During a recent home inspection in Metairie, I came across one of the most unique shower heads I’ve ever seen. This thing could spray water in every possible direction — kind of like something you’d expect at Blue Bayou Water Park, not in a residential bathroom.
Visually? Stunning. The way my camera captured the water splashing in all directions almost looked like something out of a physics lab — maybe the Hadron Collider at CERN or even a Bose-Einstein Condensate experiment in the making.
But let’s get serious.
If you look closely at the photo, you’ll see water spraying directly into the ceiling light fixture above the shower. That’s a major safety concern. Not only should that light fixture not be in that location, but the water intrusion through the hole in the ceiling can lead to:
- Corroded wiring
- Short circuits
- Electrical arcing
- And yes, potentially a fire hazard
- A shock hazard
From a home inspection perspective, this is a clear violation of electrical safety codes. It’s not just bad practice — it’s dangerous. I documented it in the inspection report as a defective shower head and hazardous light fixture installation. This is a home inspectors violation everywhere from New Orleans to Cleveland.
Now, the good news: this issue is a simple fix. Replacing the shower head with a standard model and using Teflon tape on the threads should solve the problem. And of course, relocating or sealing off the light fixture will remove the electrical risk entirely. But I know a lot of clients want a light in the shower. For me, I don’t want see anything below my chin, or above it for that matter.
As the best home inspector in New Orleans (hey, that’s just for SEO), it’s my job to spot these issues before they turn into expensive or dangerous problems.
So, while this wild shower head might win points for creativity or artistic water display, it loses big time when it comes to safety and code compliance.
