Shower or bathtub? What to choose?

You have a bathtub but you don't want to deprive yourself of the pleasure of a regenerating shower, perhaps especially in summer? The solution is there and consists in adapting your bathtub to your specific needs by installing a special shower cabin. There are many of them on the market, which differ in their models and materials (PVC, resin, crystal, etc.). As an alternative to the shower enclosure, you can choose a bath screen; the result will be similar. In this article, we will focus on three specific solutions: the one that combines bathtub and shower together, the one with shower alone and, finally, the one with bathtub alone.

Shower: advantages and disadvantages

In terms of bathroom equipment, the choice of the shower remains perhaps the most popular for specific reasons, real advantages, which we briefly summarize below.

• Better management of space: the installation of a shower requires much less space than a bathtub, and this should be taken into account especially if you have a bathroom of a few square meters. Also, with corner shower enclosures (with their corner trays that can be mounted flush to the floor if desired), even a simple, little-used corner of the room can become the right place to install a shower.
• Faster personal care and hygiene operations: it is undeniable that in today's society everything flows at a fast and frenetic pace, to say the least. In this context, it is clear that taking a shower before going to work is much faster and more convenient than filling a bathtub with water and bubble bath, an operation that takes at least ten minutes just to prepare.
• Easy cleaning and maintenance: The shower stall is much easier to clean, just use a good detergent and you're done. Constant cleaning operations, even better if they are facilitated as in the case of a shower cubicle, are fully part of an effective maintenance.
• Suitable for all types of design: there are different types of shower enclosures on the market. The ability to choose from a very differentiated offer, will allow you to find the shower enclosure most in line with the whole style of your bathroom. Our advice, in fact, is to always maintain a certain consistency in the choices of design of a room, whatever it is.

The shower enclosure also comes with its share of disadvantages, namely:

• Disadvantages especially in winter: With the arrival of the winter season, where temperatures are sometimes really cold, it is clear that washing in the shower, even if the water can be properly regulated, is not the same as taking a warm bath in a bathtub, a real panacea to restore warmth to the cold body.
• Slightly convenient for children: if there are children at home who are a little over a year old and therefore are not yet independent to wash themselves, they will have to be helped; but giving them a hand in the shower stall is certainly much more uncomfortable.

Bathtub: advantages and disadvantages

Now we come to the second of the three topics covered in more detail in this article, namely the installation of a bathtub in your bathroom. Once again, we will try to illustrate the advantages and disadvantages of such a choice. Let's start with the advantages:

• Major comfort: lying down is certainly more comfortable than standing up, and that's a pretty objective fact. In the case of the elderly, the need to wash in a more comfortable position often becomes a top priority. All this is guaranteed by the choice of a bathtub.
• Multifunctionality: If necessary, a bathtub can also lend itself to other uses. Think, for example, of the usefulness of soaking or draining your handmade laundry.

As for the disadvantages, we point out the following:

• Uneconomical: filling a bathtub consumes a lot of water (about 200 Liters).
• Time-consuming preparation: The time to fill a bathtub is certainly not suitable for people in a hurry and is ideal for a relaxation session.
• Difficult to access: Stepping out or into the bathtub is a relatively dangerous action, especially in certain cases such as slippery floors. Elderly people are also advised not to step over in the absence of assistance.