®Plenty of family bathrooms need a bath and a shower in the same footprint. A shower over the bath is the usual answer, but the bath shape and the screen have to be chosen together.
Start with the bath
A standard straight bath can take a shower. An L-shaped or P-shaped bath is often the better choice, because both give extra room at the shower end, so the person showering isn’t standing in a narrow trough.
Then match the screen
| Bath | Screen |
|---|---|
| Standard straight | A fixed screen, a folding screen that folds back when the bath’s used as a bath, or a flat screen curved at the top corner |
| L-shape | A flipper screen, framed or frameless |
| P-shape | A curved screen: plain, or with a sliding panel that encloses the whole shower area |
| J-shape | The matching shaped screen specified for that bath |
| Freestanding | Not a screen. See below. |
With shaped baths, use the screen made for that bath. Don’t assume a straight screen will follow the curve.
The one to avoid: a shower over a freestanding bath
A normal bath screen has nowhere to seal on a freestanding bath. It’s a specialist arrangement that usually needs a ceiling- or wall-hung curtain rail around the bath. It can be done, but it’s rarely practical, and the customer should know that before they fall for the picture.
Curtains
A curtain can work over a bath. Compared with a fitted glass screen it usually looks more dated, can blow inwards while someone showers, controls splashes less well and needs more washing to keep it free of mildew. If a customer really wants one, plan how the rail is supported and how water is contained on every open side.
Electric or thermostatic over the bath?
Either works. The choice is the same as for any shower: electric is independent of the boiler and heats only what it uses; thermostatic hides the workings in the wall but relies on the hot-water supply and its pressure.
See it in the room
In KBB Go P-shaped, L-shaped and corner baths sit together under the bath library’s Shower filter, so you can try the shapes in the customer’s actual room and check the screen and shower end on the plan and in 3D.