Poll

Does a shower need its own light source?

Only registered users are allowed to vote for this poll.
40 votes were received.

Yes. A shower is its own space necessitating its own light. And switch. So I can read shampoo bottles.	18		45%
No. Nobody wants to think about separate shower lights. All ceiling lights should be controlled with a single switch. There should be laws governing the maximum number of switches in a room. The limit should be two, three if you fill out extra paperwork.	22		55%

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I’m actually kind of curious about this as I’m planning to replace a shower. The bathroom is very small so the fan light should work. It’s not an advertisement bathroom that’s large enough to solve the housing crisis.

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If I could find a waterproof, battery operated LED lamp, I'd install one in the shower, though I've never ever seen a shower with it's own light.

They've all been dependent on adjacent lighting in from somewhere in the bathroom.

Generally, that should be enough.

But if I ever found a waterproof or very very water resistant motion activated LED lamp, I'd put one in the shower proper.

I have two 100W equivalent 'daylight' LED bulbs over the bathroom sink and that's not enough when I'm in the shower.

When I walk in the bathroom a motion activated 60W equivalent bulb lights up, white during the day, red at night.

With a reasonably bright LED in the shower, I could leave the main lights off with plenty of light to shower and shave.

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I am that Masked Man.

All you can do, is all you can do.

There’s trouble — it's time to play the sound of my people.

Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you cheer for.

Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities isn’t freedom, it’s adolescence.

I've been to the edge of the map, and there be monsters.

We are a government of laws, not men.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

Well, if the light is actually in the shower ceiling, I would and have switched them separately. The simple reason is that not everyone needs or wants a light on while showering.

If you are concerned about waterproofing, perhaps just a mirror or two installed to redirect light from a light fixture outside of the shower.

A fully transparent shower curtain also lets more light in from other sources.

In my one piece shower insert there is a light in the ceiling of it. It comes in handy.

An overhead ceiling light that shines over the shower curtain or door is the easiest.

Water and Aluminum Oxidize quickly. Twist the bulb to remove, and the socket is still in the fixture.

Consider cataract surgery.

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Staunton, Virginia

Every walk-in shower I have had has had its own light.
Every tub/shower combo I have had did not have its own light.
Maybe that’s how it is normally done.

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Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)

DO IT. Having light in the bath area is amazing. Use a dimmer switch!

I added one of those low profile LED panels into the ceiling over our shower/tub combo. Piggybacked power off the existing light switch/fixture over the sink.
Just cut a hole in the ceiling, run the wire above, then connect the panel from below and shove it all in. Easy access to the bathroom ceiling from the attic in my house so this was an easy ~2 hour job.

Anything like this-

[www.amazon.com]

I got one with an adjustable color temp switch, very nice. Dirt cheap. I probably spent more on the switch and copper!

Just beware that you might end up cleaning the bath more frequently as the light will expose things you may not otherwise have noticed. Not a bad thing, just FYI.

….just the light of your life…..

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_____________________________________

I reject your reality and substitute my own!

ours does.

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"one door closes and another window opens"
Vlad the Impailer.

"I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion."
Alexander the Great

Quote
mattkime
All ceiling lights should be controlled with a single switch. There should be laws governing the maximum number of switches in a room. The limit should be two, three if you fill out extra paperwork.

My main bathroom in my current home has 3 switches -
(1) overhead ceiling fan light
(2) the vanity lights (4x socket fixture) above the sink
(3) the light emplacement above the shower / tub.

Quote
rgG
Every walk-in shower I have had has had its own light.
Every tub/shower combo I have had did not have its own light.
Maybe that’s how it is normally done.

The vanity lights are bright enough in that space that nothing else is needed. In fact I most prefer them on, unless it's late at night in which case I have a wall plug LED nightlight that's sufficient. I don't think anyone really likes to use the light above the shower/tub.

I'm not contending this bathroom is normal; almost every other bathroom I can think of did not have a separate light for the shower; exception being fancy luxury hotels with walk in shower/tub areas that are fully tiled...

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g=

Quote
gabester
I'm not contending this bathroom is normal; almost every other bathroom I can think of did not have a separate light for the shower; exception being fancy luxury hotels with walk in shower/tub areas that are fully tiled...

It definitely makes it feel more luxurious, even in an old shower. Well worth it IMO.

IIRC, there are shower rated downlight. Don't just use a cheap one. It will rust and may be a shock hazard.

