Freestanding Wood-Sided Outdoor Shower with Rain Head
Step-by-step guide made from Indy Farm Life's YouTube video.
Build a freestanding outdoor shower enclosure framed with 4x4 posts, 2x4 walls, and a sloped corrugated polycarbonate roof over a gravel French drain base. The structure is sheathed inside and out with rough-sawn 1x lumber and tongue-and-groove car siding, treated with clear wood preservative, and plumbed with PEX to a three-way diverter feeding a wall shower head, overhead rain head, and exterior hose bib.
The full step-by-step Spetz Specs for this project (every part, size, diagram and step, free): Freestanding Wood-Sided Outdoor Shower with Rain Head Spetz Specs.
- Difficulty: intermediate
Disclaimer
- This project involves working at height on ladders and roof framing, as well as plumbing and structural carpentry. Use proper fall protection, support your weight only on solid framing rather than polycarbonate roof panels, and follow local building and plumbing codes or consult a qualified professional.
Safety
- Wear eye and hearing protection when operating a miter saw, circular saw, impact driver, and framing nailer.
- Avoid skin and eye contact and work in a well-ventilated area when spraying penetrating fungicide and termiticide wood preservative.
- Always wear safety glasses and appropriate personal protective equipment when cutting wood and using power tools.
- Ensure the structure is built on a stable foundation and is properly braced to withstand wind and weather.
Must know before you build
- Check 4x4 post diagonals for squareness before backfilling to ensure a true frame.
- Slope #53 limestone under drainage pipes for effective water flow before adding river rock.
- Install basement shutoffs and low-point drains to fully winterize exterior hose bibs.
- Shield exterior PEX tubing from UV with tape or sleeve to prevent degradation.
- Use clear wood preservative on untreated siding if staining, avoid green-tinted.
- Extend PEX garden hose stubs past siding to prevent spray back when connecting hoses.
Tools
- Shovel (round-point shovel)
- Post hole digger (manual clamshell post hole digger)
- Hand tamper (manual steel tamper)
- Pump sprayer (handheld tank sprayer)
- Tractor with front-end loader (compact utility tractor, John Deere) (optional)
- Miter saw with stand (sliding compound miter saw)
- Ladder (step ladder and multi-position aluminum ladder)
- Level (spirit level)
- Cordless framing nailer (battery-powered framing nailer, DeWalt)
- Circular saw (cordless circular saw, DeWalt)
- Impact driver (cordless impact driver, DeWalt)
- Speed square (rafter square)
- Tape measure (retractable tape measure)
Materials
- Garden hoses (3, water supply hoses)
- Quarter-turn ball valves (brass quarter-turn hose bibs and shutoff valves)
- Pressure-treated posts (pressure-treated lumber, 4x4x12 ft)
- #53 limestone gravel (crushed limestone aggregate, #53)
- 2x6 framing lumber (pressure-treated dimensional lumber, 2x6)
- Pre-wrapped drainage pipe (3, aggregate-free French drain pipe)
- #8 gravel (river rock gravel, #8)
- Hearthstones (9, stone floor slabs)
- Shower rough-in valve (shower mixing and 3-way diverter rough-in valve, Delta)
- Shower valve trim kit (shower valve and diverter trim kit, Delta, chrome)
- Rough-sawn 1x lumber (rough-sawn wood boards, 1x)
- Corrugated drain pipe (flexible perforated drainage pipe)
- Drainage pipe end caps (plastic pipe caps)
- 2x4 framing lumber (dimensional framing lumber, 2x4)
- PEX tubing (cross-linked polyethylene plumbing pipe, 1/2 in for hot/cold lines, 3/4 in for well water line, 1/2 in, 3/4 in)
- PEX fittings and garden hose adapters (brass PEX crimp fittings and garden hose adapters)
- Shower heads and shower arm (wall-mounted shower head and overhead rain shower head, Delta, chrome)
- Composite decking boards (composite deck boards, Trex)
- Corrugated polycarbonate roof panels (clear corrugated polycarbonate roofing)
- Clear wood preservative (2 gallons, penetrating fungicide, termiticide, and wood preservative, Nisus, PenaShield, clear)
- Car siding boards (tongue-and-groove wood siding)
- Framing and siding nails (collated nails)
- Exterior structural wood screws (exterior wood screws, Grip-Rite)
- Washered roofing screws (roofing screws with sealing washers)
Step by step
Step 1: Lay out the drainage pipes
Place three lengths of fabric-wrapped drainage pipe side by side across the sloped shower base between the 4x4 posts.
- Set the first pre-wrapped drainage pipe. Carry the first length of aggregate-free wrapped drainage pipe into the shower footprint and lay it between the 4x4 posts following the slope of the ground.
