Whether you shower in the morning, the evening, or both, stepping out of that perfect hot and steamy shower into an ice-cold pool of water is sure to drastically alter your mood. Immediately, you’ll be tempted to jump back into the warmth and safety of the tub. Luckily, this problem is not unsolvable.
Here are a few simple things you can do to prevent water from leaking outside a shower curtain:
- Purchase a shower liner
- Attach magnets or suction cups to your shower liner
- Ensure the shower liner is properly positioned
- Ensure your shower head is positioned properly
- Install a splash guard
- Have a professional address the leakage
In this article, I’ll explain several extremely effective methods for keeping shower water where it belongs. I’ll also explore some common problems with the shower curtain and liner that could be contributing to a leaking issue.
1. Purchase a Shower Liner
If you have just a traditional shower curtain in your bathroom alone, the curtain is probably perpetually soaked — along with your bathroom floor — when you step out of the shower.
A shower liner is essential to keeping your bathroom clean, dry, and comfortable. There are various liners on the market with different thicknesses and weights. To keep water out, you want a thick, heavy liner (ideally with suction cups or magnets).
Here are a few options to consider if you’re in the market for a shower liner:
- LiBa PEVA 8G Bathroom Shower Curtain Liner (available on Amazon): This liner is 8G, meaning it’s 0.20 mm (0.79 in) thick. It’s thick, heavy, and designed for heavy-duty use. It’s highly effective at keeping water in the tub.
- LiBa PEVA 10-Gauge Shower Curtain Liner: This liner is 0.25mm thick, meaning it’s even thicker and heavier. It’s also rated for commercial use, so it should have no problem keeping the water inside your shower.
The problem with these two shower liners is that they don’t have suction cups or magnets attached to the bottom of them. That type of adhesiveness is the best way to ensure that no water escapes the confines of your steamy morning/ evening shower.
Luckily, the next tip will address this problem.
2. Attach Magnets or Suction Cups to Your Shower Liner
Suppose you don’t want to spend extra money on a new shower liner and fancy yourself a little DIY person. In that case, you may be able to attach suction cups or magnets to your existing liner or order one of the heavy-duty liners listed above and add the adhesive elements yourself.
Attaching Suction Cups to a Shower Liner
This is a fairly simple but effective application to keep water inside your tub. You’ll need some suction cups. I recommend these HangerSpace Suction Cup Hooks, which you can find on Amazon. These are recommended for surfaces from glass windows to shower walls.
The cups also come with metal hooks, which can be used in the final hole at the top of your shower liner to attach it to the inside of the shower wall, creating a barrier at the top that will not allow water to escape.
The same can be done at the bottom, but you will have to make the hole for the hook yourself. Be extremely cautious if using any sharp tools or utensils to create the hole for the hook at the bottom of the liner.
Attaching Magnets to a Shower Liner
One of the more time-consuming (and frankly, cumbersome) methods is to sew waterproof magnets into the corners of your shower liner. I don’t recommend this method just because of the sheer amount of precise work it entails to reach a result that can be achieved through much easier means.
A much better — and equally effective — way to keep water inside the shower using magnets is to use two DIYMAG Waterproof Neodymium Bar Magnets to hold the shower liner in place.
You can attach one magnet slightly inside your shower at the top and bottom using super glue. Do the same with the inside of your shower liner, making sure that the magnets attract.
This is the most recommended method because it is the most effective at keeping the curtains and water inside your shower if you place the magnets in the correct location. For added protection, you can add as many magnets as you’d like, completely sealing water inside your bathtub.
3. Ensure the Shower Liner Is Properly Positioned
This tip might sound overly simple, but it’s worth noting nonetheless.
Not having a heavy enough shower liner or not having proper shower liner coverage may not cause your shower leakage problems. Luckily, you can easily fix this problem by adjusting the position of your shower curtain.
4. Ensure Your Shower Head Is Positioned Properly
Shower head position can greatly affect the amount of water that ends up outside your shower.
Even if your shower liner is the thickest you can buy, if you point the shower head directly at it, water will inevitably end up outside the shower. To help with this, make sure your shower head is not too high and is pointed slightly towards the wall opposite your shower liner, if possible.
Why Your Shower Liner Seems to Move Towards the Water
For a long time, most scientists believed that the low-pressure environment created by a hot shower’s heat caused the shower liner to gradually migrate towards the water, allowing some of the water to splash out onto the floor.
But if that was the case, why would the shower curtain move the same way, even in a cold shower?
A study found that a different source of low pressure causes the shower liner to gradually move towards the water. The spray of the shower head itself created a vortex much like a cyclone or the eye of a hurricane, creating a low-pressure environment inside the show that draws in the shower liner because of pressure in the air outside the shower is much higher. The higher the water pressure, the stronger the vortex.
They discovered that a thicker shower curtain can offset the airflow of the vortex created by the spray of the shower head and prevent the curtain from being towards the water.
A thick, heavy shower curtain combined with suction cups, magnets, and/or splash guards will eliminate any shower liner movement and leakage. The above methods will help mitigate this low-pressure effect even if you don’t have a heavy-duty shower liner.
5. Install a Splash Guard
Splash guards are another reliable solution to a leaking problem.
Splash guards are L-shaped plastic pieces placed at either end of your tub where the tub meets the wall. They’re secured with a waterproof adhesive.
The installation process is very straightforward:
- Position each splash guard at the corner of the tub
- Remove the adhesive backing.
- Apply pressure to the positioned splash guard, then release.
That’s it! You’ve installed shower splash guards!
Magic American Splash Guard Kits are available on Amazon and are very effective at keeping water off your floors. They’re incredibly easy to install, so even DIY home improvement beginners can install them.
6. Have a Professional Address the Leakage
It’s worth noting that there are issues unrelated to your shower curtain that could be contributing to the leakage. In other words, the water on your floor every day after your shower may not be from water getting outside your shower curtain.
These are a few other explanations for the water leakage in your bathroom:
- You may have a leakage in your piping system or possibly at the shower head itself.
- The bathtub may not be draining properly, and the excess water on the floor could be the result of poor drainage from the tub.
If you’ve tried the above methods and the leakage outside the shower persists, it would be best to call a lumber to see if there is a larger issue at play in your plumbing.
Persistent leakage can cause serious damage to the flooring that can be incredibly expensive and cumbersome to repair. It is an issue to be taken seriously and solved as fast as possible.
Meanwhile, you can invest in a water-absorbent mat to place outside your shower to soak up any leaking water and provide yourself with a more comfortable post-shower experience once you step out.
Final Words
Having water regularly escape from your shower and leak onto your floors is uncomfortable for you once you step out of the shower. You can easily solve this issue by installing a heavy-duty shower liner or splash guards on your bathtub. These are easy to install and provide great protection against shower leakage.
You can also add waterproof magnets or suction cups to the top and bottom corners of your shower liner to prevent any unnecessary leakage.
If you have tried everything and your shower leakage issues persist, you should consult with a trusted local plumber.
