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Today's Shower Enclosures: Design Solutions With Lasting Style

Design solutions with lasting style
Whether your shower stands alone or is combined with a bathtub, the best way to control the shower spray is with a glass bath enclosure. Unlike a disposable shower curtain, a glass enclosure holds its looks and its value for years. It is also easier to clean and, if the time does come to replace your enclosure, its metal parts can be recycled easily. You'll also discover that your bath enclosure adds more light and style to your bathroom. When remodeling, a well-planned glass enclosure helps you open up a tight space, creating an inviting bathroom that also adds considerably to the resale value of your home.

A quality enclosure keeps all water inside the tub or shower, looks good, allows easy movement in and out of the shower and is easy to clean. An enclosure's proper installation is critical to most of these functions. That's why it's important, in most cases, to have your enclosure installed by an experienced professional. Your professional glass installer will be able to help you make the choices that are right for you. A professional installation will leave you a beautiful, leak-free enclosure designed to give you and your family years of service and pleasure.

Consult a glass professional
When working directly with your glass shop, often you will have the opportunity to review photography of the installer's handiwork along with brochures that show the various styles and options available. As you review these materials and the installer's showroom displays, keep in mind your budget and the space you have available in the bathroom. Be sure to let the glass shop know if the installation will be in a new home or as part of a remodeling job. It also helps to explain who will be using this shower and what their personal needs and preferences are.

An array of options
Regardless of the arrangement you want in your shower, there is a glass bath enclosure that will work for you. If you want to have the option of either taking a bath or taking a shower, it's a simple matter of having a bathtub with a shower head at one end. Most contemporary tubs are inset into the wall with just one open side. A glass enclosure for this arrangement could involve a by-pass or a bi-fold door. (These units are often called tub enclosures.) To add light, some tub configurations are set up to be open on one end as well as on one side or even on both sides and one end. Such configurations can use the same possible door options in combination with right-angle glass panels called return panels. (It is possible for a tub to have glass on all four sides but this requires some highly imaginative and expensive solutions to placing the shower head and shower handles.)

The most simple standalone shower consists only of a door that is the width of the shower. The other three walls are either tiled or are made of some type of fiberglass/acrylic modular unit. The glass door may be a bi-fold, hinge or pivot door. For larger openings, by-pass doors may be installed or a hinge or pivot door with a fixed in-line panel.

To create a more open space which takes full advantage of available light, many contemporary standalone showers use glass on two or three sides of the shower. (A four-sided shower is possible but the problems of bringing in the plumbing fixtures from the floor or the ceiling make it costly and impractical.) The size of the shower only depends on the space available.

Some showers have more than one shower head and are large enough to be used by two people at once. This comes in handy for the two-career family where both breadwinners have to be out the door early. Today's shower enclosure can consist of any number of combinations of in-line and return panels. One of the more popular space-saver configurations is the neo-angle shower. This unit fits into a corner and has three sides of glass. The two sides that attach to the walls are fixed glass with the middle panel being a hinge or pivot door.

The possibilities are endless
Whether your shower enclosure consists of a single door or of four glass panels, the option is there to create a shower/steam room combination. To create a steam room requires an enclosure that is self contained. For the single door enclosure, this can be accomplished by having a door that fills the entire opening or that has a transom above the door. The transom is closed when the steam function is in use. Creating the steam option in the more complicated enclosures running the glass and metal floor-to-ceiling or putting a top on the enclosure.

There is a wide range of framed and frameless styles available for today's shower enclosure. The amount of metal used to hold the glass panels in place determines whether an enclosure is considered framed or frameless. A framed unit typically has aluminum extrusions surrounding each glass panel and all edges of the glass door. Like the big car manufacturers, many enclosures manufacturers have a number of framed models to choose from based both on budget and taste. The differences can be seen in the profiles of the aluminum extrusions used to frame the panels and in the engineering details associated with the door mechanisms-whether the door is hinged, on a pivot, a bi-fold or a by-pass.

Create a glass paradise
The frameless style originated in Europe. It is highlighted by a more open look due to its maximum use of glass with a minimum amount of metal. The frameless term is applied to those enclosures where the metal framework has been reduced by varying degrees. Some frameless units use the same thickness of glass (5/32 inch, 3/16 inch or ¼ inch) as framed enclosures and still have metal across the top and bottom and at the ends and along the hinge side of the door frame. Other frameless styles have limited the metal parts to small hinges and clamps that hold a heavier glass (3/8 inch or larger) in place. Frameless by-pass doors often have no metal edges on their edges.

While these doors may travel in aluminum top and bottom guides, the metal door handles and towel bars that are attached to the doors seem to float in the air.

Use your imagination
While clear glass is the most popular choice for shower enclosures, there are many options. Your selection will depend on your budget, your design, your need for privacy and your personal style. Glass can be obscure or tinted to allow light through without inconveniencing the more modest bather. Reflective glass is also available, providing both a full length mirror in the bathroom and a sense of privacy in the shower. Your enclosure glass can be etched in a number of abstract patterns or shapes. Representational images running from the traditional swans or calla lilies to your favorite football mascots or cartoon characters can be etched or screen printed on glass. This is an area where some consideration should be given to how long you plan to stay in your home. Glass also comes in a number of textures that allow light to enter while still providing personal privacy. Some of the thicker glass now available uses beveled patterns as a design element to add an upscale touch of class. Heavy glass enclosures utilize glass that is 3/8 inch or heavier. The glass in some of these enclosures has a sculptural appearance, turning the shower into a utilitarian work of art.

Select the best extrusion
Traditionally, the aluminum extrusions that frame a shower enclosure have had gold, silver or bronze finishes. These are still popular today, but the palette has expanded in response to the growing use of color in the bathroom, from tiles to the plumbing fixtures. Thanks to the powder coating process approximately a dozen custom colors are now available including white, black, red, navy, teal, peach, raspberry and rose, as well as several grays and off-whites. Powder coating involves placing the aluminum extrusions horizontally in a spray chamber, covering them with a dry powder, and then baking them until the powder melts and forms a tough coating on the extrusion. These powder coated finishes are often tougher and more scratch resistant than the traditional finishes. And in terms of popularity, powder coat white is moving up fast on the standard gold or silver finish. The colors mentioned above were developed to complement the colors now available for a number of plumbing fixtures. Other colors are available but could cost more and might require a long lead time since it is a matter of the extrusion company waiting until there are enough pieces of a particular to make an economical batch. Whichever color or type of extrusion you eventually choose, feel confident that your glass professional will provide the most accurate information available.

Source: Choosing Your Glass Shower Enclosure, Glass Magazine, December 1995.