Best Outdoor Shower Buying Guide for 2023

– Check this out, we’re just at the side of our house, looks like a bomb’s gone off. The rest of the yard, that’s all been done, and it’s all looking pretty good. We just need to wait for some of those plants to grow. But, the sideway, definitely needs some work.

Now the first job I want to have a crack at is to build an outdoor shower because let’s face it, what beach house doesn’t have one? I already have the hot and cold water installed and there’s a tap down there to wash your feet.

So all I need to do is to build a timber screen to attach our tapware to, install some plumbing to handle all that water waste, then lay a concrete slab to give us something to stand on.

And my objective is to do this as cheaply as I possibly can by using recycled materials, apart from the concrete slab.

And with a bit of luck, I should be able to scrounge most of that material up from around the house.

Anyway, good day, folks, my name’s Uncle Knackers, and you are watching DIY for Knuckleheads. Let’s do it.

Alright, all I’ve done here, is I’ve marked out where the concrete slab’s going to go, and now all we have to do is just dig this out, just scrape the top off it, get a nice firm surface. Now that’s a good, solid surface for us to be working off, and the next job we need to do

is to form up for our little slab. And for the boxing, all I’m using is these old recycled floorboards

that I had to lie around the house.

It is a bit of a shame, though, because I had a really nice project lined up for these little babies, and oh well, the sacrifices I make. They might be able to be washed down, we’ll wait and see. Anyway, form up for the slab, install the plumbing, and then we’re good to go to lay the slab. Too easy.

It’s just started to drizzle outside so I had to abandon that slab, and I thought it might be a great idea to come inside, make myself a cup of tea.

Ah, it does not get much better than that. That’s a good cuppa. Come inside and have a look at the last of my stash. See what I have to build that timbered screen.

I’ve got here some 70 x 35, or 3 x 1 1/2, top hardwood, and I think I’ll use this to go around the outside of the timber screen. For the framework behind the timber screen, I’ve got a couple of sticks here of treated pine, that should work well, And for the face of the timber screen, I’m just going to use these old hardwood fence pilings.

Which, once sanded, should come up an absolute treat.

Alright, I’m going to finish this beautiful cup of tea, get the saw set up, and then bang this frame together.

Let’s do it. I’ll tell you what, I have to give credit where credit is due. I’ve had my old DeWalt saw here for around ten years, and in that time, all it’s done is chop up knarly old wood, and it’s still going like an absolute champion. Love it.

And guess who forgot to de-nail the timber, and ripped up the pad on his brand new sander? That’s good, the frame’s now been cut to size, sanded, and now it’s time to glue, nail, and screw it together.

Beautiful. Whenever you drill a hole, and you want to get a nice finish, it’s always good to countersink it. And I’m using this countersinking tool here. It’s a fantastic bit of kit, just watch what it does.

The yellow part spins, and when it stops, we’ve reached the right depth. Then all you need to do is to grab your screw.

There you go, and you finish up with the head of the screw just beneath the surface, just how you want it.

Beautiful. Excellent. Now before we start putting on those slats for the screen, we want to get this framework nice and square. So, get the frame, turn it upside down, so the back is facing up.

Take out the tape measure, and so a diagonal measurement from corner to corner. This reads 2165 mm, which’s from the outside edge to the outside edge. Do the other side. And the measurement is 2165 mm.

Both measurements are exactly the same. That’s perfectly square, now all you need to do, is to attach a brace on either end. That’s spot on. Now, these braces, or blocks, will stay in place until all the slats are on, then I’ll take those off, and we’re good to go. Too easy. With the frame now squared up and secure with those braces, it’s time to start attaching those slats. But the slats need to be attached to something, which is where this treated pine comes in. Now let’s simply nail this to the inside edge of the frame.

And I’ve cut this bit of treated pine 5mm shorter on either end.

That way water won’t suck up through that end grain. And rot the timber out.

And before I attach this, I want to give it a couple of good coats with these exterior grade paint. And its colour is black, because I have gaps between my slats,

and I wouldn’t mind seeing some blackness between those gaps if you know what I mean. Alrighty, I’ve got my paintbrush.

Let’s start painting.

And like all good paint jobs, make sure you apply at least two coats, paying particular attention to the end grain.

You don’t want any water getting soaked up into the timber.

And then just attach that frame to the exterior frame, first of all, with my nail gun, and then finished off by driving in a few screws.

Perfect. Now that’s great, the frame’s done, and now it’s time to start installing the slats.

And for the record, that “drizzle” we just had, turned out to be 250mm or 10 inches worth of rain.

