Code is different everywhere. Check with your local municipality.

Thank you. I have heard it is different BUT I also understand that local code can't trump national code. From what our electrician said, our area defaults to national code. I've read tons of stuff online about it from people trying to put up chandeliers but nothing about other fixtures.

If there isn't a stand up shower in the tub, I think you might be misinformed regarding code and the light. See images below with tubs and hand held showers.

If you Google light over claw foot tub, you will find hundreds of photos of hanging lights over tubs.

And 95% of those fixtures over tubs violate the NEC, which stands for the National Electrical Code. It rules everywhere, even if some localities do not have inspectors, or you have idiot scofflaws risking electrocution by violating it after the inspection. You can have no lighting within 8' of the rim of the tub vertically, or 3' horizontally that is not wet rated. This is to prevent someone dying if they slip getting out of the tub and grab the light fixture. Codes are enacted in response to past tragic situations, to keep them from happening again.

Design School 101 is to follow national building, plumbing, electrical, and mechanical codes in your work. Killing your clients tends to get a bad rap in the community.

Yes, Beverly ,there are hundreds of photos of tubs with lights over the tub. Hundreds of photos that don't meet code.

I was hoping you'd respond, Fred!

Thank you so much Fred! You have definitely helped sort out my confusion. Beverly I can certainly understand why, after seeing so many beautiful photos, anyone would think it would be ok to have a chandelier. In our case, this fixture will be inspected when our addition is done so I wanted to be sure I did not waste my money on a something that won't pass. I'll try to find a wet rated one or at least a damp one and cross my fingers. This will not be the primary shower so hopefully it would be ok. Thanks once again Fred!!!!

It's almost scary to know what I know about fixtures over tubs since I started researching this. I understand that spray or splashes can cause the bulbs to burst yet the style seems so popular.

As to the point of local interpretation, the courts have ruled that it will be considered housing descrimination if one neighborhood or house is required to do more than another to get an occupancy permit... This is a good example of where that line is. If you add one of these devices into the conversation;

Every light fixture in the entire bathroom becomes "subject to shower spray" in the hands of a tyrant. In that case, any tub at all would always be required to have wet rated fixtures around it, including the one over the vanity that is close by, making the stipulation for only a damp rated fixture irrelevant. That is clearly not the intent of the code, because they don't leave useless parts of sentences in the code on purpose for that many years. (New wording is suggested every 3 years for codes that are unclear) Therefore, an inspector has to follow the intent of the code, just as a court would if the inspector was adepending how housing discrimination. In your case, there is still a very grey line between "damp" and "wet" if you put up a shower curtain, IMO, for which the inspector's opinion would take precedence without a reference to a commonly accepted standard.

When lights are subject to shower spray, it is more common to be talking about wall sconces that are also allowed, depending on the design.

http://www.build.com/access-lighting-20370mg-wall-light/s114228

http://www.amazon.com/Access-Lighting-20291-SAT-FST-Nauticus/dp/B00IGIJEUK/ref=br_lf_m_5db3e8b3ovrj6um_1_3_img?ie=UTF8&s=hi

Or even lighted grab bars.

http://www.cooperindustries.com/content/dam/public/lighting/resources/library/literature/iO%20LED/io%20LED%20Handrail.pdf

Another code that helps define the "wet" area from the "damp" area can be found in the International Residential Code. In this case, the code would be viewed as an accepted "standard" for the purpose of deciding what is subject to shower spray.

R307.2 Bathtub and shower spaces.

Bathtub and shower floors and walls above bathtubs with installed shower heads and in shower compartments shall be finished with a nonabsorbent surface. Such wall surfaces shall extend to a height of not less than 6 feet (1829 mm) above the floor.

Oh boy. Now we're heading into areas I don't want to know about! Kidding of course:) Fred it sounds like code states that tubs with hand showers would not past the test if they were next to a plain old wall without tile. I'm guessing only the most particular inspectors would be concerned about that. Luckily we are planning a higher than usual wainscot anyway. Thanks for all the info on this though. I looked high and low online and found very little discussion in the forums. I bet tons of people will benefit from your input on this post.

Well, a freestanding tub has no walls to tile, and the tile in a shower is not required to extend beyond the shower edge/ curb or bathtub rim, usually defined by a door or a curtain.

A garden or drop-in tub would not qualify as a stand-up shower even if it had a sprayer because the design will not allow water to run off the walls and back into the tub.

That only leaves a standard built-in tub with an integral tile flange on three sides as the only point of interpretation as to whether the wall needs to be finished with a nonabsorbent surface 6' above the floor. In my experience, the inspectors only consider this a tub/shower if the shower head is built-in at normal height, or if a slide rail bracket for the handheld sprayer is mounted on the wall for the intent of using it at standard height for a shower head. At one point, FHA had some strange rules that at least one tub in a house had to have a shower head and even doors installed instead of just a curtain, but that was struck down years ago by the courts as housing descrimination for the income bracket that uses FHA.

SECTION P2708 SHOWERS

P2708.1 General.

Shower compartments shall have not less than 900 square inches (0.6 m2) of interior cross-sectional area. Shower compartments shall be not less than 30 inches (762 mm) in minimum dimension measured from the finished interior dimension of the shower compartment, exclusive of fixture valves, shower heads, soap dishes, and safety grab bars or rails. The minimum required area and dimension shall be measured from the finished interior dimension at a height equal to the top of the threshold and at a point tangent to its centerline and shall be continued to a height of not less than 70 inches (1778 mm) above the shower drain outlet. Hinged shower doors shall open outward.

The wall area above BUILT-IN tubs having INSTALLED shower heads

and in shower compartments shall be constructed in accordance with Section R702.4. Such walls shall form a water-tight joint with each other and with either the tub, receptor or shower floor.

R702.4 Ceramic tile. (2012)

R702.4.1 General.

Ceramic tile surfaces shall be installed in accordance with ANSI A108.1, A108.4, A108.5, A108.6, A108.11, A118.1, A118.3, A136.1 and A137.1.

R702.4.2 Fiber-cement, fiber-mat reinforced cementitious backer units, glass mat gypsum backers and fiber-reinforced gypsum backers.

Fiber-cement, fiber-mat reinforced cementitious backer units, glass mat gypsum backers or fiber-reinforced gypsum backers in compliance with ASTM C 1288, C 1325, C 1178 or C 1278, respectively, and installed in accordance with manufacturers’ recommendations shall be used as backers for wall tile in tub and shower areas and wall panels in shower areas.

http://codes.iccsafe.org/app/book/content/2015-I-Codes/2015%20IRC%20HTML/Chapter%207.html