Frameless Shower Door Advice

Minor design details, especially tile moldings, listello and chair rail can influence or reduce the shower enclosure options you have available, and cause you to spend more money than necessary. Good design planning will keep moldings flush or away from the hinge area of the door.

Most frameless heavy glass enclosures use glass to wall mounted hinges. This configuration will typically reduce the expense and usually offers the least amount of visible hardware. Some configurations will require a header rail extrusion for safety and feasibility. Wall mounted doors have a substantial cantilevered load and require
a secure hinge mounting surface. Large doors intensify this issue. Ideal mounting is to have doubled up studs centered over the curb or door centerline. These must be installed before the tile backer board and, or greenboard.

Tile surfaces should be flat,plumb and level in line with the glass centerline. Your finished
job will look much better if this is correct. Glass can be cut out of square if necessary,but only in a straight line. We cannot fit tightly to a bowed wall. If the tile is to rough it is often necessary to use U-channel to attach the stationary panels.

Try to design your shower with standard angles. 90 degrees, 135 degrees(Neo angle)and of course 180 degrees. Odd angles at the glass centerline such as 120 degrees verses 135 will significantly raise the expense and may take away important hardware
and trim options.

Frameless shower enclosures do not seal as well as standard series enclosures because of their very nature (frameless). The issue is most prevalent around the bottom of the door in smaller showers. A bottom wipe with driprail attached to the bottom of the door is particularly effective at controlling the water splash. Many clear polycarbonate and vinyl seal extrusions are available at the expense of losing some of the "frameless look".

Be sure to put the proper slope on the curb (threshold) area of your shower. See the above bullet point. The proper amount is 1/4" drop per foot of distance. A 6 inch wide curb should be 1/8" lower on the inside edge of the shower. DO NOT add much more drop than this or the bottom wipe may not be able to be used. We often see curbs
sloped to the outside of the shower, not good. Make sure the curb is level side to side.

Keep in mind the hinge point, access to the shower control valve and towel bar locations as you design.

Copyright 2007, Express Kitchen and Bath,LLC
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