Is It Hard to Make an Outdoor Shower in New Orleans, LA?

Building an outdoor shower in New Orleans is moderately hard, and the difficulty sits in the drainage rather than the carpentry. A high water table and heavy soil make a soakaway unreliable, so the waste usually has to reach the sanitary sewer under a plumbing permit that only an Orleans Parish licensed master plumber can pull. Settle where the water goes first, because the base, the screen and the fixtures all follow from that one decision.

Making an outdoor shower in New Orleans is moderately hard, and the difficulty sits in the parts nobody sees. The enclosure and the base are ordinary carpentry, but the supply tie-in is licensed plumbing work that needs a permit.

What Makes an Outdoor Shower Hard to Build in New Orleans?

It is harder than it looks, but the hard parts are predictable. The enclosure and the base are ordinary outdoor carpentry, while the water is not: the supply tie-in is licensed plumbing work that needs a permit, and the drainage has to suit wet, heavy local soil.

The first practical decision is location, and only one of the three things that decide it is preference. Where the existing plumbing runs sets the cost, where the used water can go sets what is allowed, and privacy comes third.

Sun exposure is the tiebreaker, because a shower that gets afternoon sun dries out between uses. Walk the route to the door people will actually use, since a wet path across a lawn defeats the convenience the shower was built for.

Where Does Outdoor Shower Drainage Go in New Orleans, LA?

Drainage is the step that stops projects, so it happens first rather than after the enclosure has been designed.

Know What Is Allowed Where You Are

Whether graywater from a shower may discharge to the ground or must connect to the sanitary sewer is a local question, and it commonly depends on whether soap and shampoo are being used rather than on the fixture itself.

Put the question to the City of New Orleans Department of Safety and Permits and the Sewerage and Water Board, which issues plumbing permits, rather than assuming either answer applies to your lot. Properties inside a local historic district may also need review before the exterior structure goes up.

The City’s permit guide also says only an Orleans Parish licensed master plumber may apply for a plumbing permit, which shapes the schedule and the budget from the outset.

Why Dry Wells Work Poorly Here

A dry well or soakaway relies on water percolating into the ground below it, which requires ground that drains. A high water table and heavy soil, which describes much of this city, both work against that.

A soakaway that fills and does not empty becomes a standing pool under the shower, which defeats the purpose and creates a mosquito problem. It is a common disappointment on flat New Orleans lots.

Where ground disposal is permitted at all, the design needs to reflect the actual soil rather than a generic detail. That usually means a larger, shallower field rather than a deep well.

The Floor Is Part of the Drainage

The shower floor has to shed water to wherever the drainage is, which means a sloped base under whatever surface you walk on. A slatted deck sitting on flat ground simply hides a puddle.

Sloped pavers, a sloped concrete pad, or a purpose-built base under a slatted deck all work. What does not work is a level surface with the drain as an afterthought.

Where the shower sits on or beside an existing structure, the base has to be resolved alongside it rather than dropped on top. Our outdoor home decks service sets the framing and the fall together so the water reaches the drain instead of the joists.

Slip resistance matters as much as slope. A smooth surface that is permanently wet in this humidity is a hazard rather than a luxury.

What Plumbing Does an Outdoor Shower Need in New Orleans?

With the drainage settled, the remaining choices are smaller and mostly independent of one another. The table below sets out what each one actually changes, so the decisions can be made in any order once the water has somewhere to go.

Hot and Cold, or Cold Only

A cold-only shower is far simpler and is genuinely usable through most of the year here, which makes it a reasonable choice beside a pool. Hot water extends the season and complicates the supply run.

Running hot means tying into the hot supply and accepting a delay while the line clears, which on a long run can be a considerable one. A short run from an adjacent bathroom wall is the ideal arrangement.

Either way, the connection to the house supply is licensed plumbing work rather than a weekend project. It affects the potable supply of the whole house, so backflow protection and correct sizing are not optional details.

Protect Against a Hard Freeze

Hard freezes are infrequent here, but they do happen, and an exposed outdoor line is among the first things on a property to split. The protection is the ability to empty the line rather than insulation alone.

That means a shutoff valve inside the heated envelope of the house and a drain point on the exterior side, so the run between them can be emptied before a freeze. A frost-proof hose bib arrangement achieves something similar for a simple installation.

Label the shutoff and make sure whoever is in the house knows where it is. A freeze warning gives very little notice, and the valve is useless if nobody can find it.

Choose Fixtures for the Air, Not the Catalog

Salt-carrying air and constant humidity are hard on hardware, and standard chrome-plated fittings pit and fail quickly outdoors here. Marine-grade stainless, solid brass, and bronze all hold up far better.

Mixing metals accelerates corrosion, so the fixture, the valve trim, and the fasteners holding everything should be compatible. A stainless fixture on galvanized brackets rusts at the brackets.

The same applies to the enclosure hardware. Hinges and latches fail long before the timber does.

Valve type is worth deciding early as well, since a pressure-balancing or thermostatic mixer behaves very differently outdoors from a pair of simple taps. Whatever is chosen has to be serviceable without dismantling the screen around it, so plan access before the enclosure closes in.

How Do These Outdoor Living Options Compare in New Orleans?

Straight from the guide above, laid out side by side.

Which Outdoor Shower Materials Last in New Orleans Humidity?

Privacy is the part people imagine first and misjudge most often, because sight lines are rarely checked from anywhere but ground level.

Walk the neighboring viewpoints before fixing the enclosure height, including any upper-floor window that overlooks the yard. A screen that works from the sidewalk may be useless from a second-story window next door.

Slatted screens are the usual compromise, giving airflow and drying while breaking the view. Spacing and slat angle do the work, and a screen angled downward from outside gives privacy without enclosing the space completely.

Materials should be chosen for standing water and humidity rather than for looks alone. Cedar, ipe, and quality composite all cope; untreated softwood and standard galvanized hardware do not. Our patios service specifies the enclosure and the base as one assembly rather than separately.

Settle the Drainage, Then Build the Rest of Your Shower

An outdoor shower is not hard once the water has somewhere to go and the lines can be emptied before a freeze. When one fails here, it is almost always because the drainage was decided last.

At TurnKey Outdoor Designs, we settle where the water goes before anything else is drawn. Call us today to walk your lot and put a plan against it.

Frequently Asked Questions About This Guide

The ones that come up most often once people start planning.