Here come the homebuying questions....

bounce

(we're having a lot of fun house shopping, by the way!)

NetG

I don't like them. All the ones I've ever had leaked. I prefer shower curtains because you can change them as your mood dictates, still easy to clean, and even if you're too lazy to clean, they're cheap enough to replace often!

charli

If you have a shower that is not attached to a bathtub, what other types of shower doors are there?

And if you have a bathtub/shower, why have doors on it?

I have glass, but it's that textured frosted stuff. I don't like perfectly clear glass.

CurlyCanadian

I have them and love the look of them. I just think there very smart as opposed to curtains. But, I really don'y think that I would ever do it again. There horrible to keep clean. We've had them about a year, use the Tilex or whatever spray you use everyday, tried all sorts of cleaners and nothing works. That soap scum, or lime build-up or whatever it is won't go away. If there was away to deal with this, I would definatly do it again, but untill then I'm gonna stick to shower curtains.

Anyone have a way to clean that stuff off?

mazey

Doors suck. They are hard to clean and they eventually leak.

SherryL

I don't like glass shower doors at all. My mother has them at her place and they have to constantly be wiped clean-- not just spritzed with a "spot" preventor, but litteraly Windexed after every use or they look dirty.

That being said, I don't like curtains either.

You can always redo your bathroom. We have a walk-in Roman shower... no glass, no curtains, just lots of tile. It's like walking into a big walk-in closet. I love it! Much easier to keep clean and very contemporary looking, too.

Enjoy your house hunting.

mrspoppers

CurlyCanadian wrote:

I have them and love the look of them. I just think there very smart as opposed to curtains. But, I really don'y think that I would ever do it again. There horrible to keep clean. We've had them about a year, use the Tilex or whatever spray you use everyday, tried all sorts of cleaners and nothing works. That soap scum, or lime build-up or whatever it is won't go away. If there was away to deal with this, I would definatly do it again, but untill then I'm gonna stick to shower curtains.

Anyone have a way to clean that stuff off?

Kaboom works really well and doesn't smell so bad. You need to use a Scotch Brite pad with it to get the soap scum off the glass doors, though. You might have to do it twice to get everything off.

Another thing that works (with Scotch Brite) is the orange cleaner you buy at the bicycle store. I don't the the ones made for household cleaning are as strong as the ones for bike grease. This stuff is great for your stove too.

ShrekLover

I think shower curtains look cheap (mostly). We use a shower cleaner spray after every shower and that helps a lot, but my husband really scrubs the shower down once a month also, I'm glad I don't have to do it.

When we remodel the master bath we are thinking of doing the Roman walkin type that meezer mentioned. Those are really cool looking.

munchkin

I don't like shower curtains. I think they are hard to keep clean, and unless there is a window in your bathtub/shower, they usually make it dark. I would have to say the only exception would be if you had to bathe children... would have to be a lot easier without a door.

I don't think shower doors are that hard to keep clean... tile, yes, shower doors, not necessarily. Most of the new shower doors are trackless on the bottom making that area easy to clean. I learned years ago if you take a few seconds to either wipe the door down with a towel or with a squeegee (that spelling looks wrong) after each shower, they stay quite clean. The soap scum only builds up if you don't keep at it after each shower. My husband and I both do this (and as I said it takes just a matter of seconds) and our shower doors look fine. If you are the kind of person who says "I don't have time" or "I don't want to have to do that," then they probably will be hard for you to keep clean. The shower door we have now is slightly frosted which is really nice. We are in the process of redoing a bathroom and, to be honest, I'm not sure if that door will be frosted or clear.

I think shower doors just give the room a classier look.

PartyHair

Meezer wrote:

We have a walk-in Roman shower... no glass, no curtains, just lots of tile. It's like walking into a big walk-in closet.

My dream shower, right there. I love those.

meryn

I loathe shower doors, maybe it was because one of my chores as a kid was to clean them, along with the slimey railings.

On that note, I'm always on the lookout for cool shower curtains. Unfortunately it's become a sort of obession, I check ebay at least every other day, and whenever I go shopping I go straight to bedding and bath. My current one is a ricepaper dried flower design, it's so darn cool I'm having a hard time topping it!

I like the Roman shower that Sherry has, I especially love them with glass bricks, but again, the cleaning! eek!

scubagal

mazey wrote:

Doors suck. They are hard to clean and they eventually leak.

You suck!

:P

I love my glass shower doors... the best part is the Block Glass 'window' on the other side of them... I just keep a little squeegie in the shower, take 30 seconds to wipe them off and they always look clean and shiny!!!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE mine!!!


*but I also love my cleaning lady who really cleans them every two weeks!

scrills

Great thread!!!

I just bought a house and the bathroom needs some serious TLC. I was thinking about ripping ou the closet and installing a separate shower (I love the Symmetry finish from www.bascoshowerdoor.com) but I was sorried about the cleaning. Thanks for the squeegie.

Take a lot at my fotki album. I am at a complete lost as what to do this bathroom!!!!!!!!! All I know that I either have to have an enclosed shower or a glass basin sink.

Ideas/suggestions for the bathroom are more than welcomed!

mad scientist

Meezer wrote:

We have a walk-in Roman shower... no glass, no curtains, just lots of tile. It's like walking into a big walk-in closet. I love it! Much easier to keep clean and very contemporary looking, too.

Sher - I can't picture what your shower looks like. How can it have no door?

