With a life that is stressful and very hectic, it is a refuge to be able to relax after a long day in your own personal steam shower in the comfort of your home. There is a wide range of steam shower units available out in the market and there are many benefits that you will surely enjoy when you use steam shower units or enclosures.

Understanding Steam Showers

First of all, we need to understand what is a steam shower? Is it different from steam bath or sauna? Actually steam showers’ origin comes from the steam bath which the ancient Roman Empire is known to use. While the ancient time, the source of steam comes from the natural hot spring, the modern steam bath has steam generator that filled up the room with hot steam in less than a minute or two. So steam showers are actually an enclosure that you can take shower and steam either at the same time or separately.

Now, sauna is different with a steam bath because they use a different type of heat. Steam baths or steam showers as the name implied it uses steam so it is wet heat, it usually heats up the room for 40 degrees with 98% to 100% humidity while sauna uses dry heat with temperature can go up to 80 degrees to 100 degrees. This high temperature is considered safe since there is little humidity. You can steam up the sauna room by putting water in the heated stones but the steam will dissipate fast.

Before installing a steam shower unit in your house, there are some things you need to consider like the location and size of the steam shower room. Whether you will build your own custom steam shower unit or buy a modular steam shower unit.

Modular Steam Shower

Buying a modular steam shower is more convenient since it has all the features of the steam shower and added more features with it but usually more expensive, it can cost you from $2,000 to $11,000 depending on the unit’s features and size. Your bathroom should be prepared before you install a modular steam shower unit.

Modular steam shower unit mostly are made of acrylic and can fit in the regular standard shower stalls or bath. Installation of a modular steam shower can cut up half the time and the installation cost since it is pre set and you just have to install it and connect all the pipes and wiring. But there are some disadvantages like you pay for some extra features that you don’t need or will hardly use; the placement of some shower heads or jets are in the wrong positions like for a larger person, sometime the shower jets are not place high enough for them; and for a design point of view, most modular units have modern designs that might not fit your current bathroom design.

Custom Steam Shower

Custom steam showers are more flexible in designs and in the features you want to install. The drawback is that it will take several experts to install one for you and the cost of installation can be high and it will take more time to install.

First – you need to measure the room you will install the steam shower, the size and height of the steam shower will determine what type of steam generator you will install. Preferably the ceiling height should be less than eight feet to accumulate steam faster in the room.

Second – water proof the steam shower enclosure by tiling the entire stall from floor to ceiling. You can use ceramic tiles or natural stone tiles. When using natural stone tiles, it absorbs more heat so it needs more energy to heat the room.

Third – Install a special shower door that is a vapor tight door. You must measure the dimension of the door way if it’s a custom built to make sure that the door fit it properly and the hot steam will not go out of the shower stall. For small steam shower, a 3/8” air gap is recommended below the door and the door should have a splash guard. Making sure that the steam shower is water proof and vapor proof so that the steam cannot go out of the enclosure and might damage the wallpaper, painted wall and even other bathroom furniture.

Fourth – For proper drainage and prevent condensation from dripping down on the bather, the ceiling should be slanted at least 2” for every foot of the ceiling. With this aspect, it also makes the room smaller and maximizes the efficiency of the steam generator.

Fifth – the placement of the steam generator; the distance should not be more than 25 feet. Since the steam generator is compact you can place it even under the bathroom vanity. The steam outlet plumbing line should be insulated if it is over 10 feet. The line must not form a trap or gully, position it in the direction of the generator or steam head.

Sixth – Steam head should be place in the stall 18” above the shower floor and on the opposite wall where you will be seated and as far away as possible. For a small shower enclosures like 3’ x 4’ x 4’, a steam diffuser should be installed.

Seventh – The steam showers or steam bath in your wet room or sauna cannot function without a proper steam generator. The size, height, material used in tiling, glass door, skylite and insulations will affect the type of steam generator you need. Some brand like Steamist, Mr. Steam and others have steam generator calculators that will recommend the proper steam generator for your steam shower stall. Also look for the delivery system of steam, some it takes less than a minute to a build up steam in the room. There is also steam generator that has automatic washout system for easier maintenance and prevent calcium deposits

There are other accessories you can add to your steam shower room like a teak shower bench so that you can relax while have a steam bath, aromatherapy diffuser that will diffuse essential oils together with the steam, storage for your toiletries.