Glass Door Ideas for Curbless Shower

8 years ago

I see most folks that have a swinging glass door on a curbless shower do not have a bath mat on the floor in front of the door as the door height would not allow clearance. My bathroom floor plan is shown here. I have sheetrocked and painted, but not tiled yet. The shower head is on the stem wall. We had been thinking all along of hinging the glass door on the wall to the right, but just thought about the bath mat issue. I could have a custom door made 1" - 2" shorter to clear a rug but that pushes the cost up. The shower floor will slope to the middle starting right at the edge of the door. I also kind of like the idea of a sliding glass door but I'm not sure if the shower is too small for a 48" shower. Or maybe we don't really need a bath mat there?

Any suggestions?

Featured Answer

PRO

Dragonfly Tile & Stone Works, Inc.

8 years ago

Can't have a sliding door for that size. Would really consider a minimal threshold with the proper door sweep mechanism to prohibit water outside shower and a bath mat is pretty necessary. Could get into lots of "engineering" here as we do custom approaches often. Here's one we are working on. (Shower glass and door not yet installed but this is a minimal threshold approach). A good contractor can help you figure this out. Good luck with your project.

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Comments (12)

User
8 years ago
Your shower needs a trench drain at the rear. Or to have a curb. Otherwise the entire room needs to be constructed as a wet room.

I hope there’s a decent waterproofing system planned.
Climb On
Original Author
8 years ago
The drain is in the middle. I see very little advantage to a trench drain at the rear. There will be slope from the door to the drain so water that runs off the door will hit the floor and run toward the drain. The house is on a slab, so the floor is concrete. I realize that the slope could be overwhelmed if there is a gap under the door and a sufficient quantity of water is hitting the area. But with a 4' deep shower I don't think that will be an issue.
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PRO
HALLETT & Co.
8 years ago
To meet code it has to be a trench drain along the back. There has to be 2” of drop from the curb (in your case the door) and the drain with a maximum slope of 1/2” per foot.

To answer your previous question, I would prefer a little more gap under the door so I could have a bath mat. If you are in the planning stages I would stretch the shower to 5’ wide so I could have a bypass door.
Jeff G
8 years ago
What is a 4 inch deep curbless shower?
wdccruise
8 years ago
timmy: It's a 4-foot shower. The tile runs continuously from the rest of the bathroom into the shower without any barrier to contain water within the shower. Only the slope of the shower floor prevents the shower water from flooding the bathroom.
User
8 years ago
And there’s not enough slope to prevent water damage as planned.
Climb On
Original Author
8 years ago
Thanks, but I disagree. I'd be interested to hear any thoughts anyone might have about the shower door style question.
Climb On
Original Author
8 years ago
That's very cool. Haven't seen this approach - thank you. The glass door will sit on the 3/4" side of the threshold and that is enough to swing over a thin bath mat, I presume?
PRO
Dragonfly Tile & Stone Works, Inc.
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Yes. Make sure to get a stationary sweep at bottom of door. This is tried and tested over years. An engineer client of ours collaborated with us on this design years ago. PM us if you want the to scale rendering to profile (width may vary based on your dimensions). Been adopted by a number of high end architects in our area. (Trade secret:)
Climb On thanked Dragonfly Tile & Stone Works, Inc.
PRO
Dragonfly Tile & Stone Works, Inc.
8 years ago
One more thought for homeowners contemplating the curb-less shower: Generally you have a mosaic shower floor in your plans. The shower door sweep will not always seal over a mosaic floor completely (grout joints) so water may still pass into bath floor area (except in a larger shower).
Climb On thanked Dragonfly Tile & Stone Works, Inc.
Climb On
Original Author
8 years ago
And I bet another benefit to the minimal threshold solution.