Installing an outdoor shower with privacy panels

For an unequalled touch of luxury, install an outdoor shower. A small pleasure, to be enjoyed on warm days by everyone, including guests. The walls around the shower are real cedar, a rich and warm wood that contributes to the feel of luxury which emanates from this layout.
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Important notes
1. Water inlet
2. Water evacuation

Important notes

Because this project involves digging a trench, ideally close to the freezing line, the digging work must be done first. Burying the water feeding pipe in the trench will let you avoid causing any damage to it while working on the lot. You must drain the water out of the pipe before cold weather regardless of the fact that it is buried.

You will need the help of a plumber to connect the water feeding pipe.

1. Water inlet

1.1 

Locate the site where the water feeding pipe will be connected by the plumber, as you will need to have it connected to your main water system in the basement.

1.2 

With a string and stakes or spray paint, mark the site of the future trench.

1.3 

Ideally, with a mini power shovel or round shovel, dig three to four feet deep and about 1 foot in width. Make sure the trench is directed downward, away from the house. Place the extra earth on a tarp so as not to mess up the grass.

1.4 

At the bottom of the hole, place your water feeding pipe (copper or pex). You could insert it in a PVC conduit for protection. Leave the end of the feeding pipe exposed out of ground to have it connected later to the shower fittings.

1.5 

With a drill equipped with a concrete bit long enough to go through the wall and of a diameter big enough for the size of the PVC conduit in which you will insert the pipe, bore a hole in the foundation wall at about 8 in. above ground. The hole is above ground for water resistance and easy visual inspection. If possible, bore the hole close to the main water system.

1.6 

Insert the PVC conduit in the hole. Let it stick out 1 in. from the hole (cut with a hacksaw) then seal around the conduit with an exterior thermoplastic sealer.

1.7 

Run the water feeding pipe into the wall.

1.8 

This must be connected to an elbow where the pipe exits horizontally from the wall, then to a vertical pipe to go down towards the trench. The straight pipes are run through the PVC conduits, but the elbow must be “hidden” inside a LB conduit, a kind of L-shaped pipe which can be open (separated in 2) to be able to connect the elbow to the two ends of the 2 pipes. This conduit, once closed, is then glued with PVC glue to the end of the conduit exiting from the wall.

1.9 

Insert your pipe, between the LB conduit and the bottom of the trench, in a PVC conduit, which should be long enough to protect it.

1.10 

Place small boards on top of the pipes in the ground, as a first line of defence: if you dig with a shovel in that spot, the pipes will be protected and you will know there is something there to be careful about.

1.11 

Backfill the trench up to the shower.

1.12 

Connect the feeding pipe to the plumbing for the shower which is integrated in a 4 × 4 in. post. Instead of using an elbow, for this connection, you can use a T with one end equipped with a twist-off cap. Because the feeding pipe is situated downward away from the house, the lowest point being the foot of the shower, you will only need to unscrew the T cap, once fall has arrived, to drain the pipes (after having closed the water inlet of the conduit, inside the house). You can also drain with a compressor.

1.13 

Have the work connected to the main feed of the house, preferably by a professional licensed plumber. A valve must be installed inside the house so as to be able to close the water inlet of the conduit for the outdoor shower.

2. Water evacuation

Dig a hole 4 ft. or more in depth under the shower and fill with river stones. The soil will drain by itself. To drain the pipes, if you have installed a T with twist-off cap, at the foot of the shower (see point 12) you only have to remove the stone to gain access to the T and drain.
To build the partition, follow our guide to "Building a privacy partition for an outdoor shower".

A simple an affordable week-end project.
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