I looked up roman showers and found these:
http://www.roman-showers.com/

That's basically what our shower looks like: 3 sides tile and a big front glass door. I love it. I find shower curtains look sloppy.

SherryL

mad scientist wrote:

Meezer wrote:

We have a walk-in Roman shower... no glass, no curtains, just lots of tile. It's like walking into a big walk-in closet. I love it! Much easier to keep clean and very contemporary looking, too.

Sher - I can't picture what your shower looks like. How can it have no door?

I looked up roman showers and found these:
http://www.roman-showers.com/

That's basically what our shower looks like: 3 sides tile and a big front glass door. I love it. I find shower curtains look sloppy.

Hmmm... it's a bit difficult to describe. I'll have to take a picture tomorrow and post it in my fotki.com album.

Basically picture a tiled, upside down "L" shaped, small room. I walk into the shower and make a left to face the shower head. All of the walls are tiled and the floor is tiled as well. The floor gently slopes to a drain in the center. It has a tiled shower seat in the corner of the L and a built-in on the opposite wall for conditioner, face wash, etc... I've got more conditioners than one girl can handle so we also put in this removable metal shower caddy that goes from floor to ceiling.

I never saw this style of shower until I moved to FL and we started picking out home designs. I'm not sure if they are more popular with mediterranean styled homes or not.

I'll definitely take a picture tomorrow.

munchkin

scrills wrote:

Great thread!!!

I just bought a house and the bathroom needs some serious TLC. I was thinking about ripping ou the closet and installing a separate shower (I love the Symmetry finish from www.bascoshowerdoor.com) but I was sorried about the cleaning. Thanks for the squeegie.

Take a lot at my fotki album. I am at a complete lost as what to do this bathroom!!!!!!!!! All I know that I either have to have an enclosed shower or a glass basin sink.

Ideas/suggestions for the bathroom are more than welcomed!

We just redid a very small master bath. The room is only big enough for a 24" vanity, toilet, and (originally) a single shower stall with a vertical storage cabinet next to it. The space in the back of the storage cabinet (because it was deep) was lost space. We had the shower and cabinet ripped out and a new shower the size of the whole wall put in. I matched the tile for the shower with the tile on the floor (it was fairly new and I didn't want to replace it) and amazingly you can't even tell they are two different tiles they match so well (a light beige off-white color with light off white grout). Contractor is putting in a custom made shower door... single shower door with the rest matching glass, which will make that whole wall glass. I put in new fixtures... removed an old oak vanity and beige toilet. Bought a white vanity and white storage cabinet to be mounted on wall above toilet, a brushed nickel light fixture for above vanity mirror, and an all mirror medicine cabinet (didn't want any wood on it since it is mounted directly next to cabinet). Had new white baseboard molding put in and painted the molding around the window and door white. Then I painted (well contractor painted) the walls taupe. Ceiling is white paint tinted with the taupe that is on the walls. Not quite done because we are waiting for the shower door, but I LOVE it... even for a tiny bathroom it turned out so nice. I call it my Pottery Barn bathroom because it follows the color scheme (white and taupe) of most of the bathrooms in their last catalog. Btw, my husband (who actually uses this bathroom the most) loves it too.

As scubes and I said, just keep a squeegie on hand and your shower doors won't be hard to keep up with.

I do have a question for everyone... when we got our cat four years ago, I apparently forgot about the curiousity of kittens. He used to play with anything and everything he could bat around on the floor. He batted somewhere into obscurity (or I put them up and can't remember where) the litte white covers that go over the screws on the toilet on the floor. Does anyone know what these would be called and can I get replacements?

Meezer, friends of ours invited us to Phoenix last spring to stay in their sister's retirement home. It was absolutely gorgeous and was the first time I saw first hand a Roman shower. They are really nice if you have the room.

scrills

@Munchkin

So you only have a shower and no tub? Everyone keeps encouraging me not to rip out the tub since it's the only bathroom in the house

Spider

charli wrote:

I have glass, but it's that textured frosted stuff. I don't like perfectly clear glass.

Same here-

munchkin

scrills wrote:

@Munchkin

So you only have a shower and no tub? Everyone keeps encouraging me not to rip out the tub since it's the only bathroom in the house

We only have a shower in our master bath and in the third bathroom in the basement. The bathroom off the hall (which I use but technically is the guest bathroom) has a bathtub with shower.

I agree with everyone... I would not rip out a bathtub if it is the only bathroom in the house. Even if you don't care to have a tub, for resale value it could hurt, especially with people who have small children.

Used to be a bathroom with only a shower was considered a 3/4 bathroom. Nowadays it is considered a full bathroom in many markets. Our house was built in 1981 just before the era of the big master bedrooms and big master bathrooms. The master bath is just a very small room with only enough room for a shower. I did increase the size of the shower considerably by eliminating the narrow storage cabinet next to it. I think for my situation I added to the resale value by modernizing, updating and making this room more efficient even with its small size.

naturalt

I don't like sliding glass doors on bathtubs, but if it is a separate shower then I prefer the door over a curtain. We just use a squeegee to stop the spots. I also spray down the door with the orange soap scum spray if we've been lazy about squeegeeing the door. No problem. I would imagine the textured glass doors would be a bear to clean.

scrills

Ok, I will keep the tub. I did some measuring and the bathroom is big enough for a separate shower and tub. I found a great layout in "TRENDS".

curlyarca

link about shower styles...very informative.

meezer: your shower style sounds very cool! i want a walk in shower one day, too!