…the older one gets, the softer the light should be…….may be some vaseline on the lens…..

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I reject your reality and substitute my own!

Installed a waterproof light unit with its own switch a in shower during a remodel, and it works just fine.

When I remodeled my bathroom, I ran conduit to be able to add a light over the shower. But the new sliding glass doors (rather than a shower curtain) meant I no longer felt there was any point to it.

Depends on the size of the room. In my ridiculously small 1950s bathroom, the room light reaches the shower just fine to read the bottles. I could see it being nice in a larger bathroom.

Helping older people shower is something I do frequently, and every shower I deal with is too dimly lit for aging eyes (the patient's, not mine, unless they're -really- bad.) More light= better safety.

I think I’ll decide when I demo - the shower has a light I never used - it’s a bit rusted - but the shower also has partial walls around the entry in a way that’s the complete opposite of what’s currently popular. I might also run electrical but leave it unused since that would be the biggest problem if I changed my mind later.

The existing lighting is overkill even though it’s just the fan and vanity lights (built into the medicine cabinet). Dimmers with good defaults help. So does white paint. Originally, the bathroom’s main light source was a very old fixture above the cabinet which also provided the single outlet for the room.

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That sounds like a good plan. You should be aware that not all fixtures, especially the one I mentioned before, do not, a cannot be fitted to a standard receptacle box which you will have to install if you are planning having a wire hidden in the ceiling.

EDIT - I guess my point here was to say that maybe you should just go ahead and install the circle LED light, then the wire will be there, and if you want to do a different light later on you could fairly simply install an "old work" box near that spot.

OR, if you are not getting any inspections done you could skip the box for unterminated wires, but this will be potentially very harmful for anyone else who does not know about that in the future. The safer thing to do would be to run wire, but do not energize it until you are going to use it. Maybe have it go to a switch but do not connect both wires or always leave the switch off?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/26/2023 10:35AM by mikebw.

Both this house and last one have walk-in showers with a light/fan combo. Last house had separate switches for light and fan, this house just has the one switch. I shave in the shower, so I need light to see.

Matt,

I like having a light above the tub area, a downward pointing light over the wall mounted medicine cabinet and a light above and centered over the main portion of the bathroom. Three switches preferably. If two switch are all that's available, then the one above the main portion of the bathroom and above the sink can be on the same switch.

One of the reasons for having a light over the tub is for the wife. Better lighting for shaving her legs and other areas. Also, better for reading a book while soaking in the tub after a tough physical day at my office and/or working out.

Note, downward pointing above the medicine cabinet is key. I have downward pointing in one bathroom and the opposite in a second bathroom. Guess which lighting I despise? Upward pointing. The lighting is superior from the downward set, especially for shaving. So, obviously, the bathroom that has the downward lights is the one attached to Little M's bathroom. I've been banned from it.

Robert

In the old place, before downsizing in 2015, I put a weatherproof light similar to this one, (only in bright red, of course) above the shower......



The install was during the Carter Administration. Not sure if I can find the heavy duty 70W halogen bulb I used in there, but the 100W halogen was too damn bright. I put regular 100W incandescents in initially, but when they kept burning out too frequently, I switched to the bulletproof halogens. I even replaced the socket after a few years in conjunction w/ the switch to the halogens, and put in a super-serious enameled porcelain one. The fixture got pretty hot, so I can only imagine how hot the bulb and socket must've been inside.



The bulb was like this, only w/ smooth, weirdly frosted on the inside, thick glass. The thick glass was for protection from exploding halogen capsules, as was prone to happen back in the day. I couldn't find the exact match w/ my geezer google fu. Nowadays, I'd obviously use a properly vetted LED bulb in the shower location. Having ample light in the shower is a necessity for all the reasons peeps have noted.

I had close to 40 years w/ the nautical shower light, and it is missed. Current shower is in an AIO bathroom (the shower was separate before) and I did put in a six light bar fixture over the sink (vs. Rammie's two bulbs) and w/ the wall mount mirror also pointed towards the shower, the lighting is marginally adequate. The old haunt had a window, which provided add'l light, while current bathroom is landlocked. Old place also got light thru the doorway from the main part of bathroom.

Ya need light to read labels, to take care of manscaping, and for old people to see.