It’s a bit wet outside. Now before you start nailing your boards down in any which way you like, it’s a great idea to map the whole thing out first.

The reason being, that you want the breech, which has the taps and the shower hose in a position where it’s in the middle of a board, not on a join, like that, just looks a bit weird.

And not on a small board, like that, where drilling a hole will actually cut that board virtually in half.

So you want it in the middle of aboard.

That way it looks good and the cover place also looks nice and symmetrical. A bit of planning goes a long way.

So what do you reckon? I think it’s time to stop mucking around, cut these to size, and nail them on.

Let’s go. Okay, these two slats appear to be in the right spot. And what we need to do is fill in the rest of the screen.

Beautiful. And as per usual I’m using my trusty old nail gun to nail down those slats.

But if you don’t have a nail gun, no dramas.

Just pull out the trusty old hammer and nails, and you’re good to go. And remember when you’re doing an outside project, make sure you’re using galvanized and stainless steel fixings. And what I’m up to here is that I’m putting in some extra framing to help stiffen up those slats.

And just remember when putting in the framing, not to get it in the way of where the is going to go.

And then just finish off by nailing those slats into the edge of the frame. With the screen now finished, it’s time to position our taps and shower rows.

Mark that on the screen, then grab out a drill, and drill out the holes. Mmm, I think it’s time to take a quick break because I need to eat a big old piece of humble pie.

I made a bit of a blue. This is what I did.

I also had a tap to go on. I totally forgot all about it. And unfortunately, the tap doesn’t finish up in the center of that board. It finishes up about an inch away from the top. Disappointing, I thought I was being such a legend.

And, by the way, the humble pie

could do with a dollop of ice cream. It was a bit tart. To attach the screen to the house, I need to screw through 16 mm of fiberboard and into the stud behind. Now, these boards are secret nailed, so I can’t locate any nails on the surface to find out where the studs are.

So luckily, on hand, I have my trusty old magnetic stud finders. Now very quickly, just before I show you how these things work, these are the two types that I have. This first one here is called a stud pop and it’s commercially available. This thingamajiggy here is a homemade job that I made out of a rare earth magnet, a washer, and a length of the string.

The stud pop, S-T-U-D-P-O-P, is a very easy tool to use.

All it is is a loose red section there, and a magnet underneath.

And all you need to do is to drag the stud pop and notice that’s loose, along with the board until bang, the red part straightens, you’ve found the nail, therefore, you’ve found the stud. Take it off that nail, the red part becomes loose.

Back on the nail, straightens out again. And that’s where that stud is. Very simple, but also very effective. And my homemade model works on the same principle. Drag the magnet along the wall until bang, there you go, it’s found the nail.

Therefore, it’s found the stud.

This magnet is a lot stronger than the stud pop, but they both work very, very well.

Love it. Okay, let’s stop mucking around and get this slab set up. First of all, we’ll get it nice and level, square it up off the house, just like that.

Level it up, nail it, peg it, do some more leveling, do some more nailing, bit more pegging, and you’re done. That wasn’t that hard, was it? Too easy. I got my mate, Kurt, from Sawtelle Plumbing to give me a hand to connect the outdoor shower up to the sewer system. Kurt’s good on a shovel, too. I’m absolutely useless.

Connect the pipes, attach the gully trap, backfill the hole, and we’re good to go. Magic. Oh yeah, and by the way, if you’ve got a spurt, call Kurt. Good one, mate.

I hope that bridge is straight.

Good stuff.

Looking good, Kurty boy, looking good. Alright, let’s give these taps a whirl.

We have water, well done Kurt. – No worries, mate. – Good boy, mate. Ah yes. – Centre of the drain, look at that. – Magic. Beautiful. Okay, let’s find a wall stud to screw our frame too. Watch the red bit, bang, there it is, found a stud. Spot on. We can now screw the frame to the wall to make it nice and secure,

and once that’s done, we can move the support that was holding it up.

Now that’s fantastic, the frame’s up, it looks great, the taps are on, and the plumbing’s installed.

Now, all we need to do is to lay that slab. Ah, happy days. If you ever find yourself in a situation down the track where you’re butting two slabs up against one another, it’s always a good idea to place some expanding foam between the two, to cater for any movement down the track.

And all I’m doing here is putting down some crusher dust, about 30mm worth, which will give a nice, firm surface to lay our slab on.

And check out my whacker packer. What a beauty. Now that’s great, the crusher dust is down, it’s packed, and now it’s time to lay some plastic over the top of our crusher dust.

And what the plastic does, is that it prevents the moisture from coming up through your slab, which is really important inside your house because you have things like shower floor boards, etc., and you don’t want moisture getting into them.

