What is included in a basic DIY walk-in shower kit?

A basic Ella walk-in shower kit includes three things: the shower stall itself, the set of grab bars listed for that kit, and the drain. It does not include a shower head, a hand shower, a mixing valve or valve trim, and the wall arrives solid with no valve cutout, so those fixtures are bought separately and fitted on site. What Comes in the Box With an Ella Shower Kit, and What You Still Need to Buy lists the carton contents, and this page turns that list into a do-it-yourself planning and shopping checklist.

What a Kit Means, and What It Does Not

Shoppers searching for a do-it-yourself walk-in shower kit often picture one carton that becomes a working shower. An Ella shower kit is the enclosure side of that picture. The stall arrives as one piece or several pieces depending on the model, the grab bars are packed loose rather than pre-installed, and the drain is in the box. The installation manual for your kit is published with the product listing and is also available from the team at (800) 480-6850, so you can read the whole procedure before the carton arrives and decide which steps you will take on yourself.

What the kit does not do is supply the water. There is no valve, no trim, no shower head and no hand shower, and the rough-in piping and fittings behind the wall come from your installer. The kit is also not pre-cut. The wall has no opening for a valve or shower head and no preset height or offset. That is deliberate, because the correct location depends on the valve you choose, the rough-in behind the wall and the needs of the person using the shower, so the openings are marked and cut during installation rather than at the factory.

What You Still Need to Buy

• A shower valve with its trim. Your plumber selects the valve, and the wall openings are planned around it.
• A shower head. Nothing in the box detaches for hand-held use, so a hand shower and a slide bar are separate purchases if you want them.
• Rough-in plumbing. The drain that ships with the kit is connected to the house waste line by your plumber, who supplies the piping and fittings.
• Wall panels, if your project starts from a shower base rather than a full stall. Ella's bases, walls and filler pieces are separate items, so confirm whether your order is a stall or a base with walls before assuming the walls are included.

If you want a hand shower on a slide bar, choose that hardware with your plumber at the same time as the valve so the openings can be planned together and cut once.

Wall Panel Choices for a Base-And-Walls Build

When the enclosure is assembled from a base and separate walls, the acrylic kits are the usual match. Acrylic 6-Piece Wall Panel Kit: Size, Shelves, Thickness and How It Compares to the 3-Piece Surround and SMC Panels compares them in detail. The figures that decide fit are these.

• Acrylic Shower Wall Panels 6-Piece Kit in Carrara White: 36 inches deep by 60 inches wide by 92 inches tall, with storage shelves on the left side. The marble-look panels are 1/8 inch thick.
• Acrylic Solid White Glossy 3-Piece Shower Wall Surround: 40 inches deep by 60 inches wide by 97 inches tall, with a 1 inch bend at the panel edges. It is deeper and taller than the 6-piece kit, so check ceiling height and alcove depth first.
• SMC subway-tile-look panels: a 6-piece or 12-piece kit at 36 by 60 by 96 inches. These are a different product from the tongue-and-groove grout-free tiles, so name the exact one you want.
• Large individual acrylic panels, including 98 by 60 inch back walls and 36 to 38 by 96 to 98 inch side walls, plus three-piece acrylic wall systems in white, CNC and digital print finishes.

Two finishing details are decided at order time. White CNC walls can be made with a 2 inch bend along an exposed edge, but the bend is formed at the factory and must be specified when you order. Printed-design walls are not bent; a trim strip can be requested at order time, or your contractor can fit a white J-molding from a local home improvement store. If there will be a gap between the base and an adjoining wall or fixture, the 8 inch wide L-shaped filler piece closes it. It is plastic, ships with brackets and can be trimmed to size. Panels are available through your Ella dealer or the team, and panels ordered together with a tub ship with the tub order.

Doing the Work Yourself

Ella's Bubbles manufactures its products and does not perform installation, so every owner chooses who does the work. Any licensed installer is fine, and certification by Ella is not required. Ella always recommends licensed professional plumbers so that local codes are followed, and the shower kit is written around that: the valve choice, the wall openings and the drain connection are all described as the plumber's work. A capable owner can still take on the parts of the job that suit them, such as unpacking and checking the kit, confirming the drain position and mounting the grab bars into the reinforced backing zones, while a plumber handles the valve and waste connections. Installing It Yourself: What DIY Owners Must Do to Keep Support and Warranty is written for walk-in tubs, but its ground rules carry over: install correctly and to code, cut or modify nothing the manual does not call for, and complete the warranty activation so the parts coverage is in force. Free lifetime technical support is there for you and your plumber through ellasbubbles.com/support and (800) 480-6850.

Before Installation Day

1. Choose the shower valve and trim with your plumber and have it on site before the stall is set.
2. Buy the shower head, plus the hand shower and slide bar if you want one.
3. Confirm that the drain position on the stall matches the rough-in in your floor.
4. Unpack and count the grab bars against your order, and agree with your installer that mounting them is part of the job.
5. If you are building from a base, measure the alcove width and depth and the height from the base to the ceiling, then match those to the 36 by 60 or 40 by 60 inch kit footprints before ordering walls.

With the fixtures on site, the kit covers everything else on the shower side, and the job moves from unpacking to a working shower without a second wait for parts.

Related Guides

• What the Ella Acrylic Shower Base Is Made Of and How It Is Installed
• Choosing a Shower Valve and Cutting the Valve and Shower-Head Openings

Common Questions