You don’t have to go all the way and remodel your entire bathroom to change its appearance; this can be achieved by doing something as simple as replacing your shower door. Bathrooms are often relatively small compared to other rooms in the house and the shower typically occupies a significant amount of floor space. In addition to performing several more practical roles, such as keeping water inside the shower enclosure and off your bathroom floor, and providing a certain level of privacy to anyone that uses the shower, shower doors play a key role in how visually appealing your bathroom is deemed. There are a wide range of factors to consider before coming to a final decision though, as shower doors come in a range of different sizes, configurations, styles and price ranges. During this article we are going to provide you with some useful advice should you decide that a change of shower door is just what your bathroom needs.
Key Factors to Consider When Shopping for New Shower Doors
Failing to prepare adequately before selecting your new shower door and committing to a purchase could result in leaks, a shower door that isn’t suitable for the shape or layout of your bathroom, a shower door that doesn’t last as long as you expect or a shower door that doesn’t fit in with the design of the rest of the room. To avoid finding yourself in any of these situations, take note of the following advice when looking for shower doors.
Always Measure Carefully
This might sound like the most obvious thing in the world, but you’d be squareness surprised at just how many people go to a store without accurate measurements and make a purchases based on a total guess simply because they want to avoid having to make another journey. However, if you choose a new door that it too big it won’t fit into the shower opening and you’ll have to take it back anyway, and if you have a shower door that is too small installed it will be prone to leaks. So before you do anything, take a tape measure and measure both the width and the height of the shower opening. When looking at shower doors be sure to take these measurements along.
Type of Door
The type of door you select will largely be dictated by the amount of space you have in your bathroom and it’s layout. When conducting your initial research most of the shower doors you come across will fall into one of the following categories: Pivot shower doors, Sliding shower doors, Round shower doors and Neo-Angle shower doors.
- Pivot – Pivot doors swing open and can be installed with one or two panels, depending on how big the opening to your shower is. They are a good option when the opening isn’t big enough to accommodate a sliding door and you have enough available floor space in your bathroom so that it can swing open unobstructed.
- Sliding – While this option requires the opening to your shower to be of a sufficient size, it does help to save space in cramped bathrooms, since it doesn’t swing outwards into the room; it slides parallel to the shower’s opening.
- Round – If you have a corner shower this is often the most obvious choice, opening inwards to maximise the space you have available, and it’s often possible to reverse the door and make your shower accessible from either the right or left.
- Neo-Angle – Often installed in the corners of the room, the door on a neo-angle enclosure swings outwards and is more commonly used in conjunction with stand alone showers.
Framed Vs Frameless
After selecting a type, you need to think about whether you would like the door to be framed or frameless. A framed door, as the name rather suggests, will have a frame made from either aluminum or a composite material that runs around the outside edges of the glass panel. The frame allows the glass to be thinner, which brings down the overall cost. Frameless shower doors were introduced in the early 90’s and have rapidly grown in popularity, as the absence of the frame often makes for a much more attractive shower area. On the downside, they do cost considerably more initially since the glass used in their construction has to be much thicker.
Select a Finish
Now you have decided on how your new shower door will function, it’s time to make a decision with regards to how it will look. If you have opted to go with a more traditional framed shower door, you need to select the material that will be used to construct the frame. It’s usually a choice between either a composite material or aluminum, but there are usually numerous finishes available, including bronze, nickel, chrome or brass. This is something that needs to be carefully selected as the wrong choice could make your shower door stand out for all the wrong reasons. You will also have to decide on a finish for the glass. Clear, frosted, opaque and patterned are among the most popular options.
Whether you’re looking for shower doors, shower enclosures or mirror sliding doors, if you want to work with a company that has almost two decades of experience in delivering high quality products and services to clients throughout Toronto, Mississauga and Brampton, Keystone Home Products Ltd is the company to call.
