Glass today is considered the trendy material in the manufacture of plumbing for the bathroom - it looks beautiful, rich and able to visually increase the size of the room. In this material you will get acquainted with the main features of glass shower doors, the dimensions of these structures, as well as with options for their design and decoration.
Advantages and disadvantages
The task of any shower door is to protect furniture and plumbing in the bathroom from water splashes, as well as maintaining a comfortable temperature level inside the shower.
Pros.
- Glass is universal from the point of view of appearance and can look harmoniously in any style decision with any material: tile, natural stone, metal or wood.
- Glass is able to withstand sudden changes in temperature and does not lose integrity after prolonged use. As a rule, frames and fittings, which are equipped with glass showers, have a special anti-corrosion coating, which additionally protects structures in conditions of high humidity.
- Due to the smooth glass structure, shower doors made of this material very easily cleaned of dirt and water stains.
- The special technology for manufacturing glass products allows complement them with numerous designer inserts and decor elements. Depending on the type of glass, such shower doors can be tinted, matte, transparent, patterned and even colored.
- Glass is environmentally friendly material it does not emit substances harmful to health.
- Even with mechanical chips, breakages and cracks, glass showers Do not stop being safe. All fragments remain under a special protective film, which protects against injuries and injuries. In addition, glass doors are usually made of durable tempered or laminated glass with a thickness of 8 to 12 mm, which is 100% resistant to moisture and extreme temperatures.
- The transparency of the glass visually increases the size of the room and makes the bathroom more spacious. This applies more specifically to transparent versions of shower doors that do not impede the penetration of sunlight into the room.
Minuses.
- Price is the main drawback of glass shower doors - both their purchase and installation are expensive. Such models cannot be installed independently at home without the help of qualified workers.
- Glass shower doors require extremely neat installation using high-quality and rigid guides and hinges, which are necessary for reliable fixation of the doors.
- Glass doors necessarily equipped with fittings, which over time can become rusty and lose mobility and reliability.
- On ordinary glass clearly visible water stains, condensation and spray from water, which must be cleaned regularly to maintain a pleasant appearance of the shower. The same goes for contamination of shower door hardware. Moreover, glass products should be carefully treated using mild cleaning products (washing gels, special wipes).
Species overview
There are several varieties of glass shower doors, depending on the method of operation. Among the most common types, sliding, pendulum, swing and folding doors can be distinguished.
Sliding
Sliding glass doors are a universal choice for bathrooms with limited space. These structures are 2 or 3 glass panels that move freely along the rails integrated in the fittings on casters or castors. Some call this type of door "wardrobe."
Among the advantages of this variety are the following.
- Compactness - to open the doors do not need additional free space.
- Versatility - can be successfully installed in niches, showers or full baths.
- Style Variety - sliding doors can be made in any design. Matte, transparent or doors with drawings and patterns look great here.
There is only one drawback with this variety - over time, the roller mechanism can fail and lose mobility, which greatly affects the usability of the model.
Pendulum
Pendulum shower doors, unlike other varieties, can open both inside and outside the shower. A key feature of such structures is mounting on a single vertical axis without using frame elements. For reliable fastening of such structures, special profile loops are used.
Main advantages:
- space saving by opening the doors inside the shower;
- lack of additional frame mounts and roller elements that may become unusable over time;
- the ability to install in any room, where there is not even a shower cabin - such doors are mounted from floor to ceiling, their sizes can be chosen by the customer.
The disadvantages of this type of shower door are two:
- the high cost of linen and installation in the bathroom;
- risk of leaks - moisture can enter the openings between the doors and harm the floor and furniture in the bathroom.
Swing
Swing shower doors - a traditional option, which is installed in almost every shower. Such doors are installed in a special frame or metal box and usually open outside the shower.
Among the key advantages are the following.
- Versatility. They can be installed either directly in the shower or in a small niche.
- Price. Swing doors are characterized by a relatively low cost in comparison with other models.
- Tightness. Due to the high-quality fastening of doors to the metal frame, as well as the snug fit of the wings to each other, one hundred percent tightness of the shower cabin is ensured. This eliminates damage to the flooring and furniture of the bathroom.
- Easy to mount. For the installation of swing glass doors, you don’t need any special tools - you only need hinges and handles.
The most important minus of swing models is the need for free space in the room. This is an ideal door option for a spacious bathroom.
Folding
Among all the glass shower doors, the most unpopular can be considered, perhaps, folding models. As a rule, this is a complex structure made of a metal profile and several glass plates, which are fastened to each other by a rotary axis and work on the principle of accordion. Such models can be found on the market infrequently, and therefore their cost is many times higher than for swing options.
Benefits.
- Relative compactness due to the folding design of such doors - an excellent option for small bathrooms.
- The perfect combination with an unusual style solution in the bathroom. Such doors will look especially harmonious in a bathroom with a Japanese interior.
- Aesthetics - folding sashes look not only unusual, but also beautiful.
- Can be performed in various style decisions from a variety of glass.
Disadvantages.
- The profile or frame of folding structures is metal, therefore, it may over time corrode.
- As already mentioned, folding models of glass doors for the shower are much more expensive than swing and sliding analogues.
- In such doors, sections where the pivot axis is located may partially allow moisture to pass through. The integrity of the entire structure suffers from this.
Dimensions
Usually the dimensions of shower doors (not just glass ones) are selected individually for a separate niche, booth or bathtub. A lot here depends on the area of the bathroom itself.
If we talk about the standard sizes of glass models, then the height limits here are limited by the ceiling or the roof of the shower - in bathrooms, this figure rarely exceeds 200-220 cm, provided that the shower tray is placed.
