Should I Choose a Shower Slide Bar or a Fixed Shower Arm?

The choice comes down to how you bathe. A slide bar holds the hand shower on the wall at any height you pick, so it serves a seated rinse and a standing rinse alike. A fixed shower arm keeps one shower head in one overhead position for people who shower standing. Many bathrooms end up with both, and Can I Add a Hand Shower Slide Bar or Rain Shower Column After My Tub Is Installed? explains how each one is added to an Ella walk-in tub.

What Each Option Is on an Ella Tub

The Ella slide bar kit is a 24-inch wall-mounted bar with a holder that slides up and down, a 5-foot hand shower hose and a coupling kit. The coupling seals the hand shower connection, which is why the kit is also called a leak elimination kit. The slide bar is an accessory, not part of the 5-piece fast-fill faucet. On that faucet as it ships, the hand shower and its hose rest in a holder on the tub deck, and the bar gives the same hand shower a second home on the wall. You can park it at standing height for a rinse or at seated height for hands-free use. The Ella waterfall faucet already includes a slide bar, so nothing needs to be added with that faucet.

On an Ella tub, a fixed shower arm can mean one of two things. The first is the Ella rain shower column, a vertical riser that mounts at the deck position where the hand shower normally sits and carries an overhead shower head on an upper angle arm. The hand shower connects to the column, and everything is still controlled from the faucet and diverter on the tub deck, so there is no separate valve to install in the wall. The second is a conventional shower head on the wall. A licensed plumber can feed a wall shower head from the tub's diverter valve, or can install a wall or ceiling rain system on its own valve, which is independent of the walk-in tub. Does a Walk-In Tub Come With a Shower Head? Riser, Column and Rain-System Options for a Standing Shower covers those standing shower routes before you order.

Slide Bar and Fixed Arm Options Side by Side

The slide bar is the only option here that needs nothing from the tub itself. It lives on the wall and borrows the hand shower you already own, which is why it suits a finished bathroom so well. The column and the wall shower head both deliver water from above at a fixed point, but they get there differently. The column is part of the tub's deck plumbing and keeps every control on the tub faucet, while a wall head is your plumber's work in the wall. The adjustable holder is what brings water down to seated height for hands-free use, so it matters most to a bather who stays seated. A fixed head earns its place when someone in the home showers standing. With the column, the hand shower stays available too, because the column carries its own hand shower connection.

Timing Matters More Than the Hardware

Because the slide bar attaches to the wall and uses the hand shower and hose you already have, it can go in on the day the tub is installed or long afterward, with no change to the tub or its plumbing. The column is different. Its supply connection is made behind the tub, so it is best fitted before the tub is set in place and enclosed. Adding a column to a finished installation is possible only if you still have access to the back of the tub, for example through the wall of an adjoining closet.

Two more points belong in your planning. The rain shower column is offered only for certain models, so ask your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 whether it is offered for the tub and faucet package on your order before you count on it. The column also raises the overall height of the installation, which matters under a sloped ceiling or beside a window. When the column is not offered for your model, a wall-mounted shower head, wall riser or ceiling rain system installed by a licensed plumber is the way to get a fixed overhead shower.

What the Column Installation Videos Show

The first video shows the column going onto a tub with the Ella 5-piece fast-fill faucet. The column base is sealed with silicone and washers and set into the pre-drilled hole on the tub deck. A supply line runs from the bottom of the column to the underside of the faucet set, and the hand shower extension hose attaches to the elbow joint. The riser tube goes onto the base, the oversized rain shower head is screwed onto the upper angle arm, the arm is inserted into the riser tube, and mounting collars fasten the assembly to the wall. The video recommends seven inches of clearance from the tub deck to the center of the on-off lever.

The second video shows the same job with a 2-piece faucet. The extendable hand shower and its receptacle are removed, the column base goes into the vacant pre-drilled hole, and the feed line runs from the column to the brass connection of the faucet. The riser must be exactly vertical before the wall mounting brackets go on. Both videos show the connections being made underneath and behind the deck, which is exactly why the column is planned with the tub and not after it is enclosed.

Living with a Slide Bar

The slide bar has two working pieces. A short slider, about three inches long, rides up and down the bar and locks at the height you choose, and a cradle attached to it rotates to angle the hand shower. The slider holds by tension, and once it is worn it can creep down the bar under the weight of the hand shower. The lasting fix is a replacement holder, or the complete slide bar kit, sent as a part under the lifetime parts warranty. Ella ships the part, and a homeowner or a local plumber fits it. Slide Bar Holder Will Not Hold the Hand Shower Up walks through the checks to make first. Remember that the slide bar is a hand shower holder, not a support bar. If you also need something to hold while stepping in, see Should I choose a shower slide bar or a grab bar?

If You Are Fitting an Ella Shower Instead of a Tub

An Ella shower kit ships with the stall, the grab bar set 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 and no preset height. Your plumber selects the valve and cuts the openings on site. If you want a hand shower on a slide bar, choose that hardware with your plumber when you select the valve so the openings can be planned together. What Comes in the Box With an Ella Shower Kit lists what to have on site before installation day.

How to Decide

• You bathe seated and want hands-free water at seated height. Choose the slide bar.
• Your bathroom is finished and you want no change to the tub or its plumbing. Choose the slide bar, which mounts to the wall at any time.
• Someone showers standing and the tub is not yet installed. Ask about the rain shower column, confirm it is offered for your model, and have your installer fit it before the tub is enclosed.
• The column is not offered for your model, or the tub is enclosed with no rear access. Have a licensed plumber add a wall shower head or a rain system on its own valve.
• You would rather not depend on a slider. Ask your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 about the shower column kit for your tub.

Watch: Ella's Bubbles: Shower Column Installation With A 2 Piece Faucet with chapters and a full transcript.

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