Shower doors may be the littlest of your concerns, but one cannot escape the truth that it plays a crucial role in affecting one’s privacy. It also affects your comfortableness, as well as the time you’ll be spending for a daily clean-up, and not to mention, your budget. For such reasons and more, you may be needing one that will best suit your needs. Moreover, shower doors may also be vital if you’re trying to design your bathroom and you’re considering both privacy and aesthetics.
Although finding the right shower door will solve your problem regarding privacy and aesthetics, lots of options may leave you overwhelmed. So, whether you are considering buying a new one or fixing a dropped or damaged shower door, it is essential to know the difference between each of them in order to narrow down your choices. Below are the different types of shower doors you can choose from:
Sliding Shower Door
The sliding shower door, also called ‘bypass doors,’ are pretty similar to the sliding patio door. However, in sliding shower doors, both panels can be opened from either side. For frameless setup, metal bars can be seen across the front top of these sliding shower doors. These panels are hanged on the track using bar rollers that will then slide across the installed bars. Although frameless sliding shower doors look sophisticated, they can be pretty difficult to install. So, contacting a professional, that could help might be your best option. If there is such thing as frameless shower doors, framed shower doors are much easier to install. These types of doors are installed inside of tracks on the frame.
One thing worth remembering is that sliding shower doors are best to install on showers with large openings to fit two full-sized glass panels.
Steam Doors
Steam doors are the type of shower doors that are intended to reach from the ceiling to the floor in order to wholly enclosed the entire area. Moreover, if you are to install such a door, you need to make sure that it is sealed on every edge. This is to enable the steams to build inside the doors.
Although this type of door looks aesthetically pleasing, considering steam doors for a shower room is an expensive option. Also, you will need a professional to properly install this, which means a much higher cost.
Bi-fold Shower Doors
If you are dealing with compact spaces, a bi-fold shower door may suit your bathroom needs. This type of door is somewhat a combination between a sliding door and the hinged door. Opening this door would center the hinges into a V form while the handle side slides towards the hinged side. Like was aforementioned, this type of door best suited narrow openings, but it could also be used on broader shower openings.
Hinged Shower Doors
Hinged shower doors can both be installed with frames or without. This type of shower door pretty much operates like a standard door that swings open to allow entry, except that it uses a glass panel. However, if you are to consider such a design, you will need a larger area since it will limit the space in the bathroom. But this type of door is very versatile, and the hinges can be mounted to the shower walls or in a stationary glass panel.
Pivot Shower Doors
Pivot shower doors share similarities with the hinged typed design. A hinge system both operates these two. However, the main difference is that the pivot door can be opened in either direction, unlike the hinged shower door. Also, much like the hinged door, the hinges on pivot doors can be mounted on one side of the glass panel. Interestingly, a center pivot can be installed if you wanted to turn your door into a revolving door. Just keep in mind that pivot doors are also quite expensive than those doors with regular hinges.
Curved Shower Doors
Curved shower doors would be one of your options if you wanted to make your bathroom stand out. Just as its name implied, curved shower doors curve across the front of the shower enclosure. With that, it provides extra spaces in your shower area, but it takes more space inside your bathroom. Much like the pivot shower door, curved shower doors are also an expensive choice for a bathroom door.
Conclusion
In general, shower doors are essential in providing privacy, as well as making us more comfortable when taking a shower. As mentioned earlier, there are many types of shower doors we can choose from; we just need to look for the best kind that fits our needs. Having the right shower door that suits your preference is a great way to make your shower time a whole lot exciting and comfortable. So the next time you are planning to hit the shower, take time to think of what shower door you might want to buy.