But outside, with an outdoor shower, or a pathway, it’s neither here nor there.

But, I have some, so I may as well use it.

Lay the plastic, start pouring the slab, drop in your mesh, and then finish the slab off, and you’re done. Too easy.

Okay, let’s lay that plastic. First of all, cut it in and around the drain, and into the shape of the shower base.

Then make sure you tape up any tears in the plastic, to prevent any moisture coming out through it.

Then, remove the grate, and cover the hole up with some timber, to prevent any concrete going into that hole, clogging up the gully trap.

And then it’s on to making the concrete mix, for the shower base.

And seriously, it’s just like, I don’t know, making a cake, just not as tasty.

And for this job, I’ve used a total of ten bags of premixed concrete mix.

Look at that, beautiful, what a brew.

Not too wet, and not too dry.

Just perfect for putting in your steel mesh, which I found underneath the house.

Which was handy.

Just tap that down with your foot or shovel, and away we go.

The next thing you want to do is get your hammer and tap the boxing.

What that does is that it vibrates the side of the box, and just ensures that the side of the slab is going to be nice and smooth.

And then grab your level, doesn’t matter what it is, level or stick, anything straight, and then we’ll start leveling out that slab.

And because we have a drain in the middle, it’s actually 20mm lower than your outside edges of the slab, which enables drainage to occur.

Now just grab your edging tool,

and run it around the edge of the slab, and that gives a nice rounded finish.

And then we’ll just finish it off with a nice, light broom finish.

Run our edger around the side one more time, and we’re done.

Okay, it’s just over 24 hours down the track.

The slab’s gone off, and it looks absolutely fantastic.

I am wrapped, especially for somebody who doesn’t do any concreting.

Say, anybody can do this stuff,

and the last thing we need to do to finish the whole job off is just to remove that boxing.

And hopefully once that comes off, we’ll finish up with a nice, smooth edge.

Fingers crossed.

Okay, let’s cut those nails, pull out the pegs, and remove that board.

Alright, a moment of truth. Just gently tap it off. And there you have it. That looks beautiful.

Love it. Mission accomplished. So that’s it folks, the outdoor shower is done. Complete with screen, tapware,

a concrete slab that includes drainage. I also put down some paving, so your feet don’t get dirty after having a shower. And I also added an old recycled wooden ladder to hang your towel off. Great tip, knackers. So that’s it, folks.

I hope you enjoyed and found useful my how-to build an outdoor shower video. And, as per usual, a big thumb’s up is always greatly appreciated.

And if this is your first time on my channel, please hit that subscribe button for more handy tips. And if you’d like to see more detailed photos of the finished product and the build process, head on over to my Facebook page, which I’ll have the link to in the description box, down below.

So make sure you check that one out. Alrighty, well I think I need a cup of tea.

And maybe even a shower. So until next time, I’m out of here Cheers.

Hey everybody and welcome to my new shop I just moved shops again and the first thing I need to do in this new shop is build a shower because I don’t have one and there will be visitors coming over in a couple weeks so since all my tools are still in Cologne I have limited tools to work with and I also only have one day to finish this and that’s why I brought my friend Christian with me he’s going to help me build the shower and also film the process this is the centerpiece of my outdoor shower I bought it for 30 euros I want to try and keep this project as cheap as possible and my rough idea is to cut it somewhere here and then use the bottom pod as the top end and the upper pod as the roof and the rest I will figure out I think okay so this is the rough placement the sewer for greywater is very conveniently under this platform so the water can just drain out of the top and it will run right into the grey sewer system which is great that is a huge huge help now the next step is to cut the top this will be the entry so maybe I don’t know I don’t know but this is too high and this is too dangerous so I need to cut the plastic cut the metal but keep these intact so I can try to connect them to the beams.

Sometimes everything goes right this project was just a perfect experience I had the idea to build a very cheap outside shower then I stumbled upon these plastic bins that I could buy for 30 euros then my neighbor gave me a bunch of pellet wood for free I actually need a little bit more for this side but so far this is great then my other neighbor gave me this sheet of plastic which is perfect for roof and we all got it done in 8 hours I couldn’t be more happy with this project if you like cold showers this would be a function of shower just with a garden hose coming straight out of the roof I don’t like cold showers though so I have a plan to build a stove that is going to heat up the water before it comes into the shower but that is going to be the next project as I said I am super happy with this I especially like how the sunlight comes through the roof it doesn’t really make you feel like you’re in a small shower it’s actually more like a vacation shower or something all right thank you guys for watching and I hope I see you next week with a new video bye.