You want the shower closed off properly. Most people arrive knowing that much and no more. That is enough. Three things decide what we build. Where the shower sits. Whether a door has room to swing. What you want it to look like. The rest is our problem.
How to tell what will fit, standing in the room
Look at where the shower is. Two walls behind it means a corner enclosure. Glass goes on the other two sides.
One wall behind it means a straight partition. One run of glass closes the open side. Walls on three sides already? Then only the front needs glass. That is the cheapest job we do.
Now look at the floor in front. A swinging door needs about two feet of clear space. It has to miss the WC, the basin and the bathroom door. If it cannot, you want a sliding door.
That is the whole decision. You do not need to measure anything. Our sizes come off the finished tiles, not off today's wall.
Where the glass comes in the order of trades
We are one of the last trades into a bathroom. Tiling has to finish first. Plumbing and the false ceiling too.
Here is why. Your glass is cut to the finished tile face. Tiles are 8 to 12mm thick, and adhesive adds more. Measure a bare wall and every panel comes out short.
Toughened glass cannot be trimmed later. Cutting it after toughening shatters it. So a wrong size is not a fix on the day. It is a new sheet, and the wait starts again.
Call us early anyway. Tell us the week your tiling ends. We will hold the measuring slot for the day after.
What we do in your bathroom on the day
Two of our team come. For one bathroom they are usually there for about a day.
They carry the glass in on edge. That is why we ask about your lift and stairs when we measure. Anything already there comes off first and leaves with them.
Then the fixings go in, the glass goes up, and the door is set so it hangs level. The silicone goes on last.
Give the silicone 24 hours before you use the shower. Water on soft silicone pulls it off the tile. That gap is what goes black later.
Drilling makes dust. Take out anything you would rather keep clean. We sheet the floor and clear up after.
Small bathrooms, and what works in them
Many flat bathrooms leave little spare floor once the shower is placed in a corner. Three things work well in a small room.
A sliding door is the usual answer. Nothing swings out, so you lose no floor. It costs a little more than hinges, because of the track and rollers.
A fixed panel with no door is the other answer. You walk around the end of it. It stops the splash, there is nothing to wear out, and it is our cheapest build.
The third is a corner enclosure with a sliding door. Two glass sides, and the door slides along one.
A wide swinging door does not suit a small room. It usually has nowhere to open into without hitting something.
Two things that can stop the job
We check both when we measure. We would rather tell you then than after the glass is ordered.
First, the wall behind the hinge. A frameless door puts all its weight into the hinges, then into the wall. A 10mm door is heavy. A solid wall holds it for years. A hollow partition wall does not. If yours will not take it, we say so. The answer is usually a framed build.
Second, the fall of the floor. Your floor should slope towards the drain. If it slopes towards the door, no seal will hold the water. Glass in front of it only hides the problem. That is a job for whoever laid the floor.
A wall that is out of straight is normal and is not a stopper. We pack it out, or we build it framed. You are told which at the quote.
Looking after it
Water in both metros is often hard. It leaves white marks on glass. Those marks are mineral, not dirt. Left for months they etch in, and cleaning will not remove them.
Keep a rubber wiper in the shower. Ten seconds after each use is the whole answer. It is worth more than any coating anyone will sell you.
Use normal glass cleaner, or vinegar and water. Never use a scouring pad or a tile acid. Acid strips the chrome off the fittings.
Silicone in a shower usually lasts several years. Then it should be cut out and redone. That is normal wear, not a fault, and it is a small job.
What we do not do in a bathroom
Fabrockers installs, replaces and repairs glass, aluminium, uPVC, wood and steel work. In a bathroom that means the enclosure, the screen, the partition, the mirror and their fittings.
We do not do tiling, plumbing, waterproofing, vanities or false ceilings. We do not move a drain or change the fall of a floor.
We say this because many people searching for a bathroom job land here. If that is you, the glass is the part we can do. Get the rest done first, then call us with the tiling date.
What we stand behind is the glass and the work. 2 years warranty on every product, 6 months on repairs and installations
