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Shower screens


Stones

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I'm trying to narrow down my choice of shower screen / door.

 

Framed or frameless?

6mm or 8mm glass?

Pivot vs Hinged vs Sliding door?

 

Sizes required - 800mm and 1200mm

 

The only requirement my good lady has specified is that they be easy to clean, which for her rules out a sliding door. I'm therefore looking at an 800 mm pivot door and a1200 mm large pivot door comprising circa 400mm fixed pane and 800mm opening.

 

My thought is that 8mm glass and associated hardware would be more robust and have a longer life than 6mm. Not sure on the framed / frameless and hinge/pivot questions

 

Any thoughts / comments?

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Our requirement is either (preferably) a wet rom, if not a large low profile shower tray, with fixed frameless glass panels.

 

Having had a variety of hinged or sliding, framed glass doors before, we no longer want frames, hinges, runners or anything else that can go mankey, just simple unframed fixed glass panels that might stand a chance of being able to be kept clean.

 

And NOTHING that relies on any form of sealant to seal said glass panels.
 

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personally i am planning to leave a gap and tile outside the shower so that there are no moving parts but i imagine most of your design has already been set so i assume that is of little use,

 

only thing i can say is that in my limited experience of fitting shower enclosures i have found that the hardware doesnt really change, the only thing that changes is the size of gasket used between the frame and the glass. 

 

most of the screens i have fitted will come with 2 sets, one for 8mm glass and another for 10mm glass, i assume this will be similar between 6 and 8mm, other people will probably know better but to get better hardware i recon you need to get a better brand, not just upgrade the glass.

 

HTH Ed

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Pivot doors are the work of the devil, write those off straight away please ;)  

My choice would be frameless & hinged if that arrangement works for both of your instances. I've fitted a LOT of various and differing shower cubicles / arrangements over the last two decades and the more expensive, frameless stuff is in a league of it's own. 8mm glass would be preferable for the bigger setup, but 6mm for the 800mm would be more than adequate. 

Can you post plans of the rooms and layouts etc so I can see how to best advise. ?

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I have just changed from a 1200mm shower enclosed on three sides like yours, with a pivot door, to a 1600mm shower with 1000mm frameless screen and 600mm walk in space. It is the absolute best change I have made to the bathroom. Wish it had always been like that.

 

One of the main factors as discussed was no longer having any rubber/plastic seals which look dingy and various channels to collect grime. It is far easier to clean.

 

We also moved to a low level tray and with tiling on the floor, it is barely above the floor at all, much neater versus the original tray which was raised up to make the plumbing easier.

 

The screen is 6mm, I was worried it was too thin, but it seems absolutely fine. It was unexpectedly expensive for just as sheet of glass a metal channel and a metal support.

 

So on your current plans frameless hinged doors seem the way to go.

 

I'd be a bit wary of the way the en suite door and shower door occupy the same space though. Maybe I am just overly cautious.

 

Edited by AliG
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This is what I've got.

No moving parts and easy for me to clean as no one else on this house knows how to do it?

Don't get me started on cleaning the shower tray, teenage daughters and over use of hair conditioner=dangerous slippery floor.

Not too pricey 

http://www.wholesaledomestic.com/8mm-glass-wet-room-screen-1000#.V8805iPTXqA

 

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One of the early floorplans I drew had walk in showers, but having lived with one in a rented house for a few months last year, we ultimately decided against. I certainly see the advantages of not having annoying gaskets, seals etc to keep clean, but my wife really didn't like the concept and all the water / spray which made its way out with the designated walk in area. 

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The ensuite / bedroom door could do with being swung away from the shower, agree with AliG on that point. 

Couple of things to consider. Bifold ( or infold for the posh ones ) with for the 800mm one as hinged will have to open out wards, or hinged if your happy you have the space for it to swing open. The nicer infolds have a very low profile threshold, often just a chrome over brass strip which affixes to the tray to act as a drip deflector, so have a look at a few before you dismiss that option. 

A small fixed panel, say 500mm, and a 700mm hinged door for the 1200mm one. You'll need some sort of stay bar which will secure the open end of the fixed panel, particularly if the door is swung off that instead of the wall. Both options are available. 

Another thing to try having the spray aimed at a fixed panel or wall space and not directly at the doors. 

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2 minutes ago, Stones said:

One of the early floorplans I drew had walk in showers, but having lived with one in a rented house for a few months last year, we ultimately decided against. I certainly see the advantages of not having annoying gaskets, seals etc to keep clean, but my wife really didn't like the concept and all the water / spray which made its way out with the designated walk in area. 

+1. Your areas are not large enough to go 'walk-in' IMHO. 

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10 hours ago, Nickfromwales said:

the more expensive, frameless stuff is in a league of it's own

Nick could you post a couple of examples of what you are referring to here please?

