Shower Enclosures
 You
don’t necessarily need a lot of space to install a shower
enclosure, but it is important to plan it properly.
Visit our shower gallery for inspirational ideas.
You need to have enough space to move around, hang towels
and store toiletries as well as having some privacy and easy
access. The size of your enclosure will generally be determined
by where you want to install it and the size and shape of
shower tray you purchase. The
most common shapes are square, quadrant (quarter-circle),
offset quadrant, pentagonal and rectangular. If you have the
room, all of these can be installed separately to your bath,
or you may decide to replace your bath entirely with a larger
walk-in enclosure. A showerbath, which is wider at one end
than the other gives you a generous showering space when you
need it but means you can also have a long soak.
A shower enclosure can be purchased ready-made and is made
up of several different components, generally a shower
tray, glass shower door
and side panel which need to be assembled and installed together
in whichever location of the room you choose. A popular option
is to position the enclosure in a corner of the room in order
to make use of two existing walls, which you would tile, and
then use a glass shower door
and side panel to act as the third and fourth walls.
A different approach is to build your shower into an alcove
or recessed area which already has 3 walls, which means you
no longer need the shower side panels. This may give you a
cost saving on the shower products, but may be more labour-intensive
to construct, particularly if you are creating the alcove
with stud walls.
A walk-in enclosure typically consists of a larger, rectangular
shower tray, with a fixed curved
screen at one end which does
not return completely to the wall. You take your shower behind
this screen and can step back into a drier area within the
enclosure to dry yourself. There are no moving parts with
this type of enclosure which makes getting in and out quick
and easy, and with no door opening out into the room, you
don’t drip water every time you open it.
Alternatively, you could go for a wet-room
look, which is a totally waterproof room, or part of a room,
where the floor is your shower
tray and is fitted with a shower waste outlet for the
water to drain away. There is quite a lot to do to make a
wet room work
and you should seek professional advice before you begin.
The floor must be rigid and raised by about 5cm to make room
for the waste fittings and needs to slope towards the waste
outlet. You will also need to tile all the walls (ceramic
or stone tiles are best) to make the entire room waterproof.
If you don’t have a defined showering area, you may
decide to add a glass screen
instead to protect the rest of your bathroom fittings from
getting soaked every time you shower, and in any case, a wall-hung
toilet and sink may be your best choice of suite fittings
since they will allow any surplus water to drain away and
make cleaning the floor easier.
Additional information
If you cannot find what you are looking for
or need further assistance in choosing a shower enclosure,
please contact us.
Click on bathroom
suppliers for a list of your nearest local suppliers of
quality shower and shower accessories throughout the uk.
Click
here for more information on shower enclosure
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