Last weekend the installers came to put in the unit bath. These are common in Japan but I don’t think we ever had anything like it in the US.
Unit bath is a self-contained water room that incorporates the bath and shower fittings, floor, drains, insulated metal walls, and cosmetic features like shelves and towel bars. Components are built in a factory and trucked to the construction site.
I chose this model – Takara Standard’s Predencia – because the tub is enameled iron and it sounds good when you bang on it. For real, that’s my reason. Also, this unit came with the color-changing dimmable lights Tod likes and we were able to get the larger size shower space that we wanted.
Once I decided on the model, I selected from options available: colors for tub, floor, and walls; upgrades like better lighting (yes) fancy shower heads (no), additional grab bars (no), more powerful exhaust fan (yes).
I went simple on the colors – white, black and warm grey – and to be honest it wasn’t hard. I didn’t like most of the choices for the walls except for this terrazzo mosaic. The glitter is so extra, but I approve.
It took a day to assemble all the parts. We visited during the installation and the guy looked at us, smiled and said “I can come back in ten years and add more grab rails for you.” Ouch, but he’s not wrong.
So now we have a mostly completed section of the house. Walking into the unit bath is like entering a different world – smooth manufactured perfection. I appreciate the contrast of standing inside this factory-built thing and looking out to the rest of the space which is handmade and beautiful.
