Clarifying Your Priorities When Installing a Glass Shower

When you're picking the various elements for a glass shower, you need to keep your priorities in mind, as some options might be helpful in one way but not in another. Read on for more explanation.

Openness Versus Privacy

Before selecting the glass for the screens, be sure about what you want to achieve. For example, clear rather than frosted opaque panels create a sense of openness by not blocking off the shower area. Open space can engender a feeling of luxury and peace, preventing a cramped feel. In a small bathroom, creating spaciousness may be high on your agenda. 

However, this same transparency can take something else away. When you're in the shower, you'll enjoy the same open view so you won't feel hemmed in. However, then, of course, you'll not have privacy. 

What matters most to you? Is your priority to create a pleasing sense of spaciousness and openness in the bathroom? Or would you prefer the private experience that frosted shower screens can provide?. Your answers may depend on factors such as whether you live with others and whether you'd expect to share the bathroom simultaneously.

Economical Versus Frameless 

Another consideration to weigh up is the cost of the shower versus its framing. A frameless shower is, other things being equal, more expensive than a framed one. Are you after the silken look of sheer glass screens with barely any metal? You might like a minimal look but prefer a more economical option. 

One compromise is a semi-framed model, which often has metal edging around the perimeter of the entire enclosure — the top and bottom edges, and the sides that attach to the walls. The screens on these designs though have little hardware along the vertical joins of the panels. Thus, you achieve a clean effect at a better price than a frameless model. Of course, a frameless model is more minimal, but you have to weigh that against your budget.

Sometimes you have to give up one thing to get another. Thus, you can create openness, somewhat at the cost of privacy. There's no point creating a beautiful open-design space if you feel intruded upon while having a shower. Also, you can install a sleek frameless model, but you'll need to pay for the tougher glass that's required for these structures. By working out your priorities beforehand, you'll make sure to get a shower you're happy with.

For more information, contact a shower screen service.