Frameless shower screens and glass enclosures in Bali

In a villa bathroom the shower screen is the piece of glass people touch every day, often with wet hands and soap. It is also where cheap specification shows first: 6 mm glass that flexes when the door swings, chrome-plated hinges that blister within a year near the sea, a screen that leaks onto a timber floor because the shower floor was laid flat.

We fit screens in new bathrooms and existing ones. In a new bathroom we agree the floor falls, the drain position and the glass line with the tiler before the tiles go down; in an existing bathroom we survey first, because the floor and walls decide what is possible more than the catalogue does. For balustrades, pool fences and glass partitions, see our frameless glass systems.

Walk-in, hinged or sliding

• Walk-in panel. A single fixed panel, often with a return or a support bar. No door, no hinges, nothing to adjust. It needs a floor that falls firmly to the drain, ideally a linear drain along the wall.
• Hinged door with fixed panels. Inline or corner enclosures that keep the water in on smaller bathrooms. A 10 mm door carries 30–45 kg of glass, so the hinges must be rated for it.
• Frameless sliding door. A leaf on a stainless rail, for bathrooms where a door cannot swing.
• Bath screen. A fixed or hinged panel on the edge of the bath.

Glass, fittings and hard water

We use 10 mm tempered glass for doors and most panels, 8 mm only for small fixed ones. Tempered glass carries a small risk of spontaneous breakage from impurities in the glass, so on large panels we recommend heat-soaked glass. Ordinary clear glass has a green edge; low-iron glass is colourless and costs more.

Bali well water is often hard. The white spots on shower glass are limescale, and on untreated glass they slowly etch into the surface. An easy-clean coating keeps them from bonding, and a squeegee after each shower does the rest. Hardware is 316 stainless steel — the grade that survives salt air — in brushed, polished or black finish.

Waterproofing comes first

A shower screen is only as good as the floor under it. The floor must fall to the drain, the waterproofing membrane must run up the walls behind the tiles, and the screen fixings must not puncture that membrane below the splash line. We check the falls and the drain before we drill, set stainless anchors in sealant and seal the glass to the tile with neutral-cure silicone. If the bathroom already leaks, we tell you before fitting new glass over the problem.