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Thread: Curved shower curtain rods...why?

  1. #1
    Oliphaunt
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    Default Curved shower curtain rods...why?

    This apartment I just moved into had a curved shower curtain rod. The rod is made so it bows out significantly.

    The tub is a conventional straight-sided tub that at least in my experience has been pretty standard in US houses built in the last 50 years or so.

    There was a shower curtain on the curved rod but no liner. Naturally, during the first shower I took water went all over the floor.

    From the tiny bit of online reasearch I've done I've determined the curved shower curtain rod is supposed to make the shower area bigger. It seems to me I've seen them recently in a few hotel bathrooms but in those cases the tubs themselves also bowed out, they didn't have straight sides.

    So my question is are these curved rods supposed to be used with straight-sided tubs? How is one supposed to prevent water going all over the floor? If I tuck the curtain (or a liner) inside the tub that will prevent water going on the floor but it also pretty much eliminates the extra space-giving properties of the curved rod.

    (I bought a cheap collapsible straight rod and put it inside the curved one and hung a liner on it, so the floor isn't getting wet anymore).

  2. #2
    my god, he's full of stars... OneCentStamp's avatar
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    When I'm in the shower, the place I typically need more room is elbow-to-shoulder height. A curved shower curtain gives me 6-8 inches more space there, even if it tucks back into the tub at knee height, where it doesn't matter to me.

  3. #3
    Free Exy Cluricaun's avatar
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    We have one of those modular showers where it's just one giant hunk of injection molding that somehow manages to cost 11 jillion times more than it's worth, and it has three sets of shelves molded into it, one under the shower itself, one along the inside, and one in the back. My fiancee has taken it upon herself to fill every single square inch of those shelves with various shampoos made from emeralds and saffron (I'm guessing based on the price of said bottles) meaning that I and my giant wide shoulders have to huddle in the middle of the shower like I'm afraid to move. Which I am. Want to piss off a woman? Give the Peoples Elbow to one of those $50 shampoo bottles first thing in the morning and watch it break on the floor of the tub and wash down the drain like so much overpriced Suave. Then, when she flips out about her magic space shampoo, insist on arguing about how it's really not any better than the stuff that costs $1 at the Dollar Store. Welts son, we're talking about welts from the cord of a flat iron at this point. Welts and having to go on your lunch hour to the Makeup Whore store and fork over your own fucking $50 for new shampoo (which by the way, you'll get the wrong kind you monster.)

    Anyway, anything that makes the shower marginally bigger is a gift from the lord in my book. Hosing myself off in the backyard in the morning is getting fucking cold and the neighbors are watching.
    Last edited by Cluricaun; 29 Sep 2009 at 05:02 PM.
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    Elen síla lumenn' omentielvo What Exit?'s avatar
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    The curved rod makes perfect sense for giving extra elbow room. There are curtains/liners made for them and the liners should have several magnets along the bottom to keep the water in the shower and not on the floor.

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    Oliphaunt
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    Quote Originally posted by What Exit? View post
    The curved rod makes perfect sense for giving extra elbow room. There are curtains/liners made for them and the liners should have several magnets along the bottom to keep the water in the shower and not on the floor.
    How exactly do the special curved rod shower curtain liners differ from the plain ole' straight rod shower curtain liners? There's been liners with magnets along the bottom for decades.

    I guess this represents a solution to a problem I never realized I had. I had up until now always found my shower elbow room needs adequately addressed by the old fashioned straight rod technology (except maybe on those occasions where I was sharing the shower with someone). I didn't realize there was a paradigm-shifting new shower curtain rod revolution on the horizon.

    How exciting it is to live in these fast paced modern times, where continual improvements to our quality of life is the order of the day.

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    Elen síla lumenn' omentielvo What Exit?'s avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by Laughing Lagomorph View post
    How exactly do the special curved rod shower curtain liners differ from the plain ole' straight rod shower curtain liners? There's been liners with magnets along the bottom for decades.

    I guess this represents a solution to a problem I never realized I had. I had up until now always found my shower elbow room needs adequately addressed by the old fashioned straight rod technology (except maybe on those occasions where I was sharing the shower with someone). I didn't realize there was a paradigm-shifting new shower curtain rod revolution on the horizon.

    How exciting it is to live in these fast paced modern times, where continual improvements to our quality of life is the order of the day.
    The curtains are slightly longer where needed is all. To accommodate the bow shape at the top and straight at the bottom. I don't know the detailed specs but I have seen them at both Linen and Things and in Hotels.

    The rush of technology is breathtaking. They are forever solving problems we never knew we had.

