Frameless shower doors are trending

A trend that’s taking hold in bathroom decoration is the frameless shower door. Unlike the bulky sliding shower doors of the past, frameless shower doors lend an easy elegance to the bathroom. They’re easier to clean, and because they’re most often associated with walk-in showers, they don’t tend to lend themselves to the accumulation of mold and mildew in the bathroom.

Frameless shower doors work for walk-in showers and tubs

Frameless shower doors come in a number of styles, including single hung doors, double doors and sliding doors. Many sliding doors are held in place using traditional tracks, but newer sliding doors ride on exposed wheels that lend themselves to the emerging urban industrial look.

Unless you have two swinging glass doors, at least one of your frameless panels will be fixed. Depending upon where you locate the door, you may have more than one fixed panel. Your installation may not be truly frameless – a top rail might be required to provide additional stability for the fixed panels..

Frameless shower doors can be made from clear or patterned glass, or they can have designs applied to the surface once the glass has been formed. For shower applications tempered glass is required. Tempered glass will offer a significant safety advantage over standard plate glass.

You can have frameless shower doors and panels coated with a special hydrophobic coating, which will cause water droplets to run off the surface. This will help reduce maintenance, and water spotting on the glass following use. If your shower door and glass panels are coated, be sure you understand proper maintenance techniques to avoid damaging the coatings.

Frameless shower doors can be created in a variety of thicknesses, but the thickness of the glass will determine the type of hardware required to support the glass. Glass is very heavy, so having adequate support for both the panels and the doors is essential.

You’ll also want to use low-iron glass, unless a green tint works into your decorating plan. Low iron glass is truly clear. Standard float glass has a greenish tint caused by iron inclusions in the glass at the time of manufacturing.

If you’re looking for additional inspiration for decorating with glass, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .
Photo Credit: ZiebaBuilders, via Flickr.com