Shower Enclosure Design Tips

Heavy Units - Channels vs. Clips

When designing a heavy glass shower enclosure (using 3/8" or 1/2" glass), you have the choice of using aluminum channels or clips where the glass meets the wall.

CHANNELS	CLIPS

 
If you're doing a large hotel project and time is of the essence, we recommend using channels instead of clips. By using channels, you have some wiggle-room during the installation. With clips, your glass measurements need to be dead-on.

Adjustable Hinges

We recommend the use of adjustable hinges over fixed hinges in commercial applications. Within the hinge there are adjustment screws to fine-tune where the hinge centers. This will allow the installer to quickly compensate for any slightly off-angle tile installations.

Operable Transoms If you're creating a steam unit, you'll want to include an operable transom to vent out the steam. Traditionally, this is put in over the door, as in the "CLIPS" picture above.  However, you can also include the transom within the door or other shower enclosure panel. This can be done with any type of glass unit, from clear and patterned glass, to our Venetian Cast Glass as shown on the right. With today's precise glass cutting methods, you can also do something even more creative, such as a fleur-de-lis shaped operable transom.

Think Outside the Box!

You can take the existing glass patterns and dramatically change the look of an enclosure by using the glass off-vertical. For example, we set up what we called an Angled Reed slider unit. We took the Narrow Reed glass, and cut it 15° off vertical in opposite directions on this tub slider.

The V-shaped pattern of the angled glass creates a dramatic effect, both as it creates a unique pattern with the tile behind:

And where the glass overlaps in the middle, you get a unique diamond pattern, which has a dramatic effect when the doors are opening and closing:

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