Use a frameless bypass barn door. Those work fine.

Can you do a partial frameless with a track at the base but not at the top?

I believe you mean a ”header” at the top. If so, yes, a header is required as well as the track.

S Wheeler: barn door has same issue...supported by small panel glide that will not adhere to cast iron for long length of time. are we missin somethin? hope so!

Just to enlighten me - Is there a specific reason why you cannot drill into cast iron (warranty, ruin finish, etc.) to anchor the glides?

I'm also surprised that there is no two-part epoxy that would keep the small lower glides attached to the base. I've seen JB Weld used for car parts that get a lot of stress from being bounced down the road and they hold up for a lot of years.

Bruce

It's all about the warranty. The glass companies we have talked to will not guarantee that the shower door will stay secured using a small panel installed with an adhesive...both state they encountered issues in the past. As for drilling...yes, it can be done with special bits, but no guarantee that damage will not occur to the shower base. I found more support of this on other similar Houzz discussions.

Currently I am pursuing the use of a long U-channel at the base to support one side of the frameless doors...wish me luck!

Can't you do this?

palimpsest: Ours is a walk-in shower, no tub, so the doors will be much heavier. I believe a header is required to support the glass. Interesting though, I'll pass it buy our GC. Thanks!

Any updates? I'm in the process of choosing a shower base for a basement project and was leaning toward cast. But I'm thinking I'd like to do it without a door, and just use a glass panel.

Amanda: Yes, I came across a new shower door by WBS called its 6000 series...https://www.wardrobeandbath.com/featured

It has a track and NO header...the only one like this I have seen. It does require 1/2" glass but I'm OK with that. My glass person can put same thing together using C R Laurence parts, as I want low iron glass and Shower Guard, which WBS does not provide. The one thing that I am waiting on is his confirmation that the track does not require screws, and can be adhered to the cast iron with just adhesive. If so, I will be all set. Total cost would be $3200. Fingers crossed...

There are always the "french door" style doors if you planned for them with side supports behind the tile and left room for them to swing open. You can see Enduring's french door shower doors on her Kohler shower pan on this thread: [How to Select Tile Floor Shower and Shower Pans[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/how-to-select-tile-floor-shower-and-shower-pans-dsvw-vd~3562607)

The Kohler Salient shower base is cast iron. The Kohler Fluence is one (of many) frameless sliding shower doors recommended by Kohler for use with the Salient base. Per the Fluence installation instructions, one does not attach the shower door bottom track -- supplied with the door -- to the shower base. Instead, one drills holes for wall jambs on either end of the shower base and then positions the wall jambs over the track to hold it in place. This eliminates the need to drill any holes into the shower base itself.

Lisa: Your photo shows a door that opens out. We required a sliding shower door, that would need tracks on the bottom. So you see, in our case, the brackets would not suffice.

The Kohler Fluence is a sliding door and does not require drilling into the shower base as described in the installation instructions. You may want to look at the Pairs Well With section of the Kohler Salient webpage to find other Kohler sliding shower doors that work with a cast iron shower base.

L. Sprowls- Thank you for your response. We originally intended to use the Kohler Fluence sliding door with our cast iron pan. However, three different installers refused to guarantee the Kohler, stating that there was a high probability of problems with it staying secured. One installer refused to work on the Kohler. We were very disappointed, as they are very attractive. But we couldn't pay for work they would not guarantee.

Visit a local glass shop who does shower doors. They all have companies they can order from and this should be an ordinary install for them.

Millworkman: We did go to the local glass shops and they all refused the Kohler installation process...”would not secure doors on cast iron long term”, so no one would guarantee the work. We ended up with a Contractors Wardrobe model that has track on the bottom and header on top. Not our first choice for looks, but it is guaranteed. By yhe way, I really appreciate all your comments throughout the Houzz website. Thank you!

Ok and you're welcome.

I contacted DreamLine which manufactures lots of shower doors. It reported the following models that do not require drilling into the shower base (aka "threshold).

• SHDR-1260728-01 Duet
• SHDR-0960720-01 Infinity-Z
• SHDR-1160726-01 Visions

These are 56-60 in. W x 72 in. sliding shower doors (I asked about 60 in. doors for my project) but DreamLine doors come in many sizes.

L Sprowls: Yes, however, I believe these are all framed sliding shower doors. We were specifically looking for a frameless (no track or header). Thank you for the info, though.

Diane, your original post is confusing/misleading and the description of what *you* want isn't made clear either until way down in the comments. You declare "cast iron shower bases must use shower doors with a track" and that's simply not true. You can get doors that attach with clips to the walls. Just overall very confusing.

Lisa A, do you have the Purist or the Kathryn Kohler shower pan? Can you send a close up of the shower apron and where the shower door meets the shower pan.

You can definitely drill into cast iron shower base! Who told you that you can’t, simple answer nobody wants to do that because it’s a bit harder to drill in! I have a low profile cast iron base pad, and we installed shower doors without track, but we had to attach brackets to the base, so we still had to drill them to cast iron pad. And everything is fine!

@N. Lau.: "You can definitely drill into cast iron shower base! Who told you that you can’t, simple answer nobody wants to do that because it’s a bit harder to drill in!"

No, the reason that "nobody wants to do that" is because it can lead to rusting of the cast iron shower base where the hole was drilled. I chose a shower door that did NOT require drilling.

We are installing a 36 x 60 cast iron shower receptor and frameless bypass sliding doors. The glass company said they drill into cast iron all the time and it's not a problem. As a preventive measure, I will ask them to add silicone to the underside of the sill mounted center guide to seal out water and prevent rust. Thank you to everyone who commented on this thread - your input has been helpful and informative.

@VSB_696479070: "The glass company said they drill into cast iron all the time and it's not a problem."

Of course it's not a problem for them but since it isn't necessary, there's no reason to do it.

We have a glass shower door that only attaches to the wall. Nothing touches our Kohler cast iron pan. It was installed by a very reputable glass shower door company without issue in 2020

Kohler cast iron pan