Most enclosures here go into a bathroom that is being modernised rather than built, and often the shower is the only thing changing. That is a slightly awkward job: new glass against old tiling and old plumbing, where everything has to work together without redoing the whole room.
New glass against tiling that is staying
When only the shower is being changed, the enclosure has to land on tiling that was never planned for it.
Old tiling is often not flat across a wall, and the variation is invisible until a straight panel is offered up to it.
So we check the wall with a straight edge and not just a level, because a wall can be plumb and still be bowed. Where there is a bow, a frame with tolerance solves it and frameless does not. That check decides the whole specification.
Working around plumbing that is not moving
If the shower mixer and the outlet are staying where they are, the enclosure has to be designed around them rather than the other way round.
That sometimes means the enclosure cannot go where it would ideally go, and it always means the door has to clear the controls.
So we measure the position of the mixer and any shelf or niche, and design to those. An enclosure that looks right on a plan and puts the door handle against the mixer is a very common and entirely avoidable outcome.
When it is worth redoing the tiling after all
Occasionally the honest answer is that fitting a new enclosure onto the existing tiling is not worth doing.
That is the case when the tiles are drummy, the grout has failed across the wet area, or the floor does not fall to the drain.
In those situations a new enclosure fixes the appearance and not the problem, and water continues to get behind the tiling. We say so when we see it, even though it makes our own job smaller, because the alternative is being called back in a year to a problem we knew about.
How the job works
- Tell us about the jobSend a few photos, rough sizes and what you need. Use WhatsApp or the form. For a repair, a short video of the door moving helps a lot.
- We call you back in about 2 minutesWe confirm what you need and a time to visit. Where we can, we give you a rough price on the call.
- We come and measureWe measure the opening and check the walls, floor and ceiling around it. Anything made to size is made to these measurements, so they must be right.
- You get a written priceIt lists each item, with GST as its own line. If anything about the job changes, we tell you before we go ahead.
- We fit itYou approve the price and pay the advance. Our own team fits the work, checks that every door and window opens and closes properly, and clears up. Most jobs are done in 3 to 4 days.
