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Can you design a frameless shower enclosure

that doesn't leak?

With proper design and installation frameless shower enclosures should not have any problems

with water leakage, but they are not 100 percent watertight.

Fixed glass panels are sealed at the base of the floor and along the sides with clear silicone

sealant. Most water escapes from the frameless glass door which needs at least 6mm clearance

space along the bottom and opening side, hinge side is dictated by the hinges themselves shown

on their drawings. There are some simple things you can keep in mind when planning your

frameless shower enclosure to minimize the amount of water that gets out:

DOs

•

Install a seal with drip rail onto the bottom of your frameless glass shower door

(SH/GGA/S04) to close the gap and deflect any water running down the door back into

the tray. If there are uneven tiles on the floor or a dip in the tray lip you may need to

silicone down a water bar threshold.

•

Add a hinge side seal to the rear of the door (SH/GGA/S05, S06, S09 or S16) and cut it

correctly between the hinges as per the instructions.

•

Use a magnetic seal if possible as it will positively hold the door closed and provide the

best barrier to water spray (SH/GGA/S01), if you are not keen on the look of a magnetic

seal you can use one of our translucent fin seals (SH/GGA/S06 to a wall or SH/GGA/S10

to another glass panel). These are less effective than the magnetic seals but will still

provide suitable protection.

DON'Ts

•

Do not direct water spray at the frameless shower door!! Your protective seals improve

watertightness but a glass shower isn't an aquarium. We automatically seal door hinges to

give them a protective property as well, but the hinges aren't waterproof.

•

Do not neglect replacing seals. Over time seals may need replacing from the constant

movement so if your frameless glass shower suddenly seems less watertight, check your

seals.

Summary of content (14 pages)

PAGE 1
Can you design a frameless shower enclosure that doesn't leak? With proper design and installation frameless shower enclosures should not have any problems with water leakage, but they are not 100 percent watertight. Fixed glass panels are sealed at the base of the floor and along the sides with clear silicone sealant.
PAGE 2
What goes into making my frameless glass shower enclosure? Even if you know what you want your frameless shower to look like, understanding key components of a frameless shower will make the ordering and installation an easy and understandable process. Glass Thickness: As a standard we use 8mm clear toughened safety glass. Depending on the size of panel you require we may have to go up to 10mm for greater rigidity on larger panels (typically over 1200mm wide and/or 2100mm high).
PAGE 3
Hinge Type: We offer 2 main types of hinges to connect your glass door to the wall, freeswinging or spring loaded and each has their own benefits and flaws depending on what you are trying to do. The free-swinging hinges only open in one direction, as a result the hinge side seal can be run the entire length of the glass edge without cutting it (also only requires 2 holes so the glass will be cheaper). However they have no centering force to keep in the closed position so a magnetic closure seal is a must.
PAGE 4
Connecting Hardware Types: Brackets: are only about 50mm square and require a hole in the glass, up to 2m high you will need 2 up the wall and one on the base per fixed panel. They come in either chrome or satin nickel plated brass and satin stainless steel. For a corner joint between glass panels you will have to use brackets to mechanically fix them together then use a clear silicone to seal the gaps in between.
PAGE 5
Configuration: • Single Doors: You can choose if you want the door to open to the left or right, if you want it to run to the ceiling or not. Generally they are designed not to be handed so makes no difference to the panel • Inline Opening: For wider openings there are 2 choices for how to screen it off, hinged door and side panel(s) or a sliding shower screen, be aware that with a slider the largest opening you can get will only ever be half the overall width.
PAGE 6
• Corner Opening: The most popular shower configurations join two glass panels at a 90degree angle to close up the space. One of these side panels will be a hinged door or a combination of door with smaller fixed glass panel. The other popular corner opening is a neo angle shower. Three glass panels (one being a door) kink between the two existing walls at 135-degree angles.
PAGE 7
Support Bar Shower Sweep Fixing Considerations Be sure the wall on which you would like to install a hinged shower door has proper studding behind it (double 2x4 is best, though single 2x4 is acceptable). Always provide wood studs or blocking where doors hinge or panels are anchored, especially when metal studs were used in the original construction of the wall.
PAGE 8
If you are going for a wet-room decide whether to install your shower enclosure on a curb or to have it flush with the floor. While eliminating the curb is beneficial when planning a handicap accessible shower enclosure, keep in mind that a properly constructed curb helps prevent water from leaking or pooling onto the bathroom floor. The curb or lip around the bottom of the shower should to be slanted inward at a 5-degree slope so water flows in toward the drain.
PAGE 9
Walls which meet a door or glass panel need to be exactly vertical, or "plumb", in order to prevent gaps, uneven joints, and hinge "bind". It is possible to work with walls that are no more than 8mm out of plumb over a 2m height. Walls more than 8mm out of plumb will require a bespoke cut shaped panel and be held using glazing channel to hide the run-out, to attach a door to one will require a fixed panel to be installed first.
PAGE 10
To minimize leakage, position showerheads toward tiled walls or fixed panels. Showerheads should never be positioned opposite a door or other opening. (Exceptions may be made for smaller or low-flow showerheads or showerheads that point straight down at the floor.
PAGE 11
Shower doors should be installed in such a way that nothing interferes with their movement and there are no gaps between the door and the wall. Environments that interfere with door movement are raised decorative tiles and overhanging tiles. A better solution is to include a fixed panel in your design. That way, the door can align with the panel on one side, opening and closing properly with no interference. On the other side, the tile can be notched to allow the panel to line up flush against the wall.
PAGE 12
Never run plumbing pipe or electrical wiring through walls or studs where an anchoring screw for the shower enclosure hardware might puncture it.
PAGE 13
PAGE 14
When designing an enclosure that has a buttress or "knee" wall, plan on including an in-line panel into your design. That way, you can modify the fixed panel to accommodate the buttress wall instead of trying to modify the door.