Shower Enclosure Advice, Please

11 years ago

Hello,

We're at the planning stage where the architect has drawn a draft scheme for the master bath and we need to start picking materials. I'd like to be as specific as possible when we go to seek bids.

I've scoured this board for advice and have a few questions about frameless glass showers:

1) If we specify Starphire, is there a particular Starphire glass you'd recommend? And are there any other companies making similar products?

2) Should we go with 3/8 or 1/2 inch glass? We'll have two walls of glass, one about 3 feet and the other nearly six feet long (but with a cut out to accommodate the end of the tub). Do we need to use the thicker glass?

3) We'd like our shower door to open both inward and outward. Our architect says that it's standard for door hardware to open in both directions. Is that correct, or do we need to specify that?

4) What about preapplied coatings on the glass? Hubby has already declared that he won't squeegee, and he usually showers after me. So, we likely won't be the best at daily cleanings. We'll definitely give a good wipe down weekly, though.

We'll also plan to specify the door pull and the clamps or u channels. Is there anything else we should specify? I don't either want to leave things up to the GC to go with inferior materials or to be hit with an upcharge later.

Many thanks in advance for your advice.

Comments (3)

LE
11 years ago
As far as I know the doors do open both ways. I never thought I'd be a squeegee person either, but I found it only takes seconds, and it beats the heck out of cleaning the glass.

Best advice I ever got (here, I think) was to switch from bar soap to liquid. I don't have to clean the glass nearly as often as I used to and it does not take any where near as long.
cat_mom
11 years ago
We specified starphire glass for our guest bathroom shower--I don't know if there are different versions of it or only one type.

We used 3/8" glass. This is a guest bathroom, so the shower doesn't see much use. DH and I did use that bathroom exclusively for a period of about 3-6 months while our other two bathrooms were undergoing simultaneous demolition and construction/renovation. Neither of us felt that the shower enclosure and door were flimsy in the least. We were and are very happy with it.

We had Clear Shield applied to cut down on etching/clouding, as we have moderately hard water. Even though the shower is rarely used, that might not always be the case, and an ounce of prevention..... The glass company we used uses Clear Shield, others use Showerguard, two completely different companies, and systems. Showerguard is factory applied, impregnated in the glass I believe. Clear Shield is a coating applied by the fabricator.

We chose the finish on the clamps, and upgraded somewhat on the handle. The only other thing we specified was the height of the glass. The gentleman who came out to take the measurements and write up our order, pointed out that the "standard" height would put the clamps right on our listello border tile. Totally fine structurally, but he wanted us to be aware of that. We opted to go with the taller height to avoid that (DH was happier with the taller glass because in his mind it would minimize the likelihood of splashing or over-spray over the top of the glass).
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dekeoboe
11 years ago
I was told that Starphire is a brand name and you just need to specify low iron glass.