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We live in a suburb of Minneapolis. Our master bedroom has a decent amount of unused space. My wife really wants a steam shower. Rather than remodeling an existing bathroom, I've started thinking about adding the steam shower to our bedroom.

Steam showers are enclosed and well-sealed to keep the steam from escaping until you get out. Many of them also seem to be more-or-less freestanding, and don't need to be fixed to the floor/walls to the same degree as a normal shower/tub.

Bathrooms of course have special code requirements around ventilation, electrical, etc.

I'm wondering what kinds of things we would need to think about in order to plan this project. For example, at its simplest could the steam shower just be installed in a corner of the bedroom? Or does it need to be walled off with its own door/HVAC/etc?

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  • I've started thinking about adding the steam shower to our bedroom As an aside, consider the potential for having to sell your house and what buyers may think of something unconventional like this. People may be turned off by a steam shower plopped in the corner. Do you have enough extra space in the master bedroom to wall off and create a "real" bathroom?
    – dwizum
    Commented Aug 12, 2019 at 17:50
  • I agree, walling it off would make more sense. Just wondering what's possible.
    – RobertAKARobin
    Commented Aug 12, 2019 at 18:22

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For it to be a bath it requires 2 fixtures (a basin with one or more other fixtures per 2017 NEC) With just the shower I see no problem but you would need to change any receptacles within 6’ to a GFCI.

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  • That's interesting. So would a shower and toilet count as a bathroom? Does the toilet bowl count as a basin? I'm not sure where to find this documentation or I'd just look at it myself.
    – RobertAKARobin
    Commented Aug 12, 2019 at 16:31
  • Since I am an electrician I use the national electric code. In article 100 definitions bathroom is defined: an area including a basin with one or more of the following; a toilet, a urinal, a shower, a bidet or similar plumbing fixtures. I think it would be unusual to have a toilet, urinal or bidet without a basin and other codes probably require the basin for those items.
    – Ed Beal
    Commented Aug 12, 2019 at 19:00
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The ones I looked at could definitely be installed in a bedroom. Keep in mind that they would need a water hookup, a drain and about a 20AMP/240V GFCI electric service.

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