Well, which do you prefer? We’re doing a bathroom renovation and it’s easy to go either way. I’m used to a curtain, but I don’t like that they tend to leak a bit and get moldy and need replacing.
I also wouldn’t rule out both – that is, functionally a glass door, but also put a fabric curtain on the outside strictly for decorative purposes, especially when we are entertaining.
If you do decide on glass,make sure that it is frosted (“cloudy”) glass and not clear(like a window).
Clear glass is impossible to keep clean. Frosted glass doesn’t show water spots.
My favorite is the partial glass wall. No moving parts and you can walk in or out without doing anything. You need a bit more space to ensure the water doesn’t splash out the opening. They are easy to clean and easy to use and doesn’t feel awkward when you brush up against it.
Something like this.
https://images.app.goo.gl/t7fC18AYH2FrLhmR8
If you’re concerned with glass looks when you’re entertaining, you should be able to find one that’s frosted or has some other time of design that makes it translucent.
Personally, I’d probably go with a curtain. I like the look of glass and from that aspect, I’d pick it. However, I don’t know how much upkeep is required. With a curtain you really don’t have to clean it. For ten or fifteen dollars you can get a new one once or twice a year. While it wouldn’t be a dealbreaker, I imagine it’s much easier to clean the shower with a curtain all the way open (or off) than with the glass door blocking half of it.
As for them leaking, they do make little clip type things that you mount to the wall of the shower next to the curtain to hold it against the wall. In my shower, the rod has a set screw about 2 inches from the ends. I always make sure that one or two of the curtain holder rings are pushed between that screw and the wall and that’s enough to keep the curtain far enough over to prevent any leaks.
It really depends on the setup. We had the sliding glass doors on a tub once. Terrible.
You can’t sit on the side of the tub and soak your feet because the tracks are there. Washing things (kids, dogs) is harder because of the stupid track and the doors are always covering half of the tub at best.
The track gets water in it, which dries an leaves mineral deposits.
Strange, I haven’t found this a problem at all. We clean weekly with either viakal or a glass cleaner. Easy peasy (and I’m in a hard water area).
I loathe curtains with an absolute passion. They stick to your legs and go mouldy in the folds. Glass is much cleaner, brighter, altogether a more pleasurable experience.
This is what I have in my walk-in shower. It always looks spotless and has no moving parts for any dirt to gather in.
Always disliked glass doors. You can buy a lot of shower curtains for the price of one glass door. When we had a tub/shower, I installed a curved curtain rod, which pretty much eliminated the usual problems with shower curtains, and provided more elbow room.
Glass door for a shower stall. Curtains for a tub/shower setup.
I’ve installed both. (And I’ve replaced for the 3rd time the bottom shower gasket just recently. This requires complete disassembly and re-installation of the whole blessed thing.)
The standard two-wide-doors bathtub style just closes off too much of the access to the tub. You have to get into noticeably more sophisticated systems that allow much broader access to the tub and those tend to have more leakage issues. (And wide swingout doors may conflict with other fixtures.)
The curved, double-rod systems are a great improvement in the curtain department.
Avoid sliding doors at all cost. Hinged only. MUCH easier to maintain.
My gf’s bathroom was remodeled a few years ago and the clear glass door is beautiful. But she has to squeegee it every time she showers. My shower curtain is easier, I replace it once a year or so.
I have clear glass on a shower enclosure that I simply spray after showering and it leaves the glass spotless. Works better and uses less spray if I squeegee. I prefer the curtain on my Tub.
Just a warning about the curved shower rod. Remember the 4th rule of conservation comes into play. Bathroom space can neither be created or destroyed (ok but the principal works for this). I got the curved rod and it stuck out too far in the non-tub area, it went back and the standard rod worked much better.
Depends on your water. We are on a well. I filter the water through two whole hose filters hooked serially.
We still have a ton of rust and calcium. Have had both glass and plastic curtain. While I prefer glass, it is and absolute bitch to keep clean. Our showers are so bad we have to use toilet bowl cleaner to get the rust off. It’s a nasty job, with lots of dangerous fumes.
With a plastic curtain. I can just through it away and hang a new one.
We have a tub shower combo and use shower curtains. I have a clear plastic liner on the inside and a decorative cloth on the outside. The curtain rings have double hooks.
There was a time when I really wanted doors instead until both of my sisters told me how much they hated theirs. They’re hard to clean - old toothbrushes to clean the tracks, water spots, and mildew in crevices.
Every few months I throw the plastic liner in the washing machine. Every year I get a new one - they’re under $10. The cloth curtain never gets dirty - maybe a little dusty. That gets washed maybe once a year. I have a few different cloth curtains. It’s nice to change it up on occasion.
I’ve had a few curved rods and never had that issue. Before I got the first one I remember thinking that it might be an issue because it’ll push out into the rest of the bathroom, but it only overhangs the tub by a few inches. But even that is only in the middle, at the top. By the time the curtain is near the walls of floor it doesn’t stick out any further than a standard rod.
The only issue I’ve had is that because they curve out, instead of a shear force where they’re mounted, there’s torque and leverage involved. If it’s not installed really well, it’ll rotate down a bit. I’ve never had one fail, but it looks a little sloppy.
If it is the only tub in the house, I would stay with a curtain. When it is time to sell the house, a young couple with little kids will prefer a tub without the door for easier child bathing. This helps keep open more potential buyers.
However, doors are better than curtains in almost every way, especially for a master bath.
There were sliding glass doors on the shower/tub combo in the house where I grew up…the glass was pebbled, so it always looked nice, but the track was insanely difficult to keep clean.
My current house has a curtain for the bathroom with the shower/tub combo, and a hinged door for the bathroom with the shower stall. It has clear glass, which (as others have noted) is impossible to keep clean, and I’ve had to resort to chemicals to keep the metal frame clean at the bottom.
I prefer my shower curtain with its separate cloth liner, which comes clean with a nice soak in bleach-water (bonus: the textured bottom of the tub comes clean while soaking too).
For anyone with the half wall, is the water when showering pretty well contained?? We’re about to do a bathroom down-to-the studs remodel.
If you have a huge bathroom, then go with your gut.
My bathroom is actually quite small, which swayed my opinion heavily.
When we did a full gutting and renovation some years back, I did everything as nice as possible and made sure things were constructed for my 6’3" height–from the height of the shower head to the height of the glass doors I had put on the tub.
Ah bliss! Being able to take a shower like normal people for the first time in my life, without having to duck under a low shower head.
But my wife and I had to admit: when the glass guys came in with the fancy glass, it looked wrong. Something just wasn’t right about that bathroom. It was thick custom glass, and had cost around $1.5k, so we went with it, figuring that we just weren’t used to the look.
A year went by, and one day I looked at my wife and said “Would you be upset if I took those glass doors down?”
She jumped for joy, having hated the doors from the day they were installed, but not wanting to say so after the cost.
An hour later I had all of the glass leaning against the deck outside, and the bathroom suddenly looked so much more inviting and open. The problem is that even though the doors were constructed in a way that there was very little metal visible, they still divided the small room into still smaller spaces.
This was truly a case where it was possible to suffer with the wrong arrangement simply because of what we had invested in it. I never regretted removing that glass.