What is a shower stall, and how is it different from a bathtub?

A shower stall is a standing shower enclosure. It is made up of a molded base that carries the drain and the threshold, walls that rise from that base, and an open front that is closed off with a door, a screen or a curtain. A bathtub is a basin you fill and then sit or lie in, while a shower stall holds no bath water at all; it sends the water to the drain as you wash. Ella sells both, and What Comes in the Box With an Ella Shower Kit, and What You Still Need to Buy lists exactly what arrives when you order a stall.

What an Ella Shower Stall Is Made of

An Ella shower kit ships with the stall itself, the grab bar set listed for that kit, and the drain. The stall arrives as one molded piece or as several sections depending on the model. The base is where the drain and the threshold sit, and on some configurations it includes a molded seat, which is why the team asks you to confirm the seat side and the drain side before a one-piece unit goes into production. The walls arrive solid, with no valve or shower head opening and no preset height, so your plumber cuts the openings on site to suit the valve you choose and the person using the shower.

Three things are not in the carton, and they surprise many first-time buyers:

• No shower head and no hand shower, so nothing in the box detaches for hand-held use.
• No mixing valve, valve trim or supply plumbing. Your plumber selects the valve and supplies the rough-in piping and fittings, and connects the drain that ships with the kit to the house waste line.
• Grab bars are packed loose rather than factory mounted. Your installer fastens them into the reinforced backing built into the wall panels with the correct screws.

With a valve, trim, shower head and any hand shower bought separately, the kit covers everything else on the shower side.

One-Piece Stalls, Three-Piece Stalls and a Walk-In Tub Side by Side

The table shows where the real decision lies. A one-piece stall is the simplest to install because it arrives as a finished enclosure, but most finished homes have at least one opening narrower than 33 inches, so it is aimed at projects where the shower can be set before the framing and doors are complete. A three-piece stall is built for the house that already exists, because each section passes through an ordinary doorway and the base turns sideways. A walk-in tub answers a different need altogether: it is for someone who wants to bathe seated in water, and it can still provide a shower through the hand shower that comes with an Ella faucet package. Will a One-Piece Ella Shower Fit Through My Doorways? The 33-Inch Clearance Rule and New Construction explains why one tight spot is enough to stop a one-piece unit.

Thresholds, Seats and the Barrier-Free Base

Ella showers are built as accessible residential showers with a low step-in and factory grab bars. They are not certified to the ADA standard for accessible shower compartments, and Ella says so directly whenever a shopper asks, because a shower is only compliant when the whole configuration, including the compartment dimensions, the threshold height, the seat, the grab bar placement and the reach range for the controls, meets every applicable requirement. The threshold is the most common sticking point when shoppers compare a residential stall with the commercial standard. For a private residence that certification is generally not a code requirement. Are Ella Shower Stalls ADA Compliant? What the Answer Means for Home and Commercial Projects covers what to confirm with your code official on a commercial or rental project.

For a wheelchair user, Ella pairs a barrier-free, wheelchair-accessible shower base with a flexible shower dam. The first video on this page shows how it works: the dam is a compressible, waterproof strip that the wheels roll over on the way in and out, after which it returns to its original shape and keeps the water inside the stall. The video also shows the installation, which starts with measuring precisely and cleaning every surface with denatured alcohol, then cutting the dam to length, fitting the end caps, siliconing the gaps, pressing the dam snugly against the shower wall and floor as the tape backing is pulled away, and finishing with a thin bead of silicone along the lower edge on both sides and over both end caps.

What Changes When You Choose a Stall Instead of a Tub

In a bathtub the water surrounds you, so the enclosure has to hold it and there is a bath to fill and drain each time. In a shower stall you stand, or sit on the molded seat where the model has one, under running water that leaves through the drain in the base, so the enclosure is designed to keep spray in and send water down rather than to hold a volume. That is why the walls, threshold and dam matter so much, and why the valve, trim and head are chosen with your plumber rather than shipped in the box.

The choice is not always either-or. The second video on this page shows the shower column kit being added to a walk-in tub deck: the existing hand shower comes out, the column base goes into the vacant receptacle, the supply line is replaced, and the new one-half inch supply line connects to the diverter on the 2-piece or 5-piece fast-fill faucet set. So a walk-in tub can give you a seated bath and a standing shower, while a stall gives you a shower only.

Daily care differs a little too. The stall manufacturer's instructions call for Soft Scrub applied with a cloth on the walls and worked in with a brush on the floor, because the floor collects buildup a cloth does not lift. Hard water spotting responds to Goo Gone or rubbing alcohol, and any cleaner is fine as long as it contains no ammonia, bleach or Clorox, which dull the gloss. The Shower Floor Looks Dull or Dirty Compared to the Walls: How to Clean It explains what to photograph if the floor still looks wrong after a proper cleaning.

Before You Order a Stall

1. Measure the narrowest point of every exterior door, interior door, hallway and stairway between the delivery point and the bathroom, and compare each figure with 33 inches if you are considering a one-piece unit.
2. Choose the shower valve and trim with your plumber and have them on site before the stall is set, along with the shower head and any hand shower and slide bar.
3. Confirm that the drain position on the stall matches the rough-in in your floor, and decide the seat side and drain side.
4. Agree with your installer that the grab bars will be mounted as part of the job.
5. Expect a confirmation call before a one-piece order goes to production, and keep the phone number on the order answered, since the freight carrier schedules delivery by phone.
6. Inspect the unit on arrival, keep all packaging material, and report any shipping damage right away to where you purchased.

Ella showers are built to order, and your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 can confirm which stall suits your project and the current timing for your specific order.

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

Related Guides

• Installing an Ella One-Piece AcrylX Shower Stall: Alcove Prep, Drain Opening, Fastening and First Use
• What Is a Three-Piece Shower and How Is It Installed?
• Does the Ella Shower Stall Come With a Door, and What Size Door Fits the Opening?

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