A long soak in the bathtub or relaxing shower is a fitting reward after a hard day’s work.
Water is as primal and necessary to our survival as air, nutritious food, exercise and purpose. In fact, adults are made up of about 60% water, and the gentle art of hydrotherapy dates to ancient civilizations including Greece and Rome.
Taking the waters was – and remains – a favored past time in many of the world’s cultures. Enjoying a steam bath, drinking clear spring water or bathing it in – think hot thermal springs or icy water plunges – is thought to impart therapeutic properties.
Today’s bathrooms provide a place to cleanse and refresh. New and emerging technology in appliances, lighting, water heating and more makes time spent in the bathroom an easier and more luxurious experience.
From toilets and toilet seats to lighting and water heating, smart technology is available for just about any fixture or fitting you’ll find in the bathroom.
John Gemmi, owner of Gemmi Construction Inc., in Buckingham Township said smart – and updated – toilet options range from simple add-ons to revolutionary new products.
“Really popular are electric seats (or bidet seats) on toilets,” Gemmi said.
“These are heated, have spray and dry functions and will even recognize who has walked into the bathroom and raise the seat cover,” he said.
Quick warming features mean the seat is to temperature before you sit down.
“These [products] are becoming extremely popular and there are different versions” from which to choose, he said.
While there are a multitude of features from which to pick, Gemmi categorizes newer toilet and seat choices into three categories: Good, better and best.
“Good might be an attachment you bolt on and ties into the existing cold water line,” he said.
Better might be the toilet seat with features integrated into it. It will require an electric outlet or receptacle.
“If you’re in the process of redoing your bathroom, and you want something [like this] – or are even thinking about it, put a receptacle there,” Gemmi said.
For this type of toilet and seat feature, he recommends a dedicated circuit breaker. Follow manufacturer’s recommendations for electric hook ups.
Best could be a fully integrated toilet, seat and bidet package to handle the entire process for you. Touch screens and Wi-Fi or wireless remote controls can be part of these systems.
Prices from simple add on sprays can be as low as $75 with combination toilet and bidet packages running to $4,500 or more.
Once you’ve selected a manufacturer, toilet and seat features type, consider the shape of the toilet bowl. Toilets are made in either round or elongated shapes.
Keep placement and toilet shapes in mind when space is at a premium in the bathroom or water closet, said Dennis Gehman, president of Gehman Design Remodeling in Harleysville, Montgomery County.
“There are a few toilet manufacturers with toilet seat illumination, so when you come into the bathroom at night, you have some soft light” to guide you, he said.
Gehman said LED lighting is a continuing trend. As color, tone and glow has improved on these bulbs and products over the years, more consumers are considering them.
Vanity lighting, whether in the ceiling or from sconces on the sides of a mirror, may simply need some bulb replacements to change the look and feel of the bathroom.
“If you’re happy with the fixture [bulbs are] an easy replacement, while moving electrical fixtures requires more disruptive work,” he said.
Dimmers are an option to help with night time visits to the bathroom, as is motion sensitive lighting.
“We almost always put dimmer switches in homes, even in the bathroom. It’s easier to use during night time toilet visits, and you can preset these for use and for different times of the day,” he said.
Gehman said motion sensors and automatic lights have become very popular among his clients, “…especially families with young children, who don’t yet turn lights off when they leave a room.”
Gemmi said high tech medicine cabinets include LED perimeter lighting, which is integrated into the unit.
“Some can back light into the wall and some are etched, so the light source can illuminate your face,” he explained, perfect for shaving or doing hair and make-up.
Integrated lighting is another feature some newer medicine cabinets include.
Soft LED lighting under the toe kick, or area at the bottom of a cabinet, is popular too.
Bathrooms can become cluttered with lots of electric wall switches. Gemmi recommends considering a scene controller, with various switches located in another area, or hidden in a closet.
“Exhaust fan, shower light, sconces, or pendant, a toe kick under the cabinetry, you can end up with five or six light switches,” he explained.
A scene controller will “talk” to the various switches in the bathroom, providing a streamlined way to illuminate the space.
“You can create mood and ambiance” using lighting master panels in this way, Gemmi said.
Examples of lighting scenes include:
• An evening bath time scene.
• A cleaning or morning routine scene.
• A night light scene, where only toe kick or soft lighting is used during overnight hours.
“There are so many different types of lighting control systems and a lot of them are Wi-Fi enabled, so you can create scenes and zones with an app from your phone,” he said.
A mainstay in many bathrooms, tile requires grout and many fixtures require caulking.
“Caulking is probably the main maintenance thing around the tub, shower base, the sink to the counter and sink to the backsplash,” Gehman explained.
Because caulk and grout are visible, it’s important to have them done or replaced properly.
Gehman said while homeowners may be tempted to simply caulk over the top of failing material, that approach isn’t the best fix and can be or become unsightly.
“The best process is to have the old caulking scraped and removed and have a high quality silicone sealant and caulking done” in the old material’s place, he explained.
Today’s grout and caulk materials come in a wide variety of colors. Your contractor or interior design professional can help with color selection.
If you’re doing work – even repairs – in a bathroom, hire the correct contractor for the job.
“Most people think about calling a plumber for replacing a toilet or swapping out a sink, but if you want to change cabinetry you will want a contractor or remodeler for those types of jobs,” Gehman said.
Call a contractor or remodeling professional for jobs including a new floor, replacing lights, replacing or adding a shower or tub, or for moving or adding walls or appliances in the space.
Porcelain sinks are still the top request in bathrooms, and Gemmi recommends under mounting them.
“When you under mount you have more counter space, and they’re easier to clean,” he said.
Consider using vessel sinks in powder rooms, rather than primary or kid’s bathrooms, he said.
Vessel sinks sit on top of a counter. They take up a lot of space and can be harder to keep clean, he said.
Low flow fixtures can make it feel like there isn’t enough water coming from shower heads or tub facets. Fixtures can also suffer from low flow if the supply feeds or lines are undersized, he explained.
If you’re considering a bathroom remodeling project, think about larger diameter supply lines.
“That will help with rain head and shower head fixtures, which actually require three-quarter-inch feeds to them,” he said.
Many standard size supply lines are fitted with half-inch feeds, which is the residential standard, Gemmi noted.
Several options in hot water service are available to homeowners, so it’s a good idea to understand which type is best for your needs.
From hot water recirculation loops, modern Wi-Fi enabled tanks to on-demand systems which eliminate large water tanks altogether, think about your water use and needs, and the number of people in your household before replacing your home’s hot water service.
There are a number of options for residential hot water service and they work differently:
• Hot water recirculation loops include a third pipe back to the heater. “That goes right to where the fixture connects in the wall. It’s constantly circulating hot water, and it’s at your fixture and at your fingertips,” Gemmi explained.
Hot water recirculation loops are cost and environmentally efficient, and they draw very little power.
“It increases your hot water capacity because the pipe is insulated. What that means is when you turn the shower on, the hot water is immediately there,” he said.
• On demand water systems simply means the water is heated when it is needed. On demand systems do not store water for “standby” use, and they can be expensive to purchase and install.
• Wi-Fi compatible electric water tanks can be tied to an app on your smart phone. Control water temperature, turn water on or off, and receive trouble or problem alerts immediately delivered to your phone’s app. They are more energy efficient than older or conventional water tanks, and they can save you money over time.
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