The height is always chosen taking into account the dimensions of the shower cabin itself - the doors should look harmoniously against the background of all structures.
If we talk about the width of the glass doors for the shower, then everything depends on the width of the niche and on the composition of users of the shower. Here, the width can vary from 60-70 cm to 120 cm. If the width of the shower door is too large, it can always be narrowed by mounting a fixed glass plate on the frame.
Forms and Design Options
For those consumers who find an ordinary transparent glass door to be too simple a solution, designers have developed a ton of decor options for such designs. Today, the buyer of shower doors can freely select the texture, glass thickness, as well as its color scheme. With the help of additional design inserts and compositions, a glass shower door can become a real compositional center of the bathroom.
The simplest method for decorating glass shower structures is to decorate the latter with original drawings. Thanks to this stylistic design, glass doors can be used in bathrooms of any style.
Among the most popular technologies for decorating glass doors for a shower are the following.
- Photo printing. In this case, a specific image is applied directly to the glass, regardless of the color design of the latter. This way of decorating the sashes allows you to choose persistent paint options that will retain a presentable and bright appearance for a long time.
- Engraving. This method involves processing glass doors using one of 3 technologies: laser or diamond machines; acid that causes erosion of the glass surface; aerosol paints that only mimic the effect of engraving.
- Stained glass surfaces. Glass showers with real stained glass are extremely rare today - this can be explained by the high cost and fragility of such structures. To simulate stained glass, special paints or films are applied to the glass.
- Polymer film. Using this material, you can apply absolutely any pattern or texture to glass shower doors that will never lose its saturation and will not harm the integrity of the doors.
- Sandblasting. This decoration method involves processing glass sheets with an air-sand jet under pressure. Image quality depends on 2 factors: from the granularity of sand and pressure indicators.
- Triplex. If you focus on more expensive techniques for decorating glass doors, then you can not say about triplex. This is laminated glass, between the plates of which you can put anything you want: from drawings to painting and tinted film. This method of decorating shower doors allows you to reliably maintain the brightness of the patterns.
- Backlight - Another method of focusing on shower doors. Additional lighting will help to visually expand the room and give the overall appearance of the bathroom a touch of charm and romance. Provided that the backlight is installed, you need to conscientiously treat the isolation of communications that supply current.
As for the variety of forms, here any door for a shower, including glass, is presented in an extremely meager assortment. One of the conditions for installing a shower cabin is absolute tightness - this is the only way to eliminate the negative effects of moisture and high humidity on furniture and floor coverings in the bathroom.
In the case of using glass doors of unusual shapes, the tightness will not be observed. Another thing when it comes to round, semicircular and angular versions of showers with sliding and swinging glass wings. In this case, so that the shapes of the structure look streamlined and harmonious, it is the glass doors that are semicircular and curved in the plane.
How to choose?
The choice of glass shower doors should be treated very carefully - this is a rather expensive and delicate element that will set the tone for the entire bath room.
Consider the following recommendations when choosing a specific model of glass doors.
- First of all, you need to decide Are you going to buy a finished model or purchase glass doors to order. The first option will be much cheaper, but in the second case, you can adjust the design strictly to a specific niche or to the specific dimensions of the room. In addition, in models to order, additional coating and decoration elements can be made at the request of the customer.
- When choosing the type of shower door You need to focus on the size of the room. For small bathrooms, it is better to consider sliding or folding models, but swinging and pendulum options will ideally fit into spacious rooms.
- Estimate your purchase budget - the hinged glass doors are considered to be the cheapest, but for folding and pendulum doors you will have to pay a rather large amount.
Additional selection factors (already in place).
- Hardware and frame - one of the first factors that you need to pay attention to.These elements must be made of stainless materials that are moisture resistant. In this case, the best options are aluminum and stainless steel.
- note on the surface of glass doors - it should be homogeneous: without chips, scratches, distortions and cracks. In addition, you need to check whether the sash fit snugly to the frame, whether there are any gaps or cracks between the doors. The frame of the structure must be rigid and strong so as not to loosen and withstand the weight of the glass doors.
- The dimensions of the glass doors should correspond to the dimensions of your bathroom, therefore, be sure to measure the width and height of the model at the time of purchase.
Care Rules
Since glass doors get dirty very quickly with water stains and limescale, they should be regularly and accurately taken care of. Used for this special products and napkinsthat gently clean glass from stains and dirt, while not harming its surface.
When choosing tools for cleaning glass doors, you need to focus on gels and powders, which contain elements for removing limescale and no abrasive substances, nitro-solvents and alcohol-containing elements - all these elements can seriously damage the glass coating and lead to the formation of deep scratches and roughness .
To clean glass doors, it is recommended to use only soft rags (preferably microfiber) and prevent glass processing with hard brushes. Sometimes the usual rubbing the glass with a cloth immediately after the shower eliminates the formation of plaque.
Experts recommend cleaning the glass doors of the shower immediately after taking a shower - This will save an attractive and aesthetic appearance of the structure.
If condensation has formed on the glass walls of the cabin after taking a shower, it is not recommended to remove it - it is better to let the room ventilate.
So that the metal parts of the hardware or frame (hinges, movable elements, rollers and guides), in which glass doors are usually installed, do not deteriorate in conditions of high humidity, they should be regularly lubricated. Avoid getting glass detergents on the hardware.
Despite the fact that glass surfaces are not affected by mold or mildew, such doors need to be treated with special disinfectants once a month. You can also find prophylactic agents for processing glass doors on sale - they do not allow stains and condensation to form on the glass surface.
Those consumers who do not want to regularly remove limescale from glass partitions need to stop on opaque options - on them stains are noticeably much less.
See how to install the glass shower door yourself.