As long as you're in redo mode, put a shower light in!
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I think it depends a lot on the geometry and size of the bathroom/shower and on the shower doors/curtain. We have a walk in open-top shower with clear glass door and adjacent surround in a tall bathroom with vanity lights and a central overhead hanging light. There's also a light above the shower but we never ever use it. The overhead hanging light is plenty of light for the shower. Prior to remodeling, the shower was almost completely enclosed by a 1950s pink tile surround with a relatively small opening for the door. It was DARK in there and could definitely have benefited from an overhead light.

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"Man is a little germ that lives on an unimportant rock ball that revolves about a small star at the outskirts of an ordinary galaxy. ... I am absolutely amazed to discover myself on this rock ball rotating around a spherical fire. It's a very odd situation. And the more I look at things I cannot get rid of the feeling that existence is quite weird. -- Alan Watts

Every walk-in shower I have had has had its own light.
Every tub/shower combo I have had did not have its own light.
Maybe that’s how it is normally done.


I had no idea that was a thing.

Nor that some people actually had a shower/tub light in a non-walk-in shower.

Maybe a renewed search for a suitable battery powered LED is in order.





Brother Buzz, that is one freakin' awesome light for a shower/tub instal!

If I had a Navy battle lantern (not hard wired) I'd want to try that.



It would take some work to mod the beam to cover a wider area, and maybe cut the sealed beam to replace the filament with an LED to keep close to the original look.

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I am that Masked Man.

All you can do, is all you can do.

There’s trouble — it's time to play the sound of my people.

Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you cheer for.

Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities isn’t freedom, it’s adolescence.

I've been to the edge of the map, and there be monsters.

We are a government of laws, not men.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

....if it's a meteor shower.....probably not.....it generates heat which then generates some light.....

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_____________________________________

I reject your reality and substitute my own!

I like a lot of light when I shower so yes mine needs a light.

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Grateful11

I want to make sure I fully understand this shower light requirement.

One directly overhead seems odd to me. If you're standing in the middle of the shower and look down, you're probably looking at your shadow. I would think two smaller lights would be preferable.

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Quote
rgG
Every walk-in shower I have had has had its own light.
Every tub/shower combo I have had did not have its own light.
Maybe that’s how it is normally done.

This^

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.

Quote
mattkime
I want to make sure I fully understand this shower light requirement.

One directly overhead seems odd to me. If you're standing in the middle of the shower and look down, you're probably looking at your shadow. I would think two smaller lights would be preferable.

Depends on how well the fixture diffuses the light and the reflectance of the upper wall surfaces around the shower. Older incandescent bulbs and fixtures could be very good at providing a diffuse light, but I have seen some very bad results from less expensive LED bulbs and fixtures.

If you're standing in the middle of the shower


I think the SOP would be to not to stand directly under the light.

This of course depends on the size of the stall, and maybe the person in it.

And maybe what degree of illumination and visibility is needed.

I don't know how small these are.

The only shower stall I remember being in was maybe 6x6'.

It didn't have it's own light, but the doors and two wall were clear, not 'privacy' grade.

Otherwise sure, two lights, opposite each other.

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I am that Masked Man.

All you can do, is all you can do.

There’s trouble — it's time to play the sound of my people.

Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you cheer for.

Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities isn’t freedom, it’s adolescence.

I've been to the edge of the map, and there be monsters.

We are a government of laws, not men.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

A light above the tub/shower area is pretty common in the majority of hotels/resorts I've stayed at. Install it now while doing the remodel. If you don't feel you or your family members (it's not just about you) will regularly use it, then don't use it. It's there if needed.

I find the tub/shower light is easier on the eyes when there's no dimmer while using the toilet in the middle of the night since it's in a partially walled off area to the side.

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My old walk-in shower had a single recessed can light with a slightly frosted glass over the bulb.
My current walk-in shower has the vent/light combo in the center of the shower. I think it only has one light, under the plastic diffuser.
I have not had a problem with shadows from a single bulb in either shower, since the diffuser covering the bulb seems to work well.

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Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)

I have not had a problem with shadows


Must resist... Must resist...

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I am that Masked Man.

All you can do, is all you can do.

There’s trouble — it's time to play the sound of my people.

Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you cheer for.

Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities isn’t freedom, it’s adolescence.

I've been to the edge of the map, and there be monsters.

We are a government of laws, not men.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

Quote
RAMd®d
I have not had a problem with shadows


Must resist... Must resist...

Potential jokes aside, a diffuse light overhead would hardly cast a shadow, and if it did that would be at your feet anyway so who cares.