Which outdoor shower to choose, and how to install it
An outdoor shower brings water where you need it: by the pool, in the garden, on a terrace, on the deck of a yacht. You choose between a column, a wall-mounted shower and a panel, and you plan it together with the house plumbing. Fontealta makes them in Viareggio, Italy, mostly in AISI 316 stainless steel, with some hand showers and shower heads in brass, in polished, brushed, black, PVD and custom finishes. An outdoor shower is a place to rinse off in the open air before going indoors or into the water.
Column, wall-mounted or panel: the differences
The four forms of outdoor shower differ in where they stand, the work they need and the effect they create.
| Type | Where it works best | What the plumbing needs | Fontealta examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Freestanding column | Poolside, in the garden, on the beach | Supply lines from under the paving, often a concealed body | Club, Club Large, Spring and Origo Rame collections |
| Wall-mounted shower | On an exterior wall, on a patio | Supply lines already run inside the wall | Exposed wall units from the Club and Club Large collections |
| Shower panel | On a wall, indoors or outdoors | A wall with ready connections, no concealed body | In&Out collection |
| Recessed shower | In a niche, on a stone wall | A valve concealed in the masonry | Waterline collection |
How to choose the right outdoor shower
Before the form comes the use: who showers, when, and coming in from where. These criteria help you decide.
- If the shower stands in the middle of the garden or by the pool, then choose a column, which reads like a sculpture from every side.
- If there is already a wall with plumbing, then a wall-mounted shower or a panel from the In&Out collection needs less work.
- If you want hot water, then pick a column with a mixing valve, the .M version, or an .RC version paired with a concealed thermostatic valve.
- If people come in from the beach or the lawn, then add a hand shower, in the .E and .ME versions, or a foot shower like the one on the Spring COL90.2 column.
- If many people use it, at a hotel or a beach club, then the Community collection has timed valves that shut off on their own.
- If the shower should disappear into the architecture, then a wall-mounted shower head from the Waterline collection leaves only the water in view.
- If the shower should match the house, then choose the finish alongside the windows and the stone: polished, brushed, black or custom-tinted.
What it takes to install one
An outdoor shower is planned with the plumber and the landscape designer, before the finishes go in.
Hot water
Hot water needs hot and cold supply lines from the house and a valve that blends them. A column with a mixing valve takes both lines. The .RC version leaves control to a separate thermostatic valve, usually concealed in the wall, which holds the temperature steady. A column with a shutoff valve only takes a single supply.
The drain
The water has to go somewhere: into a catch basin tied to the house system, into a gravel bed or dry well, or, where allowed, into the ground. Rules vary from place to place, so check your local building codes before you build. A slight slope toward the drain keeps water from pooling.
The base
A stable, free-draining base keeps the column straight and the area dry: a stone slab, a wood deck over gravel, a bed of pebbles. On paving, the columns are fixed directly; on a lawn, ground anchors such as the XT200 do the job. Columns in the Club and Club Large collections have a concealed body set during construction, before the paving.
Winter
Where it freezes, the column is drained before the cold sets in, following the manual: remove the shower head and hand shower, close the shutoff valve in the valve box and open the faucet until the column runs dry. For year-round use, Fontealta offers a frost-protected setup with the Frost Protection Loop heating cable by Etherma, available for example with the Boss B76 column. An unheated hand shower is not used in freezing weather.
Outdoor shower ideas and projects
The best outdoor shower ideas start from the place itself. A few of them, from the settings in Fontealta’s catalogs.
By the pool, a column becomes a vertical line against the water: a Club Large on the edge of an infinity pool, or a green Spring column that turns a country pool into a garden shower setting.
On a terrace by the sea or on the deck of a yacht, the shower works between sun and salt air. This is where Fontealta comes from: its first shower brought fresh water to the beach, and its work on megayachts taught it to customize every piece. Origo Rame, in copper and brass, takes on a patina over time that blends with the stone. How long stainless steel lasts near the ocean is the subject of our article on stainless steel outdoor showers by the sea.
Against a wall or in a niche, the shower can almost vanish. An In&Out panel reflects the palms and the sky; a recessed Waterline shower head leaves only the spray in view, with the valve hidden in the masonry. On the lawn next to the pool, a Spring foot shower keeps every step back to the house clean.
The finish is the last idea, and often the strongest. Beyond natural steel, polished or brushed, there is matte black, PVD finishes in brass, copper and black tones, and paint in RAL, Pantone and NCS shades, all shown on the Fontealta finishes page.
Mistakes to avoid
Most problems with an outdoor shower start on the job site, not later.
- Thinking about the drain once the work is done, when the paving is down and the concealed body can no longer go in.
- Running a single supply line and finding out later you wanted hot water: the mixing or thermostatic valve is decided at the start.
- Forgetting about winter: a column full of water is at risk in the first freeze, a drained or protected one is not.
- Setting the column on the lawn without a ground anchor, or on a base that does not drain, and finding it leaning or standing in a puddle.
- Choosing just any steel: near the ocean and around pool chlorine, the difference between 316 and 304 shows over the years.
- Putting the shower where nobody passes: it belongs on the path between the pool, beach or garden and the door of the house.
