Building a Simple Outdoor Shower for Beach Days

Why a Rinse Station Beats a Hopeful Towel Rub

Anyone who lives within walking distance of a beach knows the routine: shoes off at the door, a trail of sand across the hall, damp towels draped over the banister, and a car boot that looks like the tide came in. An outdoor shower solves most of that in one go. It gives you somewhere to rinse wetsuits, rinse dogs, rinse children and rinse yourself before anyone crosses the threshold.

You do not need a plumber's van on the drive for a fortnight, either. A basic rinse station is one of the most achievable DIY projects in a coastal garden: a tap, a mixer, a screen, and a drain. If you can lay a slab and fit a compression joint, you can build this over a weekend.

Siting It Well: Sun, Shelter and Somewhere for the Water to Go

Position matters more than fancy fittings. Aim for a spot that catches afternoon sun (warm water from a black-painted pipe or a solar bag is a genuine pleasure in September), but tuck it behind a wall, hedge or shed so you are not on display to the lane. A gap of about 1.5m by 1m is plenty of footprint for a single-person rinse bay.

Drainage is the part people skip, and the part that causes problems. You have three sensible options:

• Soakaway: a 600mm-deep pit filled with 20–40mm clean gravel, wrapped in a permeable membrane. Keep it at least 5m from the house foundations and away from any boundary the neighbour might complain about.
• Gully to existing drainage: if you have a nearby rainwater downpipe or surface water run, connect a trapped gully into it. Fit a removable leaf-and-sand basket, because you will be washing grit down there constantly.
• Gravel-filled tray: simplest of all. A 100mm-deep tray of washed pea gravel over a membrane, refreshed each spring. Fine for occasional use, less good if four people shower daily.

Whatever you choose, slope the ground away from the shower at roughly 1:60 so water never pools around your feet. If you are unsure about connecting to drainage, check with your local authority before you dig.

The Plumbing: Keep It Simple and Frost-Aware

For most gardens, the neatest setup is a spur taken from an existing outdoor tap or an indoor supply. Fit a double check valve on the outdoor supply — this is a legal requirement under UK water regulations for any outside tap, and it stops garden water finding its way back into your drinking supply.

From there, run 15mm pipe or a length of MDPE (blue alkathene) pipe to the shower position. Then:

• Fit an isolating valve indoors so you can shut the branch down completely.
• Add a drain-down valve at the lowest external point. In winter, open it and the whole run empties in seconds.
• Use a thermostatic mixing valve if you can stretch to it. It lets you blend hot and cold to a safe temperature and holds it steady — invaluable with children and dogs.
• Mount the shower head at around 2m, with a second low-level tap at 300mm for filling buckets and rinsing wellies.

If running hot water out is impractical, a simple cold-only shower is still transformative on a hot day. Pair it with a gravity-fed solar bag hung from the frame, or coil 20m of black MDPE pipe on a sunny wall as a pre-heater. Both cost very little and work surprisingly well between May and September.

The Enclosure: Weatherproof, Screened and Easy to Clean

A screen does triple duty: privacy, windbreak, and somewhere to hang a towel that is not the bathroom door. Build a frame from treated timber posts — 100mm by 100mm is comfortable — set in postcrete to about 600mm depth. Space your posts to suit 1.2m wide panels.

For cladding, lean towards materials that shrug off salt air:

• Western red cedar or larch feather-edge boards, fixed with stainless steel A4 screws. They silver beautifully and last decades.
• Frosted polycarbonate or marine-grade ply if you want an opaque, wipe-clean panel rather than slats.
• Louvred slats with a 10mm gap, which give airflow and help the bay dry out between uses.

Take the screen up to around 2.1m on the windward side and leave the sunny side more open. Add a simple bench at 450mm height — somewhere to sit and wrestle a wetsuit off — and two stainless hooks at chest height for towels and a changing robe. Avoid mild steel fixings anywhere; they will bleed rust stains down your timber within a season.

Flooring, Footbaths and the Little Extras

Underfoot, you want grip and drainage. Decking boards on 50mm joists over a gravel base work well, as does textured porcelain paving laid to a fall. Avoid smooth stone when wet — it is genuinely hazardous with soapy feet.

A shallow tray of gravel at the entrance to the bay acts as a footbath and traps a surprising amount of sand before it reaches your drain. Keep a stiff-bristled brush on a hook, and a lidded bin for wetsuit boots so they drip outside rather than in the utility room.

Looking After It Through the Year

Come October, shut the indoor isolating valve, open the drain-down valve, and disconnect any handset or hose. Lag exposed pipework with foam sleeving, and if you have a mixing valve, check the manufacturer's winter guidance — many can stay outside provided they drain fully.

Each spring, clear the gully basket, top up the gravel, brush the timber down, and check your stainless fixings are still tight. Ten minutes of attention in March buys you another summer of sandy feet staying exactly where they belong.