For many years now, steam showers have been very popular as added amenity in gyms, spas and resorts. People pay large amount of money to experience the relaxation and health benefits the steam shower can give. But nowadays, manufacturers have been keen on bringing the benefits of steam shower in the comforts of our homes. Enter the steam showers.

What is a Steam Shower?

A steam shower is basically a room or an enclosure that is tightly closed and is sealed. The doors are usually vapor tight and the walls are impervious to warm and hot vapor. The enclosure is then powered by a steam shower generator that boils water and delivers the water vapor inside the room resulting to a relaxing steam bath. Ideally, all steam showers have their own water controllers and have more than one shower heads inside the enclosure.

Health Benefits of Steam Showers

The popularity of steam showers is not only because people want to enjoy the soothing and relaxing experience of steam baths. It’s also because people want to enjoy the health benefits from steam baths.

There are powerful healing abilities of steam baths, wet rooms and saunas such as good for people suffering from asthma, bronchitis and allergies. Not only that, the increased perspiration you get from the heat also helps in cleaning and toning your skin leaving it moist and soft.

Steam showers also help in removing muscle pains because it speeds up the healing process of your muscle tissues. The increased heat also enlarges the blood vessels to help in blood circulation. With these health benefits, it’s no wonder people are opting to buy steam showers.

Modular Steam Showers

This is the easiest and most common steam shower unit for most people. The enclosure is tightly sealed, mostly made from acrylic, has integral doors, multiple shower heads inside and built in seats. These types of steam showers are usually priced at $3,000 to $5,000 and are easy to maintain. There are a lot of beautiful designs mostly are modern in style and come in the usual white or off-white colors.

People usually get this when they want to install steam showers in their home. It is the cheapest steam shower unit you can get and also quite reliable.

Custom Steam Showers

If you have extra budget though, you can opt to get custom made steam showers. So what is the difference of a modular steam unit to a custom steam shower? Well, custom steam showers are basically walk in showers that have a steam shower generator integrated into it. The walls usually fiberglass are tightly vapor shut so that the heat or steam won’t go out. It should still have a seat, multiple shower heads and tiled interior.

If you want to install a custom steam shower, it will be more costly because it is usually built from scratch. You will need to hire a professional to build you a custom steam shower and also to make sure that your walk in shower is tightly sealed. If it’s not, it could damage your home because of the steams getting out of your enclosure.

Luxury Shower Suites

Now if you really have the budget or usually installed in 5 star hotels and resorts, you can get a luxury steam shower or shower suites. This is a fully loaded room that can even accommodate up to 10 people depending on the size. They can cost you from $18,000 to $35,000 depending on the features you want. Typically, these luxury shower suites are complete with waterproof radios, DVD players, waterfalls, water jets, body sprays and even foot massagers. This is really the real deal but also quite expensive.

Steam Showers Buyers Guide

Now you’re all set and want to buy a steam shower unit. First of all, you need to know what exactly you want. It really depends mainly to your budget as buying steam showers are quite expensive. Now you need to take safety precaution. People with medical conditions cannot use the steam shower and so you need to consult with your doctor. Usually people suffering from diabetes and high blood pressure can be an issue and also pregnant mothers and babies cannot use steam showers as well.

Safety precautions also includes making sure you get a good plumber or contractor to install the steam shower. It’s not easy and will cost you extra. Make sure that the moisture and steam will not get out of the steam shower.

Ideally, you should look for 1 to 3 years warranty when buying a steam shower because fixing a broken steam shower can also be quite expensive. Lastly, when you buy your steam shower kit from a store, you can ask for a contact person who can install the shower unit for you, they will typically have someone that has experience and can also save you money for the installation.

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.