A transom in a steam shower can be operable or fixed. If operable, it is a choice you can make if you're worried about moisture getting trapped in the shower after steaming. You can open the door - inwards, to let condensation drip into the drain - to air the shower out for the same effect. The transom would let you do this while keeping the door closed, if there was a desire to take a regular shower immediately after a steam shower.

If it's a fixed transom panel, then it reduces the size of the door. Glass is heavy, so a smaller pane of glass is a lighter door - both easier to operate and safer. It also permits the installation of a true pivot door (top and bottom hinges, vs side-mount hinges) without special consideration of the height of the opening - a full-height pivot door can be challenging to install.

In your case, if you have an operable transom installed your door would have to be side-hinged from either the wall or (less likely) hanging off of the fixed panel, so it wouldn't be a true 'pivot' door.

Our shower door is 75” tall from the curb to the top, then the transom is 17” above that. The curb is 4” so the top of the door is 79” from the floor. Our shower door is hinged to a wall and opens in and out. It’s not a pivot door, if I’m understanding correctly what that is. We lowered the 10’ ceiling over the shower. At the back it’s 8’8” and it slopes towards the front 2” per linear foot (4’ wide), so the ceiling in the front is 8’.

If you decide you want a transom, since yours is 9‘ maybe there should be a fixed panel at the very top so that the transom doesn’t need to be so huge in order for you to reach it. There are rod thingies that can be used but I didn’t want that so made the decisions based on what I could reach. I don’t see why you couldn’t have, from the floor, shower door, then transom, then fixed panel at the top. But I’m not a glass expert.

Thank you! @AJCN - it helps that you gave me the measurements. I'm no expert either but opening in and out is what I'm calling "pivot" door. Let's see what the "expert" from the company says about why they quoted a 9' door without a transom! Will update you!

I saw a picture online where the Transom was like a window in the middle of the fixed panel - like a mail box slot (kinda it was like a 10"x6" slot that they could open!

Here you go a transom slot!!

Here’s ours. Sorry for all the reflections. I find it nearly impossible to get good bathroom photos. I do recommend a transom but you’ve got to be able to reach it! I guess they could put it like the mailbox pic you saw. Then it would be easy to place it where you can reach. Don’t know how the hinges and such would work. I think I might have seen that pic when we were planning. You might need a little clip or something to grab to open and close it or you’d have to push it without having control bc youre not grasping an edge. Hopefully your glass pro can recommend the best arrangement.

Thanks for that picture - so it scrapes the ceiling while operating? Just like the bottom of the shower door would scrape the floor? - (which is normal for a nice fitting door) Do I see a rubber gasket?

If gaskets are clear plastic or rubbery pieces that are placed on the edges of the glass, then yes. They are like little sweeps on the top and bottom of the transom and really skinny pieces on the sides of the transom and the door. And then there's the "sweep" on the bottom of the door. There's nothing on the top of the door.

The pieces all move very easily. A note about the sweep at the bottom: I helped my Dad remodel his house, and we asked the glass installer to make the door open in and out. When I visited the house, the door was crazy hard to open. I looked at the bottom sweep and it was really large and the "sweepy" part of it interfered with the opening of the door because it would get caught bent the wrong way and sort of get stuck on the curb. The contractor changed it to a skinnier and more flexible one, and it's fine now. Just thought I'd mention that.

Where is your exhaust fan located?

outside the shower.

So do you have the rubbery/gasket sleeves in your shower

1.on the bottom of the door and

2.on the top and bottom of the transom

Is that correct?

I never really paid attention to them til now. Really skinny pieces on the sides of the door and transom, and then pretty skinny sweeps on top and bottom of transom and a larger, but still quite slim, sweep on bottom of the door.

@AJCN - Our shower enclosure height is indeed 8" - so I will just copy your dimensions 79" door and 17" transom. I did the hand test and "short" me can still reach the transom and push it in or out depending if I'm inside or outside the shower. Thought I will update the thread and you for all the help and direction I received.

So looks like your transom is covered with slim gaskets/sweeps on all four sides. I have to make sure to ask for that. Thanks.

You need both the transom and glass door to swing in and out.

@Mint tile Minneapolis What the guy quoted was a door that moves in and out and the transom that rotates in and out at the top - doesn't open like a door - meaning the door part is hinged on the wall on one side and the transom at the top is hinged on both sides on the the wall and the fixed panel. That should be ok right? or is that bad? Are you saying the transom needs to open like a door too?

No the transom typically pivots or rotates, it does not hinge like a door. Quick picture I found.

yes the pic provided by millwork is common and compliant with standards.

@millworkman Thank you - that's what the plan is. I got confused when @Mint tile Minneapolis said the door and transom swing in and out - my bad! Now I just have to make sure there are "rubber gaskets" covering all the sides of the transom (like the rubber sweep at the bottom of the door)

the door swings in and OUT, transom swivels both ways 😃

OK, a word from "Mom" here......I installed a steam shower for a client who was 58. He rode his bike one day, came in and took a steam shower, and died from a massive heart attack. I think about it anytime this subject comes up because I probably should have advised against installing it in this case.

Due to the extreme heat in steam rooms, there are certain people who are advised to avoid them:

• pregnant women
• anyone with heart disease
• those with very low or high blood pressure
• anyone with epilepsy
• those taking antibiotics
• users of mind-altering drugs, such as stimulants, tranquilizers, or alcohol

Yes - the door swings both ways in and out on all my showers (steam or not).

So transom should not have any gaskets on any of the four sides, correct?

So I presume the 1/8" gap is ok when using the steam shower and escape of vapor is minimal?

yes, trust in your glass professiional, theyve not answered these questiions?

I did not ask them about the gap vs. having a bulb gasket around the transom because I was new to this - I didn't know to ask.

I thought in a steam shower there should be no gaps as we don't want steam to escape and if we did want it to escape we open the transom area. I thought having gaps is pointless because steam will escape.

@AJCN Quick question for you. Do you know the thickness of you glass that you used in your steam shower? Is it 3/8" or 1/2"?

Hearing different schools thoughts on this from the vendors. One says 3/8" is fine for both the fixed panel and the door and the transom for the 8' ht. - they said for safety 1/2" transom over your head is not a good thing anyway. The other one prefers 1/2" maybe because it's a steam shower?

Also @AJCN did you go with the crystal clear glass (blue edge - Starphire type glass) or the plain clear glass (with a green hue and edge to it)

Thanks

@AJCN - Do you also have a vinyl clip on the shower ceiling to stop the transom opening incorrectly as shown in this video?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXAqlTjSOdg

Is it ok to not have this vinyl strip on the ceiling?