Shower Doors
By: Amanda Campbell
Updated: November 2, 2011
In most homes, the master bathroom has the glass shower doors while
the guest or children's bathroom has only a bathtub. That means if you
want to take a shower, you must install a shower curtain and liner. But
these can mildew or wear out quickly. But by installing bi-fold glass
shower doors, you can dramatically improve the appearance of your second
bathroom.
INSTALLATION: (What you'll need)
* Duschqueen
glass shower door kit
* screw gun
* level
* grease pencil (for
marking holes to be drilled in tile)
* two people to do the job, both
to hold the glass and for safety reasons.
* 1/2" spacers, which come
with the kit, to hold the glass above the tub
* tape measure
The
Duschqueen glass shower enclosures are part of a growing consumer
market. The kit includes three panels of glass, hinges, gaskets, and
stainless steel channels to hold the glass.
1. Step one is to
attach the four hinges to the first piece of glass. There are
pre-drilled holes in the glass, and gaskets come with the kit and fit
inside the hinges to protect the glass from being scratched by the
metal.
2. Step two is to lift up the largest lite (or panel of
glass which weighs about 60 lbs) and hold it against the wall away from
the faucet.
3. Put the 1/2" spacers on the top of the tub
ledge and then hoist the glass up and set it on the spacers. This will
make sure that the glass, which will fold open, has enough clearance to
swing open without scraping the tub.
4. Use a level to make
sure it's plumb and mark the tile where the hinges will attach to the
wall.
5. Drill holes in the tile and then you will use wall
anchors to hold your mounting screws in place.
Important: it is
very important to use the right sized wall anchors to hold the glass to
the wall. You want the anchors to be especially snug in the wall because
if they're not, the weight of the glass will pull out of the wall.
Tip:
when hammering the anchors into the holes drilled into the tile, be
careful! When you get close to getting the anchor flush with the tile,
take another anchor and use it as a nail set to hammer the anchor all
the way into the tile. This way you avoid breaking the tile with the
hammer.
* Attach the first piece of glass to the wall.
* Then
attach the second piece of glass to the first, again using the hinges,
gaskets and screws.
* Then close the doors as straight as you can
across the top edge of the tub. Use the tape measure to determine if
it's straight. In other words, measure from the front of the door to the
outside edge of the tub across to the other wall.
* Once that's
lined up, you can mark where the mounting channel is going to go against
the wall closest to the faucet. Mark the channel, and that is really
easy to install.
The channel for the third small piece of glass
is peel and stick. On the bottom of the channel is a very high bond
double stick adhesive that bonds to the porcelain with no drilling
required. Because the channel is only about eight inches long, after the
doors are installed, you can still sit and bathe a child or a pet
without an uncomfortable channel extending across the edge of your
bathtub.
* Once the channel's installed, put the third small
piece of glass into the channel and line it up plumb with the wall,
again using the level, and mark it.
* Then drill more holes into the
tile, put in anchors, and attach the wall channel vertically by
screwing it into the tile.
* Plastic sweeps snap onto the channels
and the edges of the glass to give you a watertight seal.






