We had a local glass guy come out - he says 90% of his business is frameless shower doors. We will also have a hinged door with a stationary panel, silicone sweep - no u channel - and were not given any admonishments about leaking. Our dear friends have the exact same setup in their master bath and their door does not leak. So I don't understand the warnings.

We were told by our shower door co that using clips vs a u-channel for the bottom edge of the stationery panel does increase the likelihood that it could leak down the road, but I don't think they ever said that it absolutely would fail/leak. For our application, and to avoid the add'l $ that clips would've run, we decided to stick with the u-channel. We do have slips along the sides though.

We have a frameless door only, with a silicone sweep on the bottom. The gaps between the glass and tile door frame are about 3/16" wide, and we never have more than a few drops on the frame outside the door. Our shower is also very small, which I imagine contributes to the leakage 'problem'.

The distance and position of your shower head and any body sprays will have an impact, as will the slope of your curb.

Just got our shower door with fixed panel + door. The guy came with an L- channel (side and bottom -is that the same as U?) for the fixed panel. I immediately put the kabosh on that, said I wanted clips (although I didn't know what they were called. The L looked liked aluminum and I hated it!) He did tell me that way was "stronger", but I didn't care.

He came back the next day (he is wonderful if you live near Los Angeles) with a recut stationary panel and clips. Siliconed the sides and bottom of the fixed panel. It definitely took more work.

The door does not have a side sweep (only bottom) as we like it to swing in AND out.

Works beautifully. No leaks anywhere. Find a new frameless door company!

We have a curbless shower with a 5' opening that will have french doors that will swing both in and out and another 5' shower with a curb that will also have the same type of french doors. The company that we are using states (on the bottom of the invoice describing the work to be done) that frameless showers MAY leak. We discussed this with them and they said they want their customers to be aware that there will be an approximate 3/16" gap at the hinge side of a door, a 3/16" gap along the wall on any fixed panel installed with clips, and also a 3/16" or less gap between either a door and fixed panel or between french doors. Because a gap will exist whether water escapes or not will depend, as has been said already, on the direction shower heads spray and also on the shower habits of the users, some being more vigorous than others. I'm renting a condo now while the new build is in progress and our shower here has a framed sliding glass door. I manage to get water on the floor with this shower and there really are not gaps to speak of so I guess I take vigorous showers. Nevertheless, I'm going ahead with the plans for our new showers because I don't see how glass shower doors could be made completely gapless. I don't think I would sign a waiver as you have been asked to do but I'm satisfied that this company is making an honest statement that water may leak depending on the exact circumstances of use. HTH

I should have mentioned that our door has a clear flexible "sweep" or whatever it's called on the hinged side, where it meets the shower opening. Our fixed panel is siliconed (with two clips) to the shower opening. A teeny slit where swinging door meets fixed panel (no sweep).

Again, no leaks whatsoever.

My shower vendor says to use the U channel instead of completely frameless because of mold and too much silicone.
Also warned tha black spots/mildew will be a issue and the cannel approach prevents all of that.

Any advice? (I can do either, same price in my contract for my house)

Also, if one of my showers is steam, is frameless/caulking stil okay or I should do channel? I just hate the metal look.

If your having tile work done make sure they angle the curb into the shower or it will definitely leak! Love the look but it leaks like a sieve