The ins and outs of shower enclosures

Does your bathroom lack space? Do you hate taking a bath? A shower enclosure could be the  best option for your bathroom with many different styles and sizes available to accommodate every space.

Shower enclosures are also a variety of shapes, the most common being square, quadrant and offset quadrant- note that these are right or left handed.

Size

Depending on the size of your bathroom you may want to consider what doors your shower has- remember to check compatibility with the style of enclosure. Sliding doors and the less common in-fold doors are brilliant at conserving space in smaller rooms, whilst hinged and pivot doors tend to be most common.

Glass

The glass used for shower enclosures will be at least 3mm thick but usually it will be 8mm and if it is frameless is likely to be 10mm. Toughened glass is used as it is a safer option, it does not damage upon impact. The glass has a memory and will shatter into a million pieces any time up to three days later, theoretically avoiding serious injury to the person who hit the glass. The idea behind this being that the person hopefully won’t be in the shower when the glass smashes, and because the pieces are very small accidents should not be too serious as there aren’t large shards of glass. For this reason glass is not usually guaranteed- it is worth checking with the manufacturer though just in case, and if damage occurs within the first three months there is a chance that it was hit during installation.

Frosted or coloured glass is a popular choice to add privacy for the user, however some people prefer opticlear which eliminates any green tinge found in clear glass.

Trays

Shower trays also come in a variety of styles, shapes and sizes. Most have a rounded 50mm waste but again this is not standard and showers with a higher water pressure may benefit from a 90mm waste to cope with the increased flow rate.

Wastes

Modern wastes tend to be at the edge of the shower beneath a covering or consist of a slot at the edge with a trap located below the shower whereby the tiles slope downwards toward the opening.

Most UK households have a shower bath to cater for everyone’s needs. However the elderly and families with young children may see the benefits of shower enclosures which make bathing easier and can also help to eliminate wet floors!