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    Sophmoric Existentialist
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    I confess I don't get this. What liner? What magnets? I just keep the shower curtain inside the tub, for pete's sake. I can't bear an opaque curtain, so it's clear vinyl with some flowers and stuff on it, but I would have thought a person would, you know, realize that if the curtain was on the outside of the tub the water would go on the floor. After I take my shower I leave the curtain in the tub and so far the Gods of the Bathroom haven't smote me. I hang the bathmat on the side of the tub, and away we go. No fuss, no muss, no bother.

    I have a curved shower curtain rod, and I didn't buy some special curtain, an ordinary shower curtain fits just fine. It's not only somewhat roomier than a straight one, but I like the way it looks.
    Sophmoric Existentialist

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    Prehistoric Bitchslapper Sarahfeena's avatar
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    I always thought it was to help that thing where the shower curtain sucks in from the temperature differential. What is it, when it's colder in the bathroom than it is in the shower? Ours tends to suck in and stick to the person taking the shower, which is really annoying.

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    Elen síla lumenn' omentielvo What Exit?'s avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by Sarahfeena View post
    I always thought it was to help that thing where the shower curtain sucks in from the temperature differential. What is it, when it's colder in the bathroom than it is in the shower? Ours tends to suck in and stick to the person taking the shower, which is really annoying.
    Shower Curtain Convection and it should help with it. While checking my thoughts, one of the first google hits was The Straight Dope: Why does the shower curtain blow in despite the ...

  10. #10
    Oliphaunt
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    Quote Originally posted by vison View post
    I confess I don't get this. What liner? What magnets? I just keep the shower curtain inside the tub, for pete's sake. I can't bear an opaque curtain, so it's clear vinyl with some flowers and stuff on it, but I would have thought a person would, you know, realize that if the curtain was on the outside of the tub the water would go on the floor. After I take my shower I leave the curtain in the tub and so far the Gods of the Bathroom haven't smote me. I hang the bathmat on the side of the tub, and away we go. No fuss, no muss, no bother.

    I have a curved shower curtain rod, and I didn't buy some special curtain, an ordinary shower curtain fits just fine. It's not only somewhat roomier than a straight one, but I like the way it looks.
    This is a rental, I found it with curved rod, and fancy-schmancy shower curtain hanging outside. (This fancy-schmancy curtain is pretty but doesnt' seem to have any of the special curved-rod characteristics Jim mentions above). Hanging the fancy-schmancy shower curtain inside the tub didn't look right to me, and anyway I have found in the past hanging the curtain inside the tub can cause it to get moldy. I'm too cheap to buy a fancy-schmancy curtain to replace it.

    I'd rather hang the $2.00 liner inside the tub and replace that when it gets moldy, especially since as stated above my shower elbow room needs are adequately addressed by the tried and true straight rod technology.
    Last edited by Laughing Lagomorph; 30 Sep 2009 at 02:22 PM.

  11. #11
    Sophmoric Existentialist
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    I don't get mold on the curtain, but maybe your climate is conducive to mold. I guess the look of the thing is all in what you're used to. As I said, I can't bear opaque curtains, being slightly claustrophobic. Mine is actually a Martha Stewart brand curtain and when I wanted to buy another one, I found out this particular one is discontinued. That bummed me out as it is really pretty in an understated and Martha Stewart-ish way.
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    Oliphaunt jali's avatar
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    Vision,

    When I read your first reply, I thought of the movie '"Psycho" - I remember getting a clear shower curtain after seeing it a long time ago.
    Last edited by jali; 30 Sep 2009 at 06:11 PM.
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  13. #13
    Sophmoric Existentialist
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    Quote Originally posted by jali View post
    Vision,

    When I read your first reply, I thought of the movie '"Psycho" - I remember getting a clear shower curtain after seeing it a long time ago.
    I saw Psycho when it first came out, all those many years ago. It was quite the experience, but maybe not in the way Hitchcock intended. My date was an excessively shy Scottish boy - I only wanted to date him because he had that "cute" accent - and the scene of Janet Leigh in her bra just about killed him. The shyness factor (I was pretty backward, too) sort of eliminated the suspense/terror factor and I don't remember the movie as being frightening, just embarassing.
    Sophmoric Existentialist

  14. #14
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    Shower curtain magnets are useless on fiberglass tubs.

    If the curved rod was installed properly, it will automatically "tuck" enough of the curtain into the tub at the ends. And yes, you do need the curtain or liner to go into the tub.

    As mentioned above, it gives you the extra room at your torso and elbows, and they're really nice. Not too many people need extra shin room in the shower.

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