Choosing The Right Shower Screen
Choosing the right shower screen is a pretty important step in bathroom design and renovation.
The popular shower screen types in Australia are semi-frameless (or perimeter framed) and frameless. It might seem purely an aesthetic vs cost comparison, though there are a few more competing interests in making the perfect shower screen choice for your home. If you’ve spent valuable time considering your tiles and fixtures and layout in detail, you will likely get some useful tips from reading o
Frameless shower screens
Frameless shower screens are typically made of 10mm glass and should always be constructed from toughened glass. The toughening process means that accidentally broken glass will fall into small cube-like pieces instead of knife-like shards. Frameless shower screens can be constructed in a full range of layouts to suit your bathroom size, style, and functional requirements. Frameless shower screens are easier to clean than semi-frameless shower screens due to the lack of framing that harbors dirt and mold.
Frameless shower screens tend to offer a wider range of hardware finish to suit current trends. Fixed panels are trending strongly in bathroom design, which needs to be 10mm glass for stiffness and durability. Frameless fixed panels can also be produced in radius and arch-top versions, as well as fluted glass.
Semi-frameless shower screens
Semi-frameless shower screens are typically made of 6mm glass. They can be constructed from toughened glass or laminated glass. Laminated glass suffers from deterioration in wet areas, so most semi-frameless shower screens are constructed using toughened glass. Semi-frameless shower screens are harder to clean than semi-frameless shower screens because of the framing that will harbour mold and debris over time.
There are also numerous rubber/plastic seals that mount the glass into the frame. These will perish over time and it is costly/labour intensive to have these replaced. Semi-frameless shower screens are more reliable in the case of large-angled corner showers. If you were thinking of a 1200 x 1200 angled corner shower, this would be better in semi-frameless. The weight of the shower door is less and the head framing braces it between the panels.
Shower screen installation in new bathroom or bathroom renovation
If you are planning a bathroom renovation, it is a good idea to discuss the type of shower screen you want with your tiler or builder before the work starts. There are different ways to do the waterproofing and tiling and not discussing things in advance, may limit your shower screen options once the works are complete. Below are images showing floor tiling and waterproofing setup that can work for both semi frameless shower screens and frameless shower screens.
A step down into the shower can also be incorporated. A step-down is useful to contain water within the shower cubicle when using larger format tiles with compound falls (ie a central floor waste). Both a semi-frameless and frameless shower screen should properly sit on the high side of a step-down if utilised.
Shower screen replacing an existing shower screen
You can often replace an existing shower screen without the need to replace tiles or remedy waterproofing. Your selection of shower screen types and layout may however be limited. Generally, the waterproofing and tiling within the bathroom (as done for the original tiling and original shower screen) has been determined upon consideration of the shower screen to be installed. For example, if you currently have an angled corner shower, and now wish to change that for a corner shower, you will be limited. The fall on the tiling will likely mean that water will pond if you install a corner shower.
It could also mean that subsurface water will egress beyond the shower cubicle because the waterproofing should correctly have been performed differently in anticipation of a corner shower vs an angled corner shower. For these reasons, it is advisable to keep your shower layout the same or look to replace the shower cubicle waterproofing and tiling.
Custom or pre-made
Australia is a little different from many other countries in the way that bathrooms are built to comply with local building codes (you will no doubt be broadly familiar with the term Australian Standards). Australian bathrooms almost always have floor waste on the main floor and the shower floor is tiled (many other countries don’t have floor waste on the main floor and use shower recess trays made of pressed metal, acrylic, or natural stone).
This means that the floor tiling requires falls in multiple directions to direct waste water into the drains. These construction methods mean that most Australian bathrooms need a custom-made shower screen (sometimes pre-made single fixed panels can work).