What to Do About a Window in a Shower

As someone who works on historic homes built before WWII it’s a question I have gotten many times.

“What should I do about that old wood window in a shower?”

It seems crazy that builders would have put a window in the shower. Were they a bunch of exhibitionists showing their “goods” to the neighbors? They couldn’t have been blind to the idea that putting a wood window in a wet shower would cause all kinds of paint problems not to mention the wood rot that was almost certain. What were they thinking?

Is this another case of people in the past being dumber than us today? Not at all. In many ways they were actually smarter when it comes to building a house. They just lived in a different time when people used their bathrooms a bit differently than today.

Why Are There Windows in a Shower?

People have been showering since the beginning of time when cavemen danced under a waterfall, but for the majority of human history taking a bath was the primary way of cleaning oneself. Showers were largely a novelty until late in the 20th century.

According to FlexTrades, “Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, showers grew in popularity, especially in England and the U.S. But the bathtub still reigned supreme until the 1980s, when showers took over as the go-to option in most households.”

That change in bathing tastes is what led us to the predicament many of us who own historic homes face, a wood window in a shower. The real question should be, “why did we put a shower by a wood window?”

It’s not the window’s fault. It was there when it was just a bathtub and nobody ever sprayed jets of pressurized water at it. Body sprayers, steam jets, waterfall heads and every new shower invention inspired by the “gurus” on HGTV has wreaked havoc on these poor windows.

In these old houses this area was only ever designed to be a bathtub. Nobody predicted that 50 years later someone would decide showering is better than bathing. No one can predict the future.

Much like the builders of the 1980s put intercoms and phone jacks in every room for our convenience they could never have predicted smart phones and the internet, those old school builders didn’t see the coming age of the shower either.

Now that you know why those windows were placed in their unfortunate location let’s talk about what to do about it. In the next section, I’ll share some ways to protect these windows and your privacy at the same time.

What About Privacy?

In most cases these windows are high enough and small enough to provide some privacy while you sing Taylor Swift songs naked as a jaybird using the shampoo bottle as a microphone. But sometimes these windows can be so large or poorly placed that it’s like a peep show for the HOA.

The simplest fix in situations like this is to use a privacy film. Apply a privacy film to the inside of the glass and you get to keep most of the light your window provides without all the adoring fans. Whether it’s frosted or some other unique pattern, there are countless styles of film you can use to achieve just the right look. Pick your favorite and go to town.

I’ve also used a privacy grade Indow Window on the inside of shower windows for clients from time to time as well. This provides both privacy and protection from the water issue that we’ll discuss in a minute.

Indow Windows are a press fit interior storm window that you laser measure to fit your window precisely and then simply press it into place without any screws or brackets. That makes them an excellent choice for tiled surrounds where drilling can crack tiles.

What About Rot?

Wood that gets wet constant rots. It’s a fact of life, but there are ways to prevent rot from taking hold of your wood windows if they are in the unenviable shower location.

The first step is to minimize the amount of water hitting your window. Adjust shower heads if necessary and don’t store shampoo bottles on the window sill. When you’re done with a shower wipe the window down so there is no standing water and you’ll largely stop rot in its tracks.

This may sound incredibly simple, but remember that the outside of your windows get wet every time it rains so it’s not like they weren’t already built for this kind of treatment. They just can’t handle staying wet long term. Wipe them down every time.

BoraCare

This is an excellent product when it comes to preventing rot in a lot of situations, but it may not always be feasible for everyone. I have a full tutorial on how to use BoraCare here, but let me give you the high level of it so you can tell if it’s for you or not.

BoraCare is a borate treatment that prevents wood rot (fungus) from growing. It has to be applied to bare wood so you’ll need to completely strip down your wood window and trim of any paint or varnish and then brush the BoraCare onto the wood. Within 48 hours the wood can then be primed and painted again and you should have very little concern about rot.

Accoya

My window company builds historic replica windows out of a wood called Accoya that performs extremely well in conditions like this. No harsh chemicals other than an industrial vinegar and this wood give a 50-year warranty against rot.

That’s something worth looking into if you want a true historic window that doesn’t rot. You can read more about Accoya here.

PVC

I’m a purist and I love me some wood windows, but extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures and I’m not beyond replacing the wood trim with PVC trim on occasions where there is an incredible amount of water and steam.

A wood window might not be able to stand up to a family of five sharing one bathroom. It’s just too much steamy, wet weather. If that’s your situation then replacing your trim with PVC can make a lot of sense.

I’ve even gone as far as rebuilding the whole window, jamb and sash, out of PVC. Is it historically accurate? Nope. Is it a heck of a lot better than an off the shelf replacement window that doesn’t match your home’s character? Yep!

In the end there are options that won’t leave you in a lurch with that wood window in a shower. You can resolve both the privacy and wood rot concerns with some careful planning. I hope I’ve been able to give you some hope with this post that you’re not destined to have a rotten window in your shower.

If you’ve come up with some other unique ways of dealing with a window in a shower please tell me in the comments below. I’d love to learn what’s worked for you.