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sliding shower vs. swinging shower door

15 years ago

We are remodeling our master bath and it's pretty small. I had been thinking we'd use a swinging shower door (fixed panel with frameless door) but it will swing out in front of the toilet and into the small bathroom. I'm now wondering if I should stick with sliding door (what we had before we demolished). Somehow I think the swinging doors look nicer, more crisp and modern. Is anyone aware of a site that has sliding doors that are modern and look nice? I've searched but can't seem to find options beyond the American Standard and Kohler options. TIA

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Comments (5)

sarschlos_remodeler
15 years ago
The problem with the sliding doors is the yucky track on the bottom that gets gunked up. Plus there is always a section of the glass doors where one door always covers part of the other door so that you can't clean easily there. Yuck. If you do a double door, they won't swing out as far.
CaroleOH
15 years ago
I did the sliding doors and really the new frameless sliding doors aren't that huge of an issue to clean.

I chose the sliding door because of space issues too, plus in my other home which had a swing out door, water was always on the floor from where it dripped when the door was opened. I used to dart out of the shower to minimize the time the door could drip on the floor.

I agree the frameless swing doors are more attractive, but I've heard many stories about water leaking out of those doors if the curb isn't slanted properly etc...

I just decided to avoid the water on the floor and potential leak issues and trade that off with wiping the track periodically.
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Thanks for the additional ideas -- You've got a good point about the awkward position to open the shower door using the green swing -- though I'm not sure how much better it would be with the red swing. It's fine to open it a bit for turning on the water, but opening it all the way requires a wrist-cock around the door, or a shift from the outer handle to an inner one. Having a towel bar on the shower door itself would solve the problem, but I don't want to do that since the shower doorway will have an arched opening, and the tilework surrounding that arch will be a thing of beauty. I don't want to distract the eye from it. The problem with your suggested towel position is that there really *isn't* any wall space on the wall between the sink and toilet. That entire (smallish) area is occupied by a window. Hanging a towel to the left of the window dangles it in the sink; to the right of the window risks dangling it it the toilet. While we've been referring to it as a 'linen closet', in reality, I suspect it'll be more of a 'bath pantry' with all sorts of uglyish bottles and toilet paper and odds & ends rather than neatly stacked linens. For that reason, I definitely do want some sort of door.
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As far as sliding shower door systems, the brands I have sold that are quality products are Century and Cardinal, Amerimax is a mediocre brand at best. On the other hand the best product with a poor installation is not going to produce the desirable finished product either. That being said the local Lowes and Kohler distributor both recommend people to our shop almost daily for both product and installation which in my opinion states a hell of a lot about the products they sell. And i say this same thing for windows, doors, and most all building products DO NOT buy them from HD, Lowes or any big box store. This is only my opinion but I am a strong believer in this as I have seen and heard to many horror stories over the years and personally know too many unhappy people who went and used them for products and or installation. It is a crap soot whether or not you will find somebody capable of tying their shoes correctly let alone do your construction work correctly.
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Handshowers that come with Roman tub faucets are not for use in a shower situation with a drop in tub. They are for cleaning the tub or rinsing shampoo out of the hair of a seated bather. If you wanted a tub/shower unit, you would have needed to have designed the installation as such from the beginning and used a tub that was designed with an integral tile flange and then used a wall mounted tub/shower type of faucet instead of a deck mounted Roman tub faucet. Those tub/shower types of whirlpools are usually designed for alcove installation where a glass door can work with them just fine. But, since you've already put in what you have, the only way to use safely such a tub as a shower without setting yourself up for a lot of water damage is to do a "ring" shower curtain like you would for the old fashioned claw foot tubs. It's basically a rectangular suspended curtain rod that you use shower curtains with. A glass door of any variety will not work in your situation, as it will not keep the water off of the tub deck and walls, which is the big danger with using a drop in tub in such a situation. The water that splashes on to the walls and deck has no way to drain back into the tub because the lip of the drop in interferes. The water has to go somewhere, and that usually is your floor or into the walls and deck surround. This makes for a nasty moldy rotten mess in a few years.
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deconut
15 years ago
I did sliders as well. Mine bypass each other so there is no issue with not being able to clean a part of the glass. I use a Squeegie and then just wipe the track with each use.
DLM2000-GW
15 years ago
Sliders here, too for all the reaons mentioned and a trackless system so it's a snap to wipe down. Plus, I like to leave them open so the air circulates after a shower and with a swing out, it's open into the room and in the way. My master bath is nice size but not large enough that an open door isn't a PITA.

Here is a link that might be useful: Check out Alumax shower doors
snowyshasta
15 years ago
We're going with swinging because I didn't want to deal with a track and the space should be okay. But I wanted to mention that our doors will be agalite; I hadn't seen those mentioned here in case collage wants to check them out.

Here is a link that might be useful: Agalite shower doors

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