 

PS in defence of pivot doors: some time ago we were in rented accomodation. It had a corner shower with a pivot door. It was unlabelled. It took me about three months searching but eventually I found out who made them - Kermi. Since then i have bought two Kermi quadrant showers with pivot doors and they are both working without any problem. Not cheap: budget price is £1k although new ones do come up on ebay. I guess when you've only got room for a quadrant then its sliding or pivot and I would go for a Kermi pivot.

 

 

Edited by Fallingditch
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image.jpg

This is an infold door, just two of them. If you zoom in on the tray edge you'll see a chrome threshold that I butted up to the raised floor tile. That is about as frameless as you can get without having a Wetroom. 

Those doors came with the receiver that would have gone opposite so it could be fitted in an alcove. They got ditched and the square magnetic strips got switched out to ones which were at 45o. Both got supplied as it's an universal setup eg it could have also gone against a fixed glass side panel ;)

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I'm at the early stage of my project, but making preliminary costings whist the final drawings are prepared as a gauge to what we can and cannot afford. Related to this topic I've just been looking at bathrooms. My preference, if the final budget will stretch, is for wet room style showers as I lived with them for a couple of years in an apartment I was renting and loved the ease of maintenance/cleaning/safety. In researching prices I came across this this company

 

As they seem to have the best prices I could find I would be interested if anyone has feedback on them? Also I'm not sure (I'm a complete novice in this building game) whether to go for a full wet room floor as in the picture or a low profile tray and would be grateful for any thoughts on pros and cons and things I should consider when choosing either option.

 

Thanks

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There's a lot more work with a wetroom, but it's easily doable and is a very nice solution. 

I bought my last 1800x850 Wetroom former from Diamond. Very good tray and went in without a hitch. I'd fit a different trap to the one that came with it tbh so I know for the next job to ask for it to be discounted accordingly. 

Low profile trays are quick, easy and negate tiling. Cheaper too if money's stretched so maybe one with a tray and one as a Wetroom ;)  

 

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We put a 25mm tray in one bathroom and an Impey wetroom former in another (primarily to resolve joist / drain positioning issues).

 

We made a last minute decision to add electric UFH mats to the bathrooms (which have been a big success) so the 6mm backer board plus the mats, latex, adhesive and tiles allowed the tray to sit completely flush, looks great. 

 

Wetroom tray also looks great with a nice envelope cut tile vs using the metal angles that Impey provide.

 

Have taken some pics, will upload when I get 5.

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1 hour ago, Wrekin1 said:

I'm at the early stage of my project, but making preliminary costings whist the final drawings are prepared as a gauge to what we can and cannot afford. Related to this topic I've just been looking at bathrooms. My preference, if the final budget will stretch, is for wet room style showers as I lived with them for a couple of years in an apartment I was renting and loved the ease of maintenance/cleaning/safety. In researching prices I came across this this company

 

As they seem to have the best prices I could find I would be interested if anyone has feedback on them? Also I'm not sure (I'm a complete novice in this building game) whether to go for a full wet room floor as in the picture or a low profile tray and would be grateful for any thoughts on pros and cons and things I should consider when choosing either option.

 

Thanks

 

Used to be known as Bath Empire .... Caveat Emptor

 

https://www.reviews.co.uk/company-reviews/store/bathempire

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We have a Coram screen in our current bathroom. I fitted it 2+ years ago and its been fine.

We bought it direct via their eBay store IIRC. The first one was "bounced" by the delivery company and they replaced it without question and told me to put the other one in the skip!

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Quote

I bought my last 1800x850 Wetroom former from Diamond. Very good tray and went in without a hitch. I'd fit a different trap to the one that came with it tbh so I know for the next job to ask for it to be discounted accordingly. 

Ahaha... at the risk of subverting the thread, herein lies an important issue: what is the best trap? In my temporary abode, I have Roman shower with conical filter set at the front of the shower. Excellent easily removed and almost self emptying conical filter that seems to let the water through pretty effectively. Does anyone recognize this item and can identify it?

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1 hour ago, Auchlossen said:

Ahaha... at the risk of subverting the thread, herein lies an important issue: what is the best trap? In my temporary abode, I have Roman shower with conical filter set at the front of the shower. Excellent easily removed and almost self emptying conical filter that seems to let the water through pretty effectively. Does anyone recognize this item and can identify it?

With a picture maybe ? ;)

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Question on fixing the screen to tray.

 

On the wall I'm using u channel, although plan to fix this side on rather than from rear as the top 150mm of the tray is in a recess and I don't want the screen to overlap the tiles here as it will be tricky to keep clean.

 

I had found a Y Alu channel that could have been fixed through its flange and then covered with a matching Z profile. However my experience with the Sikaflex EBT shows that it should be strong enough to bond the U channel to the side wall.

 

Will also use a top stabilising bar but do I need a u channel for the tray also or can I just bond between glass and tray?

 

 

image.jpeg

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