If you are not a plumber, contractor or interior designer, you may pay very few attention to shower arms, when you are preparing a new bathroom construction, bathroom addition, or just remodeling your current bathrooms. But actually, shower arm or called shower head extension arm, is as important as bathroom shower faucet, as shower arm is connected to the main water supply pipes as shower valve, and is partially installed into wall or ceiling. High quality bathroom plumbing and hardware products could reduce the maintaince cost of the whole house. So, it's time to consider more about shower arm extension to get a high quality one, in your next bathroom remodeling or bathroom decoration project.
Material:
Just as stated, the shower arm is actually part of whole house structure, so solid brass is always the first and best material choice. Brass or copper and its alloys exhibit impressive antibacterial, antiviral and anti-fungal properties. From the point of health, if a solid brass shower head is not in your budget, a solid brass shower arm is a perfect choice. Compared with stainless steel material, the solid brass shower arms are sturdy and durable. The solid brass shower arms' average lifespan is 3 times longer than stainless steel material. Aquaiaw produce round shower arms by diameter 1 inch or 15/16 inch solid brass pipes, produce square shower arms by 1 inch X 1 inch or 19/16 X 6/16 inch solid brass pipes. These materials will guarantee all shower arms are sturdy and durable.
By the way, avoid zinc alloy as much as possible, as avoid zinc alloy would be harmful to human health.
Surface finishing:
The surface finishing of the shower arm is not the matter of its own. All plumbing parts in bathrooms, or even the light fixtures in bathroom, should be of the consistent tone or finishing. Although color contrast is hot in interior decoration, home owners have to choose contract colors for the plumbing hardware and fixtures mostly because the desired color is not in stock.
What color is the first choice for bathroom plumbing fixtures now? The answer is Matte Black. Matte Black is so hot surface finishing that almost all showrooms are exhibiting matte black Aquaiaw is proud of offering high quality Matte Black shower arms.
Matte Black is the finishing that presents upscale quality, luxury, nobility, and mystery. More important, more and more youths, Generation Z, believe matte black bathroom could show their personality. Black color means to be Cool! What's more, matte black hardware and fixtures could match with almost all tiles and cabinets. There's almost no need to worry about color or finishing coordination in bahtroom renovation and bathroom remodeling. On the other hand, almost all brands' matte black products could work together very well. Aquaiw matte black shower arms are nice partners to Delta, Moen or even Kohler shower heads.
Besides matte black, almost all bathroom designers now are using Gold tone, such as Brushed gold, Satin Brass or rose gold finishing, in their projects. In the past two years, everyone has faced enormous invisible pressure & uncertainty. No matter willing to or not, we have spent more time at home. In a relatively limited space, everyone expects some elements of warmth and safety. This partially explained why brushed gold bathroom plumbing hardware and kitchen hardware exploded in popularity over the past two years. Yes, brushed gold is a kind of magical finishing which could calm us down and offer us safety.
The potential slip is color difference. Different brands have different criteria for Brushed Gold. So it's much better to buy brushed gold shower arms and brushed gold shower heads from same plumbing products brand. Aquaiaw brushed gold shower arms, with brushed gold shower heads buying together option.
Polished Chrome shower arm: Polished Chrome is the most widely used surface finishing, and for this it's the lowest cost compared with other finishing. After the solid brass pipe is polished, layers of copper will be electroplated firstly, Nickel next and then chromium would be electroplated onto the surface of brass pipe, so totally 3 layers to ensure high quality and durability. The decorative surface, shining like mirror and silver, could be corrosion resistant and easily to be cleaned. Meanwhile, the surface will get sufficient hardness. If zinc or steel materials, another layer should be electroplated before nickel. But Aquaiaw only produce and sell solid brass shower arms.
Polished Nickel shower arm: Polished Nickel is the most difficultly produced surface finishing. To ensure plumbing products quality, polished nickel is normally only used on brass material. After the brass pipe is polished, layers of nickel would be electroplated onto the surface of brass pipe. No further steps, so the materials quality is the key factor for the surface finishing quality. Similar as polished chrome, polished nickel finishing is also shining as mirror, but the nickel color is appeared.
