Does Ella offer wall-mounted bathtub faucets in modern finishes?

Yes. Ella's wall-mounted bathtub faucet is the Waterfall Bathtub Faucet, a brass set with a 24 inch slider bar and an extendable multi-function hand shower, offered in chrome, brushed nickel and matte black. The spout, the double-handle hot and cold control and the slide bar all mount on the wall and are fed from inside it, so the tub deck stays clear, as What Is the Waterfall Faucet on an Ella Tub? explains. This page is about choosing the finish, matching it to the rest of the tub, and knowing which tubs take a wall-mounted set.

The Three Finishes and What Each One Pairs with

The waterfall faucet is the one Ella faucet that names matte black outright, alongside chrome and brushed nickel. The finish matters more here than on a deck faucet, because a wall-mounted set is the most visible plumbing in the room. The brass body sits on the wall above the tub, the 24 inch slider runs up the wall beside it, the hand shower parks in its holder on the column, and decorative cover plates finish the points where the body meets the wall. Everything else on the tub stays chrome. The grab bars, the door hardware, the drain openers and covers, the push buttons and the jet trim are chrome on every Ella tub, and none of them can be ordered in black or nickel.

• Chrome gives the most uniform look, because it matches the deck grab bar, the drain hardware and the jet trim the tub ships with.
• Brushed nickel suits a bathroom already built around that finish, with the tub's chrome trim as a secondary accent.
• Matte black suits a bathroom built around black. Ella also lists a 24 and 36 inch wall grab bar in matte black, shower trim kits in matte black and a 55 by 39 inch frameless bi-fold tub door in a black finish, so the faucet can anchor a black scheme for the room even though the hardware on the tub stays chrome. The item by item list is in Which Ella Fixtures and Hardware Come in a Black Finish?.

Wall-Mounted Versus the Deck-Mounted Sets

The faucets in Ella's published finish lists are the two deck-mounted Fast-Fill sets and the wall-mounted waterfall, and the mounting decides both the look and the finish list.

What the table means for your bathroom: the waterfall is the only Ella faucet that leaves the deck empty, and the only one with matte black named outright rather than offered as availability allows. If you want the faucet to sit on a tiled wall and the deck to stay clear for the grab bar and the controls, the wall-mounted set is the one to order. If you want the widest range of finishes on a deck faucet, the 5-piece set has it. Whichever you choose, the chrome row at the bottom of the table does not change, so a nickel or black faucet will always sit next to chrome trim on the tub itself.

What Comes in the Waterfall Set

The main body is cast from A-grade brass with a ceramic cartridge in a brass housing and separate hot and cold handles, so you set the temperature by hand each time. Water arrives from the spout in a wide cascade. A diverter valve sends it either to the waterfall spout or to the hand shower, which has four spray settings and rests in a holder that adjusts up and down and side to side on the slider. The attachment is reversible, so the hand shower can sit wherever you prefer. The slider has a brass base, a 304 stainless steel tube with 24 inches of slide travel and a brass slide sleeve. Two stainless steel hoses, each about 59 inches long, connect the diverter and the hand shower, and maximum flow is rated at about 10.5 gallons per minute. The package also includes the shower diverter valve, installation hardware, brass connectors, wall mounts for the slide bar, decorative cover plates and a hex key for assembly. Because the hand shower is wall-fed from the start, the barrel extension kit used for relocated deck hand showers is not needed.

Which Tubs Take a Wall-Mounted Faucet

Each Ella tub is drilled for its faucet at order time, so the wall-mounted waterfall has to be chosen before the tub is built. On the LayDown family the choice is already made for you in one size. The LayDown60, at 30 inches wide by 60 inches long, is never sold with a factory faucet and has no deck faucet option, so it requires a wall-mounted faucet, and a set like the waterfall is the kind it needs. The LayDown72, at 32 inches wide by 72 inches long, is faucet-ready and can take either a deck-mount Ella faucet or the wall-mounted waterfall. On a LayDown the visible drain opener and cover come in chrome only, so the faucet is the only item in another finish, and because the deck of a LayDown has no room for hardware, grab bars go on the wall beside the tub rather than on it. The two sizes are profiled in What is the Ella LayDown walk-in bathtub and which sizes are available?, and the flat-floor layout behind these choices is explained in Does the LayDown Tub Have a Seat?. On the HomeCare 32x60 the waterfall option is listed at 11.9 gallons per minute. For any other walk-in tub you want delivered without deck faucet holes, mention it to your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 when you order.

Planning the Wall Before It Closes

A wall-mounted faucet is wall work, and the sequence follows from the fact that everything is fed from inside the wall.

• Ask for the dimensioned drawing from the faucet specification sheet before the wall is framed, so the supply centers and the slider position are set while the framing is open.
• Have a licensed plumber rough in the hot and cold supplies at the faucet body's centers, and add solid blocking where the body and the slide bar mounts will land.
• Choose the slider position where the wall can carry that blocking, and place reachable shut-off valves at the same time.
• Finish and test the rough-in before the wall surface is closed and tiled. The brass body is then set to the wall on its cover plates, the slide bar's wall mounts are marked level and anchored, the two hoses connect the diverter and the hand shower, and the hand shower is seated in its holder.
• Clean any of the three finishes with mild soap and water.

The full walk-through, including what to expect from the fill, is in The Waterfall Wall-Mount Faucet: Installation Overview, Slider Bar, Finishes and Fill Expectations. For a ticket about the faucet, have your model, serial number, faucet finish and a photo of the installation ready for ellasbubbles.com/support or (800) 480-6850.

If You Only Want the Hand Shower on the Wall

Some owners do not want a wall faucet at all, only the hand shower held on the wall instead of parked on the deck. For that Ella has a wall-mounted sliding shower column with chrome bracket covers that holds the deck faucet's hand shower, and the video on this page shows it being installed. The installer picks the column position and finds level, drills and anchors the lower bracket with the shorter screw, slides the chrome cover over it, sets the column into the lower bracket, places the shower head holder and the upper bracket onto the column before securing the upper bracket with the longer screw through the hole in the column, then fits a coupler and an extension line to the hand shower and feeds the excess line into the receptacle, where a rubber washer makes the waterproof seal. The video warns that overextending the hand shower without the extension and the coupler creates a leak hazard. The holder is height adjustable and pivots from side to side. This is a chrome accessory for a deck faucet, not a finish option, so if the goal is nickel or black on the wall, the waterfall set is the answer.

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

Related Guides

• Ella Fast-Fill Faucets: 2-Piece vs 5-Piece, Finishes, and the Waterfall Option
• What rough-in dimensions does the Ella waterfall faucet need behind the wall?
• Tub Colors and Hardware Finishes: White Only, Chrome Trim, and Faucet Upgrades

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