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Shower doors slider or hinged doors?

7 years ago

My wife and I are remodeling our bathroom and replacing the tub with a walk in shower. We just have to pick out what kind of glass door we want.
I have tried looking online but can't find anything that gives the pros and cons of sliders vs hinged doors. The opening is large enough we can do either.

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millworkman

7 years ago

Shower-guard will minimize the hard water effects on glass

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Comments (12)

millworkman
7 years ago
On a walk in shower I would recommend using a hinged door. Normal sliders require a track on the bottom and the top hung require at the very least guides on the bottom.
kitasei
7 years ago
Sliders are impossible to clean in the overlap area. But before you do either, know if your water is hard or has minerals that will etch glass and make it impossible to clean. If that is the case, opt for something besides glass or at least minimize it. A hinged glass door that could be easily replaced would be preferable to a built in glass surround (my costly mistake).
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Thanks for the responses, I thought about putting the door closer to the middle with panels on either side, but I don't have enough space because the door would hit the toilet. As it is, Ill have to open the door pretty wide to navigate past the toilet (thus making me worry about hitting the wall). I really wanted the door, but Im just not sure we have enough room. We will have to open the door almost all the way to get in to the shower. I will look into those hinges though, that may solve my problem. Bobbymac, do you happen to have a picture of your door? Im intrigued how you configured the handle.
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Thanks Archnista! You understood what I meant. I appreciate your feedback. To have one last go round on this to understand and compare my BF and I yesterday went to 2 places that I'm dealing with for the bath remodel and see if by staring at displays I could understand more. The first place was the place where I'm getting the cultured marble panels (and install) from. The other place is where I'm getting our Totos, all of our Grohe stuff, plus the lighting and some storage pieces. Both places have lots of displays, not necessarily exactly like ours is going to be - but close enough to depict the ideas. So, the cultured marble place says for a "swing out" door, we'd be looking at an "in-line" notched piece over the bench, then the "swing out" door, then another piece of "in-line". They do indeed do "pivoted" hinges, but we'd have to have enough depth to provide full swing in - that makes total sense. Also, the best possible thing is to have full swing on the outside or at least know what we'd be hitting - toilet for sure if we opened all the way. Also, the BF is worried that the wing out door would collect water and then deposit it on the floor, plus he feels that the swing in deal would mean splattering water outward if one of us enters or exits the shower while water is on (very likely since we do that tonight - i.e. shared showers.) The key thing that helped me was to see the "trim" aspects of the by-pass doors and in the trim type I like. It won't be too bad. I was picturing old fashioned big bulky shower frames of yesteryear. There's much nicer sleeker and contemporary stuff available now. Also, tomorrow the cultured marble guy and my GC are meeting over at the new house to go over the plans for the shower stall. At this point the bench is roughed in and by the time the cultured marble guy arrives I think the plan is to have the window roughed in too. And I think the plumbing values are also going to be roughed in. But I think they'll figure it out. The key thing is everything is down to studs and that means we they can get a clearer picture of what goes where, etc. Thanks for your help. I do think we'll wind up with bypass doors in a minimal frame trim and everything will be fine :) Cheers, --jans We enet
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the features-for a sliding door are various-screen upgrade-attention to the ball bearing or slide mechanism along the bottom sill.....French wood or narrow frame which is the difference between opening up for the view outside[or not]...material such as high quality vinyl/fiberglass or factory applied finish on fiberglass or wood or YOU stain or top coat....species of wood you might like....the glass itself-attention to light filtering/insulating characteristics....tempered is standard but hurricane or laminated and now "soundglass"if you lived near highway/airport/busy roads/coastal area/etc.. -then there's the hardware upgrade and multiple lock point positions and external lock? .....Go and get with a salesman of Andersen/jeldWen or whatever is in your area for a regional product and examine one time visit in the showroom at least--open/close/play with it-etc,...... French doors-dunno-some things might be similar like material and glass upgrades....this door is in the center of your space....a feature packed door can be really nice and give an upgrade to the space....budget may or maynot allow all the bells and whistles-but go and look-something about the door may tie in with your cabinet/wood in the kitchen[or not]-----default to white vinyl perchance...oh my-but high end white vinyl door-can work nicely. If it were me, the window has to come out,right?-can you plywood it up and do more in the kitchen so you get a feel of what you think, since there was never a door there.....it's hard.
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Jaclo has many finishes that match other brands. I've used their products in previous remodels and in the house we built. I just installed shower door handles and a shower/grab bar (for the handheld shower head) in their Caramel Bronze finish, which matches my Brizo lux gold fixtures. They are pricey and lead times were 5-6 months for that finish, but they do make very good quality products. https://www.jaclo.com/finishes
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acw2004
7 years ago
Personally, I hate my slider. It's always getting stuck or catching. But do you have room for a hinged door? And can you afford it -- those guys are expensive! (Or I would have traded mine out years ago.) Best of luck!
Lisa Samson
7 years ago
I hate my sliding door. The tracks are impossible to keep clean, and I have hit my feet so many times on the bottom track. My doors also have a metal frame around them which I also hate because dirt or mold gets trapped between the glass and the frame and it is impossible to get it out. Go with the hinged frameless door. Just make sure that there is a seal on the bottom and the sides so that water doesn't leak out. I have seen OVE Doors at Lowe's. They look nice and are about $600.00. They aren't cheap, but they look like decent doors that don't cost a fortune either. Take your time and find the right door for you and your wife. They don't have to cost a fortune but can still be nice. Good luck.
homepro01
7 years ago
Top mounted sliders don't have a bottom track. They are like barn doors. I prefer sliders over a door. The swinging space needed by a door makes it difficult to get a 36" door in this pace for instance. I hated my door and slider that were 24" wide. The choice would depend on the size of the shower.
PRO
Stardust + Gravity
7 years ago
Hinges are a more high end look and much easier functionally. The sliders are harder to clean, and sooner or later the track gets a little gunked up and starts to stick.
PRO
Avanti Tile & Stone / Stonetech
7 years ago
Hinged. No-Brainer....
User
7 years ago
Hinged.
homepro01
7 years ago
This site has a some good pictures of sliding shower doors including a curved one. They also have hinged door pictures too.
dawna177
7 years ago
I just had a slider door put in. There is no track on the bottom, so that getting dirty isn't an option. I chose a slider because I heard stories about water dripping all over the floor when you open the hinged door.
PRO
Avanti Tile & Stone / Stonetech
7 years ago
There may not be a track on the bottom, but there probably IS a "guide" attached to the curb. That guide should NOT be screwed into the curb as that is an avenue for water penetration. Please say that it was epoxied in place......

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