PVD Brushed Nickel shower arm: For solid brass shower head arms, brushed nickel is the step after polished chrome. The chrome surface would be brushed to be dark and with texture, the nickel color similar as stainless steel will take place of the silver color. PVD, Physical Vapor Deposition, is the process of reinforce shower arm surface even much more durable, corrosion and resistant to scratch. Even finger prints can not be left on PVD brushed nickel surface. This enhancement is caused by atom deposited thin filim covering on brass material surface.
Shower Arm Shape:
The shape of shower arm you choose, is not only determined by the whole bathroom design tone, but also determined by the finished tiles or ceiling and the shower arm mounting type. As the shower arms will be installed into wall or ceiling and connected with water supply pipes by nipples or drop ear elbows, these shower arms are all Male threads connections.
If you just slightly remodel current bathrooms, all walls, tiles or ceiling will be kept, you'll need to check current mounting holes for the shower arms. Or if your bathroom remodeling is completed, your contractors have gotten everything else ready, only leaving the plumbing fixtures to be installed, the mounting hole size would determine what shape of shower could be used. If the mounting hole size is 4/5 inch ( 20 mm ) diameter or 15/16 inch ( 24 mm) diameter, most time you'll need square shower arm, as the square shower arm are normally 1" X 1".
Changing mounting hole size means you have to call the tile guys or your contractors back to rework after wall, tiles or ceiling completion. That will cause extra budget. But there is an exception, that's High Rise shower arm. High rise shower arm is not connected with water supply pipes directly. A nipple is required to connect water supply pipe and high rise shower arm. During bathroom renovation, if you require raised shower head height without changing plumbing parts layout, but then Gooseneck raised shower arms for example. These shower arms could easily raise the shower heads height by at least 10 inch, they require the drop ear elbow should be away from the ceiling at least 12 inch. In the same way, because the high rise shower arm and drop ear elbow are connected by a 1/2 NPT NIPPLE, it must be ensured that the distance between the drop ear elbow and the wall is at least 12 inches.
There is a small tip about Square shower arms' instllation: Install the square shower arm to elbow, before tiles finished. For wall mount shower arm, it is workable to install the square shower arm after waterproof dry wall is finished, but before the tiles. For this installation method, the contractor or plumber should be highly skilled. Of course, you could discuss with your plumbers to install shower arms before the wall or tiles are completed. Then there will be no problem to install any square shower arms. Just to take care of it to avoid any scratches. So, before bathroom remodeling, the more discussion the better.
Shower Arm Size:
The ceiling mount shower arm extension size is determined by the net height of the bathroom. As ceiling mount shower heads are always rain shower heads or high pressure shower heads, you just make sure the shower head height is suitable for everyone in your family, 3 inch, 6 inch, 8 inch and 12 inch are the popular 12 inch or 16 inch wall mount shower arms by 90 degree bent. By the way, please pay attention to whether the shower arm length including threads or not. All Aquaiaw shower arms lengths are NOT including the 1/2 NPT threads.
Something Important:
Another aspect requires great attention is the production standard of shower arms. North America standard is different from all other countries. The threads of all plumbing parts in North America should be 1/2 NPT, while threads in all other countries are G1/2. So, when you choose a shower arm, make sure at least one thread is 1/2 - 14 NPT, otherwise the shower arm can not fit other plumbing parts of your house.
Remember to check how the threads and shower arm pipe is connected. Aquaiaw shower arms threads are all soldered into shower arm pipes. Of course, this way will cause extra production cost. Another way is to insert threads into pipes and tighten threads by screws.
Control budget:
If you have made up your mind to go on with upscale quality plumbing parts in your bathrooms, and have limited budge for bathroom remodeling or construction, a Manufacturer Direct plumbing fixture brand will be an ideal choice, especially this brand has been producing upscale products for the US grand brands for many years.
Aquaiaw Plumbing has been an OEM and ODM supplier for the US and EU brands brands for decades. All Aquaiaw bathroom hardware are of Showroom Quality but by affordable Manufacturer Direct prices. Aquaiaw plumbing is a manufacturer who produce all shower arms, wall supply elbows and faucets by Heavy-Duty Solid Brass, produce shower heads in premium 304 stainless steel. Aquaiaw only produces showroom quality plumbing parts.