- Tip: Leave an overhang of drainage pipe extending out the back of the shower footprint to carry water toward the ditch.
- Place the remaining two drainage pipes. Lay two more pre-wrapped drainage pipes side by side next to the first pipe to span the width of the shower base.
Step 2: Backfill the perimeter and shower base with aggregate
Dump and spread #53 limestone around the exterior of the 2x6 base box, then fill the interior shower bay with #8 river rock gravel over the drainage pipes.
- Dump and shovel #53 limestone around the base perimeter. Use a tractor loader and shovel to dump #53 crushed limestone around the outside of the 2x6 containment box and over the exposed corrugated drain pipes.
- Tip: Use #53 limestone for exterior grading and backfill because its mix of stone and fines compacts into a solid, versatile base.
- Spread and level the exterior limestone. Shovel and rake the #53 limestone around the sides of the shower base to create a smooth transition to the surrounding ground.
- Shovel #8 river rock over the interior drainage pipes. Scoop a bucket of clean #8 river rock gravel with the tractor, position it next to the frame, and shovel the gravel into the shower bay over the black drainage pipes.
- Tip: Shovel gravel in by hand when the loader bucket can't square up to the framing so you don't dump clean river rock outside the containment box.
- Tip: Install plastic end caps on the open ends of the pre-wrapped drainage pipes before backfilling so #8 gravel does not fall inside the pipes.
- Level the #8 gravel bed inside the shower bay. Fill the shower bay to the top of the lower 2x6 crossmembers and smooth the #8 gravel flat with your foot and a shovel.
Step 3: Fill the entryway floor framing with gravel
Shovel #8 river rock gravel into the framed bays of the entryway floor until level with the 2x6 blocking.
- Position the loader bucket over the entryway framing. Drive the tractor up to the front of the entryway framing and hold the bucket of #8 gravel just above the 2x6 grid.
- Shovel #8 gravel into the entryway joist bays. Shovel #8 gravel out of the bucket into each compartment of the 2x6 entryway grid.
- Tip: Add 2x6 blocking and joist hangers to reinforce the entryway floor framing before you fill the bays with gravel.
Step 4: Frame the shower walls
Cut 2x4 studs and horizontal framing members to length and nail them between the 4x4 corner posts to form the shower walls.
- Frame the rear plumbing wall with 2x4 studs. Cut 2x4 studs and plates to fit between the rear 4x4 posts over the drain pipe outlets, check them with a level, and nail two vertical studs in place with a framing nailer.
- Frame the left side wall. Measure and cut 2x4s on the miter saw, then nail the top plate and three vertical studs between the left-side 4x4 posts.
- Frame the right side wall. Cut 2x4 studs on the trailer and nail three vertical studs across the right side wall between the right-side 4x4 corner posts.
- Tip: Check the corners for square as you frame between the 4x4 posts; if a post was set slightly out of square, compensate with the 2x4 wall framing and hide the discrepancy later with the exterior siding and trim.
Step 5: Install the doorway post
Set the 4x4 doorway post into its hole, plumb it with a level, and secure it to the base and upper framing with structural screws.
- Set and fasten the 4x4 doorway post. Drop the 4x4 post into the hole dug against the 2x6 threshold, hold a level against the post to plumb it, and drive structural screws through the base framing and upper cross brace into the post.
- Tip: Set an interior partition post to leave a 30-inch doorway opening, which increases privacy and creates wall space for a recessed niche.
Step 6: Install the exterior wood siding
Cut rough-sawn 1x boards to length on the miter saw and nail them horizontally from the bottom up across the exterior wall framing.
- Nail rough-sawn 1x boards up the rear exterior plumbing wall. Cut rough-sawn 1x boards to length on the miter saw, stack each board directly on top of the previous course without spacers, and nail them into the studs and corner posts up the rear exterior plumbing wall.
- Tip: Alternate board widths and wood tones as you work up the wall, and butt wavy rough-sawn edges directly together without spacers for a rustic look.
- Sheath the left side and entryway walls with 1x boards. Measure, cut, and nail horizontal 1x boards from the bottom up across the left side exterior wall and the front partition wall facing the entryway.
Step 7: Apply wood preservative to the interior walls
Spray clear wood preservative evenly across the interior wood walls using a handheld pump sprayer.
- Spray clear wood preservative onto the interior siding. Pump up the handheld tank sprayer filled with clear wood preservative and spray an even wet coat across the interior wood walls and recessed niche.
- Tip: Choose a clear wood preservative rather than a green-tinted formula if you plan to stain the wood instead of painting it.
- Tip: Before installing interior wall boards, spray the inside cavity face of the exterior siding with wood preservative and let it dry overnight. After treating the interior walls, allow them to dry before running the shower.