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Sliding frameless shower door selection questions?

8 years ago

Has anyone has experience with Vigo or Dreamline sliding shower door?

I also have options to have local glass companies to make it, but I am just not sure how to find reputable manufacturers. I am at Chicago north suburb area.

Is there anything I need to be aware of a frameless sliding door compared to a framed one in terms of maintenance and installation. I am in the process to remodel my guest bathroom. The glass shower door is the last thing I can not pin down.

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Comments (5)

Tmnca
8 years ago
We were looking at dreamline but it didn't come in the size we needed. We ended up with this one - it's a corner shower with glass on the side as well. We love it!

Our contractor installed it so not sure about issues with the install but they did not complain and it turned our gorgeous. The door glides like air. Home Depot has install instructions on their website so you could check the reviews often said it was difficult to install due to the heavy glass so you may need 2-3 people.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/MAAX-Halo-60-in-x-31-7-8-in-Corner-Shower-Enclosure-with-Tempered-Glass-in-Chrome-105945-900-084-100/203446423

our shower:
box5phantom thanked Tmnca
kudzu9
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
I installed the Dreamline "Mirage" Sliding glass door in my guest bathroom last year. It has a track only at the bottom and has an arm at the top that holds the fixed panel steady. To me the lack of metal framing is a plus in terms of looks, especially in a smaller bathroom.

I couldn't find many online reviews for Dreamline's products at the time, but the specs sounded good, so I took a chance and ordered it. The overall build quality is quite high and I am totally satisfied with it and how smoothly the door operates. It was significantly less expensive than some of the other brands I looked at, as well as possible custom designs. I also found their tech support to be good when I queried them about the design prior to purchase, and later when I had an installation question.
box5phantom thanked kudzu9
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Strictly speaking, "stock size" means different thing for different manufacturers. Also, each fabricator/retailer can choose to "stock" a few most common sizes of glass to be most economical to sell. Glass retailers get their glass from the distributors, who order from glass manufacturers and in a lot instances, from overseas. They ship them in certain "common" size in containers. What I found out is that if you stick to 24", 26", 28", usually you can find it less expensive. Sometimes the height makes a difference too, they usually order from the distributors something like 70" or 72". So say you happen to call to order a 26" x 72" door, they will find they can sell you one pretty easily without any customization effort, that will lead the cheapest price. That said, it's difficult to build your shower solely based on the glass shower door decision. The opening may not be perfectly prime after the tile installation, for example. We are talking about 1/8", 3/16" kind precision. In my case, I have to cut the glass out of square, which make it more expensive. Bottom line, anything they have to do with the glass will incease your cost, you will find the least expensive glass door if they don't have to do any customization to the glass in their shop/warehouse. The less they have to do, the less expensive. Both Wilson Glass or Gasparilla Glass are good online places. I inquired with both myself. Wilson Glass is a tiny little more expensive than Gasparilla's quote. You can even find some rock bottom price ($300~$400) on eBay with whatever the size they are listing at.
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"...Are there any hi-quality makers of frameless shower sliders?..." I thinks Fleurco is the Best in Class Winner here. Their hardware works beautifully. These doors can be ordered as kits with the glass or you can order just the hardware by itself. Make sure you shy away from a fully topical waterproofed shower pan with you barrier free build since you will need to secure a floor clip. I would do a recessed shower floor and take an approach like this for the barrier free. The dark blue section of the shower is under flood test and later had 2" of Laticrete 3701 mortar bed installed to bring the floor even with the outside of the shower. The light blue material is again NobleSeal CIS and the entire room is a wetroom After the floor test was done 2 capillary breaks where installed. One at the entry to the bathroom and one across the shower entry. Good Luck.
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Lisa- I'm not sure that is entirely true. Water getting outside the shower is primarily a function of what gaps exist around the door, whether swing or pivot, and how well they are sealed. If you are referring to the fact that a pivot door can also be opened inward so that water on the door doesn't drip off onto the floor, that requires the shower being big enough that you can get out of the way of the door when you open it. In addition, many swing doors have a drip catcher at the bottom, so this is not a big deal. I think the issue of dripping on the floor is mainly a function of how well the overall design is implemented, regardless of door type.
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Hi Home Reborn, Thanks for your input. I had a feeling that was the problem. I even told the contractor that a few days ago but he brushed off my concerns and blamed the design of the door. So then I started looking at the metal strip more closely and that's when it hit me that the metal strip might be shaped that way because it closes up the gap between the curb and the bottom edge of the door. Thanks for clarifying that they actually got it right. Unfortunately for me, it's already too late to fix the curb issue because the entire bathroom is 90% done. I've been using a towel at the base of the glass door to keep water from leaking out and it seems to be working but I can't keep doing this forever. I was wondering if a half round style threshold would close the gap between the stone and the bottom edge of the door. He could caulk it in place where I put the towel (which you can sort of see in the original post). It's not the best way to fix the problem but I don't want to undo all the work and pay him more money when it was his fault to begin with.
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Bunny
8 years ago
tmnca, I have a few questions about your beautiful shower.

1) Does the door with the handle slide to the right?

2) Is the glass on the right fixed?

3) If #2 is yes, how do you keep from getting wet when adjusting water temperature?
kudzu9
8 years ago
Linelle-

Many shower door kits are reversible. My Dreamline kit allowed me to have the sliding door on either side, so I chose to have it slide open by the shower head specifically so I could avoid getting wet while setting the temp.
Bunny
8 years ago
kudzu9, thanks for your reply. In my situation, the shower head is on the same wall as the adjacent toilet, so entering/exiting there would be awkward. There is enough room, however, to reach in to adjust water temp. My current shower has bypass doors so opening at either end works. Bottom line, having the fixed panel at the shower head end would seem difficult when adjusting water temp.

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