Ah, The Spa - Marketplace
Magazine, Judy Waggoner, Page 2
Both
Mac Swain and Johnson are hearing numerous requests
for large, walk in showers, often with no doors or "zero
entry," which makes them wheelchair accessible.
A doorless shower is made possible by careful orientation
of the spray nozzles, the floor's pitch toward the drain
and by the larger size of the shower space, which prevents
all but a few water droplets to escape.
No
longer do showers merely have a single showerhead, but
a variety of body spray nozzles and handheld showerheads
can be used, including rain shower and waterfall hardware,
as well as nozzles set at his-and-her heights.
With
all the interest in showers, one might think tubs have
been abandoned, but Johnson says homeowners want at
least one tub in the house, especially with children
in the family, but it doesn't have to be in the master
bathroom.
Pressure
balancing allows programming an exact bath water temperature,
which is both a convenient and safety feature. You can
even call home from your car. enter a code and a bath
will be drawn and waiting at a preset temperature when
you arrive. |
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| "People
have big, fancy showers, instead of whirlpool tubs,"
Johnson says. He sees a trend developing away from whirlpool
tubs in master baths. but hot tubs are still popular and
are placed both inside and outside the home. When located
in an interior space, however, the room is usually on
a lower level and istreated as a separate environment
due to higher humidity levels.
All
of the bathroom fixtures have top of the line amenities,
and toilets are no exception. Heated seats, automatic
opening and closing and different flushing technologies
that blend power, quietness, cleanliness and water conservation
are just a few potential toilet features. Cutting edge
toilets have built in ventilation systems that eliminate
98 percent of odor.
Universally
designed bathrooms, which are currently user-friendly
but also barrier free for future needs, are important
to the 34 million Americans over the age of 65. Shower
benches and taller toilets are features they deem important.
"Kohler
Comfort Height toilets are more than a trend,"
says Kathryn Streeby marketing manager for Kohler Sanitary
Products. "(Our) market research found that more
people preferred sitting on something that was the same
height as a dining room chair, and now Kohler sells
nearly as many Comfort Height toilets as regular height
toilets." |
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