1: STYLE IS KEY.

The finish or color of your showerhead should match the tub filler and the faucet. The styles should have a similar look, but don’t necessarily have to match. You can now get showerheads that offer up to 25 different sprays from massage to drenching rain to fine mist.

2: SPRAY ME.

There are several different showerheads available on the market. Some mount on a vertical slide for versatility and allow for height differences. The wall-mounted shower is most common with an overhead shower placed on the ceiling. This may require more water to operate. A handheld version with a controlled spray is best to bathe children, wash a pet or help those who need to shower sitting down. Body spray showerheads are small showerheads installed in series of two or three along opposite walls. The ultimate is body mist shower with a series of jets in a single bar to gently wash the body and have adjustable force and spray patterns.

3: CLEANS ITSELF.

Do you live where there is hard water? Then think about a showerhead that offers self-cleaning capabilities. Also if you live by salt water, ask about special protective coating for polished brass and chrome fixtures. You will be able to maintain the good looks without tarnish or discoloration or even pitting.

4: FLOW.

A Low-flow showerheads conserves water by restricting water flow through smaller openings. The federally mandated effort to save water has reduced the flow of showerheads to no more than 2.5 gallons per minute. Additionally, some showerhead manufacturers offer flow restriction mechanisms that reduce levels even lower. While they save water at this lower level, the water temperature may be lower than desired.

5: PRICING.

Showerheads cost anywhere from $20 to $500 and more. For the most part, you will get what you pay for with the lower priced models offering less features. Changing to an overhead shower may mean expensive plumbing renovations. For this reason, if you are replacing a wall mounted showerhead, you will probably want to select another one.

6: SCALD GUARD.

Antiscald protection is extremely important if your shower is used by older adults or small children. To replace an old mixer valve with an anitscald one is an expensive plumbing expense. Instead, think about an antiscald fitting which installs in between the shower arm and your new showerhead. It’s way cheaper and just as efficient.

Most of us living in the UK today take for granted the convenience of modern plumbing technologies, from a flushing toilet to a running tap of clean and potable water. Today nobody has to think about the changes plumbing has gone through or the history of the technology. However, the history of plumbing and its respective technology is long and interesting.

It was largely during the centuries when Greeks and the Romans ruled the known world that plumbing systems made their way into urban settings. The Greeks and Romans used plumbing to take clean water to the cities and houses and dirty water away from public bathing houses which was done mostly via a network of aqueducts during the Romans’ rule. In fact, the Roman way of aqueducts and lead piping was considered sufficient until the nineteenth century when underground piping systems took the place of the aqueduct system.

During ancient times, aqueducts were mostly built out of stone or clay while the pipes leading to and from them were fashioned from lead. Modern plumbing, on the other hand, uses vastly different materials. Today, plastic, steel, brass and copper are widely used for the construction of plumbing systems and pipes. Lead is no longer used because it is highly toxic.

The bath houses that were popular during the Roman Empire were the real driver behind modern western plumbing calling for technical solutions from the ancient engineers. When the bath houses were first used and plumbing had not yet fully developed, the water in the public bath houses was only changed once a day and people bathed only while the sun was out. This is because bacteria had not yet been discovered and Romans had not yet learned how diseases and infections were spread. Sanitation had not yet evolved and a single change of water was considered efficient for that time’s hygienic standards.

The modern toilet, another staple of modern plumbing systems in the western world, is also derived from ancient times. The western toilet is largely based upon the toilets used in Mohenjo-Darco as long ago as 2800BC. These toilets were made from a wooden seat that was placed on top of a brick pile. In 2800BC only the richest citizens were allowed to use these toilets. It took as long as the middle of the 1800s for the sit down toilet that was so celebrated in ancient Rome to be adopted by western societies.

Once the sit down toilet and the other plumbing systems that were adopted by the Romans made their way into western society, the technology surrounding them advanced very quickly. It took less than a century for plumbing and toilet technology to move from aqueducts and holes atop brick piles to become the highly attractive designs for toilets and modern showers of today.

Today pipes and plumbing fixtures are mostly located underground and the sewage drains and cesspools of ancient times have been almost completely eradicated and replaced. As technology continues to advance, the cleanliness and efficiency of plumbing and toilets will become more efficient and clean.