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I want to replace my shower enclosure for something better. It’s the usual 800x1200 quadrant type with sliding split doors.
It was only a cheapish one and after 5 years the chrome has started to come off, the runners for the doors are failing and it’s always let water past the bottom of the glass so it’s permanently wet between the glass and chrome frame, which has lead to it going green.
What should I be looking at for a better quality screen that’s going to last? I assume that they are all standard shape and will fit my tray.
Cheers
Our plumber gave us the brochures for what his supplier could get hold of.
We’ve got a Simpsons Supreme which seems to be fine after 2.5 years of SW London hard water.
Ditto.
6 years old, brushed alyminium all oxidised, poorly designed so lots of wee hard to reach parts to access for cleaning.
Piece of shit.
We have 2 Daryl ones 30 and 15 years old. Both have regular use and still look good. I think Daryl were bought out not long after we got the second one.
Not the cheapest but well worth it.
Try Coram shower enclosures. A carpenter/builder mate recommend them. Ours has been in for 5 years now and still looks almost new.
Got it from Graham's plumbers merchant. Arrived in a couple of days. Plumb center are about the same price.
Get a sole trader cash account to get the better prices.
Coram or Kudos both excellent screens, as a plumber they would be what I'd install in my house
I'd go to your local independent plumbing supply place and see what they have in the showroom - even better if you're getting a plumber to fit it and can convince him to tag along (assuming he already has a good relationship with the place). If you're lucky you'll find a decent ex-display unit on sale (that's how I got my bath, screen and sink unit anyway).
Cheers for the suggestions. While I don't mind paying a reasonable amount for something decent, £1k seems a bit much.
Not getting a plumber to fit, I'll be doing it myself. Not sure about the practicality of showroom visits at the moment.
What we did is change the bathroom a bit and went away from the quadrant style and got one of these: Merlyn enclosure We bought through Grant and Stone. Must say, absolutely love it. Not massively expensive either but the advantage of virtually no moving parts to break down. Had ours done maybe 3 or 4 years ago now.
Not getting a plumber to fit, I’ll be doing it myself
Yup, only plumbing is the drain fitting really.
I use mostly Merlyn enclosures for
my jobs, also like Kudos, we also fit a lot of Matki ones, but I’m less keen on those as they’re bloody hard work sometimes.
Finally took it apart, I had decided just to clean it up and refit but on closer inspection where the water had sat between the glass and frame the chrome has gone. So it’s replacement time.
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Long shot but the issue I foresee is that the profiles currently attached to the wall have offset screws that will need covering by whatever I replace it with.
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Does anyone happen to know if any of the recommendations above have either a similar offset mounting or maybe a wide wall profile?? Long shot I know. I really don’t want to have to fill the holes in the tiles as it will look gash.
we just bought a matki one, still waiting on tiles to begin bathroom overhaul. it was eyewatering, i only plan to do this every 20 years!
https://www.matki.co.uk/products/shower-enclosures/illusion-quintesse/
Wow, £2k for a screen 😬
I’ve just bought a frameless type one, less of the chromed aluminium to corrode so with any luck will last longer.
I’ve got 8 tiles to replace now though, it’s grown arms & legs.
@phil5556 I've just done exactly this.
Some of the enclosures I looked at had 'stealth' screws attaching the rail to the wall (I.e. hidden once the glass was attached), but most were similar to your picture. I couldn't tell from the details online which had which sort, or what the dimensions of the rail might be. Slightly annoyingly, my new enclosure had a narrower rail than the previous installation - so the screw holes were in a different place, leaving the old holes half visible. I just filled the holes with grout - they're only noticeable if you look closely - definitely not something that bothers me. Mine were on grey tiles so I had to try and colour-match the grout to the tile. With white it'll be simpler and I'll wager you'll never notice.
Re: choosing an enclosure, everything seems to be differentiated on glass thickness. < 6mm = junk, 6mm = OK but a bit wobbly, 8mm = feels premium.
I bought an 8mm enclosure from Screwfix. It didn't actually come from them, it came from another supplier (Aqualux), but delivery was seamless. It was just under £400 for my shower (smaller than yours, though).
Other things: 8mm panels are HEAVY. Like, really heavy. I read and ignored the instructions to use I really struggled to lift them and my wife couldn't really help. If you do go for an 8mm+ one, plan for a 2 man installation, though I just about managed it on my own.
The new one has a much nicer design that we'll be able to keep clean, but mainly because we went for a hinged door rather than the sliding one.
Measure the height. New enclosures seem to come in a nice round 2000mm tall, rather than the 1830mm (==6ft) of the old one. I guess most shower trays these days are flat to the floor, but if your shower has a step into it, make sure the new enclosure isn't too close to the roof.
I put in a daryl shower enclosure in, it was stupidly expensive until I got the plumbers discount, I think c half of 5k.
Problem is we d been to a show flat to nick ideas, and being a show flat had really good stuff in. The tiles were really stupid money but we only need a few.
If it were flat I would get something made, it wasn't expensive, thick glass is q cheap, chrome surround, hidden screws in frame hidden by glass.
so the screw holes were in a different place, leaving the old holes half visible
Half visible I think would be OK, a bit of grout and some artistic silicone and I think they'd be unnoticeable, but I think mine will be at least 10mm inside any new profile. We seem to have fitted it a bit too far in from the edge of the tray originally. Hopefully it'll last for at least another 10 years and will forever bug me if I don't do it properly now I think.
The one I've just taken off is 8mm, I'd forgotten how heavy it was. Nearly got myself in to trouble holding on to it whilst trying to drill out a corroded screw!
1950 tall so a bit taller but fits OK 🙂
I've chosen the one I've just ordered based on the bottom edge just being the glass sitting on the tray, which is where the last one had problems. Unfortunately hinged door won't work because the sink is too close.
Pay attention to the manufacturers instructions regarding where to apply silicone and where NOT to.
I mention this as applying silicone to the inside would be a mistake and could have lead to the situation your current screen is in. But I can’t tell from the pics.
@goldfish24 noted cheers.
I’ve just been fighting removing the original profiles from the wall, soooo much silicone! 😳
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The issue with the one I’ve removed is that the aluminium profile sits inside the glass, which means you have to seal the inside of it otherwise water would just run down between glass and profile.
This is the bottom runner, I think the bit that failed originally was the seal on the bolt between glass and runner. And then water just sat between the 2 with no way to get it out.
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You do know screwfix sell silicone remover?
Its in a little pot that breaks it down, use eye protection as it is fairly nasty stuff