Bypass Shower doors

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Jimbo

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I hadn't shopped for a shower door for quite a long time, until now. We want a frameless door. I notice that a lot of them now, including some pricey Kohlers with 3/8" glass.... have a metal strip attached to the bottom of the glass as a glide. This seems to me like a spot where gunk and grunge will form and be hard to clean.

Anyone have experience with those? Do I have to go to a custom $$$ to get just a plain slab of glass like my old one??
 

Jadnashua

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My personal experience with a Kohler door was really bad...first, big mistake, I ordered it from HD. They strung me on about shipping (Kohler - I listened while they called multiple times) for months saying it would ship tomorrow. Then, they sent the wrong door. I was taking a long time to remodel, so it wasn't hugely inconvenient, but still annoying. I don't really like the way it works, and the unit I bought had the trim painted (white) and the paint is coming off in places (about 5-years). The holes for the roller bearings were all chipped and I worried that that may be a start point for a crack (not good on tempered glass!), but it's sayted instact so far. They also didn't seem to be properly placed as there's some drag and you can't adjust it to get it better. If I were to do it again, I would NOT buy it.

I put one in at my mothers from Century that seems to work quite well. There is only a small teflon like block in the middle that helps guide the thing. Rolls silently and easily. Decent quality for an off-the-shelf unit. I'd looked at them, found then nice, but my local supplier wanted way too much. She was able to get it much more reasonably where she lives (who knew?).

If you want to go custom, you can get the glass locally and the hardware from www.wilsonglass.com that stocks lots of things you don't see very often. Good people to work with.
 

JohnfrWhipple

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Fleurco Sliding Door Hardware

It's all in the hardware. The best shower door hardware out there is by a company called Fleurco. Their products are outstanding and the three installs I've inspected are amazing. The top rail system looks great and only a clip is used at the bottom not a channel to muck up.

Take some time and look them up.

http://www.fleurco.com/en/

FLEURCO PRODUCTS INC.

4575 Poirier
Montreal, Quebec
CANADA H4R 2A4

1-800-993-0033
(514) 326-2222

info@fleurco.com

We are designing a new bathroom renovation that will feature a Fleurco sliding by pass door. We demo'd last week and ordered the tub. We start building in two months.

JW

 
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BobL43

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It's all in the hardware. The best shower door hardware out there is by a company called Fleurco. Their products are outstanding and the three installs I've inspected are amazing.

Take some time and look them up.

http://www.fleurco.com/en/

We are designing a new bathroom renovation that will feature a Fleurco sliding by pass door. We demo'd last week and ordered the tub. We start building in two months.

JW

[video=youtube_share;bZ0YbbSC4QE]http://youtu.be/bZ0YbbSC4QE[/video]
Hi John, I agree with you on this. I installed a Fleurco Verona last year. Looks great and it is smooth as silk. Very well made. Got the one with 3/8 glass.
 

JohnfrWhipple

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Good the hear Bob. I meet the Sales Manager a couple years back when he was out here in Vancouver. I think their product is a little outside the regular install approach and as more glazers learn the new system more sales will follow. We found a fellow here in Vancouver that does a lot of them and will hire him to install the doors on our project on Pacific Avenue.

JW
 

Lifespeed

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The top rail system looks great and only a clip is used at the bottom not a channel to muck up.

Any more info or pictures on the bottom rail? I am considering Fleurco for a tub install, but just looking at the pictures it appears to be the same gunk collector.

Also considering Wilson glass for their frameless approach that just uses two vinyl guides on the bottom, although it is unclear to me how it would keep water leaking out the top edge of the tub.
 

Jimbo

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That wilson idea simply uses a drip edge on the bottom of the door to direct most of the water out into the tub. I would have to see it in action to have confidence that you would not tend to get some "leakage". For fleurco, do you speak the lingo? http://www.fleurco.com/fr/?
 

Colin2

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Am considering Fleuco Kinetik slider for a curbless shower. Fleuco told me the the guide(s) at the bottom are screwed into the tile floor, and to be sure not to have in-floor heating in that area as the screws would damage the wiring. That got me wondering if the screws also compromise the waterproofing of the floor (or curb if there is one). Any thoughts?
 

hj

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The shower door's jamb has to have adequate slope to divert the water back into the shower stall, if there is no channel to block its passage under the door.
 

JohnfrWhipple

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Hi HJ

We are installing one of these Fleurco by pass doors on our current tub project. There will be one fixed pane and one sliding pane. Lets see how it preforms. The tub is a deck mount that we undermounted with tile and ledgestone.

Right now we are building a fiber optic light feature.
 
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Jimbo

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John....I hate to be critical....but I see a couple of metal levels parked in the tub, which does not seem to be protected. I tend to be a fanatic about protecting finished goods. I know another viewpoint is that anything can be "buffed up later" but I don't subscribe!
 

BobL43

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John....I hate to be critical....but I see a couple of metal levels parked in the tub, which does not seem to be protected. I tend to be a fanatic about protecting finished goods. I know another viewpoint is that anything can be "buffed up later" but I don't subscribe!
I hate when that happens.
 

JohnfrWhipple

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John....I hate to be critical....but I see a couple of metal levels parked in the tub, which does not seem to be protected. I tend to be a fanatic about protecting finished goods. I know another viewpoint is that anything can be "buffed up later" but I don't subscribe!

The silver one has some painters tape and is sitting on my red carpet runner. The yellow one is plastic. This is the hardest feature we have done to date and we have been protecting the tub with off cuts of drywall, my runners and some Ram Board. That said I guess I could add in some more Ram Board on the tub sides.

Jimbo we have been cleaning and vacumming the tub as we go and ensuring nothing gets under the runners.

It's looking good!

JW
 
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