tight, and feed the excess line into the receptacle.
7. Reattach the hand shower and place it in the holder.

The video is clear about why the coupler matters. The coupler creates a waterproof seal at the receptacle, and its rubber washer is what makes the seal. Overextending the hand shower without the extension and the coupler creates a leak hazard, which the video shows. So the hose and coupler are part of what makes the bar safe to use on a walk-in tub, and they should always be fitted with it.

Because the bar attaches to the wall, it can go in on the day the tub is installed or long afterward. Can I Add a Hand Shower Slide Bar or Rain Shower Column After My Tub Is Installed? covers adding one to a finished bathroom.

What a Slide Bar Is Not

Two other bathroom fixtures get confused with a slide bar, and it helps to keep them apart.

• It is not a grab bar. Grab bars are the bars meant to be held. They are mounted into the wall's reinforced backing by your installer. A slide bar's slider holds by tension and is built for a hand shower, so it should not be used for support.
• It is not a rain shower column. The rain shower column is a vertical riser with an overhead shower head that mounts on the tub and is plumbed with it. It replaces the hand shower holder on the tub deck and is connected from behind the tub, so it is best ordered and fitted together with the tub. Does a Walk-In Tub Come With a Shower Head? Riser, Column and Rain-System Options for a Standing Shower compares the column with the other standing-shower choices.

Many bathrooms end up with a slide bar and grab bars together. They do different jobs, so plan both and place them where each one is needed.

Which Setups Already Include One

• The 5-piece fast-fill faucet. The slide bar is an accessory and is not part of this faucet. Ask your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 about the slide bar for your faucet package.
• The waterfall wall-mount faucet. This faucet already includes a 24 inch slider bar with its hand shower, so you do not need to add one.
• An Ella shower kit. A shower kit ships with the stall, its grab bar set and the drain. It does not include a hand shower or a slide bar. Choose that hardware with your plumber when you select the valve, so the wall openings can be planned together. What Comes in the Box With an Ella Shower Kit, and What You Still Need to Buy lists the rest.

Keeping the Holder Working

Over time the slider can lose tension and creep down the bar under the weight of the hand shower. Two symptoms point to two different pieces. If the whole assembly slides down the bar, the slider has lost tension. If the hand shower droops but stays at the same height, the rotating cradle is loose. Check first that the slider sits squarely on the bar and that the bar itself is firmly fixed to the wall. If tightening only helps for a short while, Slide Bar Holder Will Not Hold the Hand Shower Up: Fixes and Replacement Options explains how a replacement holder or complete kit is requested as a part under the lifetime parts warranty.

Watch: Ella's Bubbles: Installing the Wall Mounted Sliding Shower Column with chapters and a full transcript.

Related Guides

• Installing the Wall-Mounted Hand Shower Slider Bar and the Extension Coupler So Nothing Leaks Behind the Tub
• Should I Choose a Shower Slide Bar or a Fixed Shower Arm?
• Installing the Shower Column Kit on Your Walk-in Tub

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