Can you add a shower head to an Ella walk-in tub?

Yes, you can add a shower to an Ella walk-in tub. The Ella Shower Column Kit fits walk-in tubs with deck mounted faucets, connects to the Ella 2 piece or 5 piece fast fill faucet set, and gives you a large overhead rain shower plus a multi-function hand shower, with the faucet's diverter choosing one or the other. Ella ships the kit and a local licensed plumber fits it, and if spray on the bathroom floor is the problem you are really trying to solve, Why Does Water Spray Out of the Tub When I Use the Hand Shower? covers the screen side of the same job.

What the Shower Column Kit Adds

An Ella walk-in tub with a 2 piece or 5 piece fast fill faucet set already has a hand shower resting in a receptacle on the tub deck, so a seated rinse needs nothing extra. The shower column kit builds on that same faucet. The first video shows the finished setup: a height adjustable column carrying a multi-function hand shower that tilts and swivels in several directions and detaches easily, topped by a large overhead rain shower head that pivots and swivels so you can shower standing or seated.

The faucet you already have does the switching. Push the diverter button on the two-piece faucet set, or turn the diverter handle on the five-piece set, and the five-setting multi-function hand shower runs. Engage the diverter for the shower head and the rain shower runs instead. The diverter selects the rain head or the hand shower one at a time, which also means the overhead head can be shut off while you use the hand shower.

The column is built to be adjusted rather than fixed at one height. Its maximum height is approximately 90 inches, a little over seven feet, and there are 14 inches of available height adjustment to bring the shower head down to approximately 76 inches, about six feet. That range is what lets one column serve a tall standing bather and a shorter seated one.

How the Kit Goes Onto the Tub

The second video shows the installation sequence on the tub deck, and it is short because the kit reuses the hand shower receptacle that is already there:

1. Remove the existing hand shower from the deck.
2. Install the shower column base attachment into the vacant receptacle.
3. Replace the water supply line.
4. Attach the new one-half inch supply line to the diverter on the 2 piece or 5 piece fast fill faucet set.

Once the supply line is on the diverter, the column is ready for use. Ella's Bubbles does not send technicians, so the kit ships to you and a local licensed plumber does the work. Ask your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 for the kit that matches your tub and faucet set.

One detail changes if your tub sits in an alcove with an extension panel. A shower column installed on a tub with an extension panel uses the long 4 to 5 inch pipe connector to reach the wall, so mention the alcove and the panel when you order. What Is an Alcove Installation for a Walk-In Tub? explains that arrangement and why the walls above the deck are finished with tile or a surround over an aftermarket tile flange, so shower water runs back into the tub rather than behind it.

Keeping the Water in the Tub

A walk-in tub is open on top, so a hand shower aimed toward the room, or a rain head used with nothing beside the deck, sends spray onto the bathroom floor. Ella's published splash guards are the 4 fold glass screen for seated tubs and the LayDown screen for the LayDown tubs. Both keep water in only when the bottom gasket brushes the tub deck lightly and evenly. Too high leaks, too low damages the gasket, and a thin bead of silicone between the wall channel and the wall finishes the seal.

• The 4 fold screen needs a side wall next to the deck, so the tub must sit in a corner or an alcove.
• Mount the screen on the wall side, away from any extension panel, with the wall channel level and the rubber gasket angled inward toward the tub.
• A 52 inch tub with an extension panel in a 60 inch alcove uses the 32 inch 3 fold configuration, which is the 4 fold screen with one section removed.
• The screen pivots 90 degrees and folds against the wall when you are done.

Two habits matter even with a screen. Keep the hand shower below deck height and aimed toward the tub wall, because lifting it to a wall bracket without the leak elimination kit sends water behind the tub. And never switch on any therapy until the water covers every jet, since jets above the waterline spray well out of the tub and a pump run without water above the jets is damaged.

Support for a Standing Shower

Once you are standing under a rain head, you are using the tub in a way its deck-mount grab bar was not positioned for. Where and how should grab bars be installed around a walk-in tub? follows ADA practice: horizontal wall bars 33 to 36 inches above the tub floor, plus a vertical bar near the door where you step in and out. Every bar must anchor into studs or solid in-wall backing confirmed by a licensed contractor, with silicone in the screw holes to keep water out of the wall. Suction-cup bars are not recommended.

Plan the bars, the screen and the column together, because they compete for the same wall space. Keep the bars clear of the door swing and of any shower screen or valve you plan to add, and never drill into the tub shell or deck to add a bar, since any alteration not done by Ella is excluded from warranty coverage.

Walk-In Tub with a Shower, or a Walk-In Shower?

Some shoppers comparing a walk-in tub against a walk-in shower are really asking whether one fixture can do both jobs. The table below lists what Ella's documents say about each way of showering in or beside a walk-in tub.

What the differences mean is simple. The column keeps the bath and adds the shower in the same footprint, using the faucet and drains already on the tub, so it suits a household where one person soaks and another prefers to stand and rinse. A walk-in shower is the answer only when nobody in the home wants a bath. Ella's Bubbles builds walk-in showers too, and the Shower Builder Tool lets you put a custom design together online before a contractor visits to measure the space and finalize the installation details. If you go that route and a seat matters, Shower Seat Sizes and Options lists the standard fold-down seat, a 16.5 by 16.5 inch alternative, and a folding bench seat the team confirms is rated for 600 pounds.

Watch: Easy Shower Column Installation for Your Walk-In Tub | Ella’s Bubbles with chapters and a full transcript.

Related Guides

• Ella Fast-Fill Faucets: 2-Piece vs 5-Piece, Finishes, and the Waterfall Option
• Installing the Shower Column Kit on Your Walk-in Tub
• What Is a Fast-Fill Faucet on a Walk-In Tub?

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