Yes, You Can Have a Steam Shower in a Small Bathroom

A small steam shower is a sizing decision. The room that gets sized is the shower enclosure, so a bathroom already crowded by a vanity and a toilet can still hold one. Match the generator to that enclosure and the steam experience should feel the same in 63 cubic feet as it does in a much larger room. What changes is the hardware, and a little bit of layout discipline.

What is the minimum room size for a steam shower?

The smallest enclosure MrSteam recommends for one person is 3 feet wide, 3 feet deep, and 7 feet tall, which works out to 63 cubic feet. That is enough room to stand, or to sit on a fold-up seat mounted away from the steam head. The Steam@Home installation manual sets the operating floor slightly lower at 60 cubic feet and states that these generators should not be used in rooms with ceilings over 8 feet.

Notice what is not on that list: the size of the bathroom. A 5-by-5 bathroom with a toilet and vanity can still hold a 3-by-3 steam enclosure. The volume that matters is the sealed room the steam has to fill, so a designer working with a tight floor plan should measure the enclosure first and the rest of the bathroom second.

What is Steam@Home, and how is it different from a standard MrSteam generator?

Steam@Home is MrSteam’s compact generator line for starter homes, guest baths, urban apartments, and other smaller shower enclosures. The generator is 23 percent more compact than a standard MS generator and can be installed in locations such as a vanity cabinet, closet, heated attic, or basement, up to 60 feet from the shower when installed according to the applicable requirements.

Steam@Home also uses less than one gallon of water for a 20-minute session. Three models cover the small-space range:

Acrylic and fiberglass enclosures hold heat differently, so the Steam@Home sizing chart handles them differently from ceramic tile. Steam@Home is intended for ceramic tile, porcelain, acrylic, and fiberglass applications. Natural stone and glass block pull more heat from the room and generally move the project into the standard MS series.

Does a small steam shower perform differently than a larger one?

A correctly sized small steam shower should feel like a steam shower. When a small enclosure disappoints, check the generator sizing before blaming the square footage.

The Steam@Home manual is explicit in both directions: a generator rated for less volume than the room may not bring it to the intended temperature, while a generator rated for more volume than the room can push the enclosure beyond the comfortable range. In a 63-cubic-foot enclosure there is very little air to heat, so the margin for oversizing is thin.

The session itself is straightforward. Steam begins arriving after startup, the enclosure fills, and Steam@Home ends the session automatically at 20 minutes. Small rooms simply leave less room for construction shortcuts, which makes proper vapor containment, a well-sealed door, and the 8-foot ceiling limit especially important.

Which layout choices matter most in a small room?

Four placements decide whether a compact steam shower feels considered or cramped: the steam head, the control, the seat, and the generator. The rules are the same ones used in a larger steam shower, but a 3-by-3 enclosure leaves less room for error.

Ventilation is the final small-room decision, and it does its work between sessions. An exhaust fan outside the enclosure helps dry the bathroom. An operable transom can add passive ventilation if the room also serves as the everyday shower, and it stays closed while steam is running.

For a visual look at the relationships between these components, see The Anatomy of a Steam Shower.

Frequently asked questions