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How (not) to install glass shower doors

By Arielle on July 9, 2012

We finally did it!! We got these stupid glass shower doors out of our living room and into our bathroom! We’ve had the doors for several months, but we didn’t want to install them before the granite was completed. The bathroom is so small and it takes two guys to get the granite in, so we just wanted to make sure nothing could break in the process.

Here are the installed doors. Aren’t they pretty?? (Minus the stickers telling you which side faces out.)

But it wasn’t all rainbows and butterflies. Actually there were no rainbows or butterflies. Installing a shower door is not an easy task and in fact, I think it’s safe to say that installing our shower door was harder/more time-consuming/more confusing than installing the actual tub. This is why people hire professionals to do this kind of stuff. Go figure.

The first issue we encountered was the lip on our tub. Our tile wasn’t as thick as the lip on the tub, so we had to cut the wall jambs to make them fit around the edge of the tub. Once we’re finished all the edges will be caulked so you won’t see a gap or any rough edges.

Andrew used a piece of cardboard to make a template for each side and then traced the outline onto each wall jamb. This was our first mistake, but we had no idea it was going to be an issue at the time.

Then he cut the jamb using an angle grinder. It makes a nasty noise, but it was way faster than everything else he tried. And of course, safety first!

Then using a pencil we marked where on the sides of the shower we wanted the jamb.

There are three holes on each jamb for screws, but since there’s a hollow space behind the holes, a pencil wouldn’t reach the tile. So we improvised and got a paperclip with a little dab of paint on the end to mark where to drill.

Then came the actual drilling. I was so worried that the tiles would crack, but luckily this part went smoothly. Just remember you do need a special drill bit for tile! Andrew actually changed the drill bit 3 times to get through the tile first, then the hardi backer (using a masonry bit), and then the wood.

Here’s the first jamb in place. The two brown things are bumpers for the glass door.

Next we had to install the piece that runs along the edge of the tub to keep water in and serve as a guide for the doors. This piece is made slightly longer than a standard tub so that you have room to cut it down to size. We measured the size it needed to be and cut it with the angle grinder.

After we were sure it was the right size, we caulked along the little half circle ridge on the bottom of the track.

This part of the track goes on the outside and the caulk will keep water from getting out of the tub.

Before we put the caulk on the track, we marked where we wanted it to go so we wouldn’t smear caulk all over while trying to reposition the piece.

Next was the second wall jamb. We messed up the holes on this one and had to drill a second hole. I’m going to go ahead and take full blame for this one. Curse my indecisiveness!

But Andrew reassured me that he could drill a second hole and fix it. And fix it he did. Ta-da!

The top piece is also made to be cut down to size. Then it just slides down on top of the jambs and the weight of the doors holds it in place.

Then we attached the door hardware and hung the doors. We left the stickers there because we actually have to take some of it apart and the stickers tell you which side is coated and which isn’t (non-coated side is supposed to face out).

So now for the sad part. The wall jambs are shaped like an H when you look at them from the end. One side of the jamb is deeper than the other. We didn’t realize that the deeper part of the jamb is supposed to face out and the shallow side is supposed to be against the tile.

When we made the cuts on the wall jambs to go around our tub and tile, we made the cuts on the deeper side of the jamb thinking that way we’d have more than enough room for the cuts. But what we didn’t realize was that then the glass doors wouldn’t go as far inside the jambs when they were closed. With the shallow side facing out, the bumpers almost stick out past the metal so the glass doesn’t close very far.

If the doors are on the right sides, they do barely close. But since nothing is ever perfectly square or level (like the walls) we had to make the doors slightly uneven to make each door hit both the top and bottom bumper. But this means when you push the door to the opposite side from where it’s intended to be, it doesn’t close.

We would know which side to keep each door on, but guests wouldn’t and we would hate for there to be a gap where water could escape. So, it’s back to the beginning. We sucked it up and ordered two new wall jambs online for $20 each. When those arrive we’ll just need to make the same cuts for around the tub (but on the shallow side of the H), screw them into the predrilled holes, replace the top piece, hang the doors, and then caulk. Needless to say, it was a long, frustrating process. But even after the frustration and the now over $400 price tag, we’re still really glad we went with the glass doors. We just hope we don’t have to install another one for a long time!

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Dreaming of smooth walls…

By Andrew on March 12, 2012

Wow the last post I wrote was before we started putting out our bathroom back together. Perhaps I should write a few more of these.

We just finished something we have never done before! Yeah I know we can probably say that about any one of our many projects, but we even bought a new tool for this one. We picked up a mud hopper at Lowe’s so we could texture our walls! They run about $70 and Arielle wasn’t really sure if it would be worth it, but all of our walls happen to have a slight orange peel texture to them and any mudding we do sticks out like a sore thumb since it’s flat.

So first we covered up anything that could get sprayed that shouldn’t be – basically everything but drywall. We saved the plastic protector from the mattress we bought in the fall to use as a drop cloth, so we used that to cover the floor – FREE SCORE! Well we did buy the mattress…Then we taped another plastic drop cloth over all the tile in the shower.

Here’s a photo of the mudded wall before we started. Flat.

Then I had to figure out how to use the hopper and what size of texture would best match our walls. For some people this may be easier than others. I checked how much mud was spraying out and how much air to be using by texturing a piece of cardboard in the back yard. This probably would have been a lot easier if I didn’t own the world’s most ghetto compressor. My compressor (which my dad gave me so I am not complaining at all) has a lot of quirks. The pressure register on it doesn’t turn the compressor on or off like it should. With a texture hopper, you need very little pressure (not over 30 PSI), so Arielle had to sit in the hall and plug in and unplug the compressor. It may be more work than some compressors, but it’s so much cheaper than buying a new one!

Here’s a glamour shot of me texturing.

You can see how the texture looks when it is sprayed on the wall. The new texture is much thicker than what’s on our other walls, so we needed to sand it down lightly once it dried.

See how good it looks once it’s sanded down?

We are looking forward to finishing the bathroom, but there are still a lot of little steps before we close this project down. Would love to share more, but I have to get back to working on our bathroom!

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How to do the Demo Yourself and Save

By Andrew on February 18, 2012

A few nights ago we officially finished the demolition portion of our bathroom, so I wanted to share some of my tips for demoing safely. Even if you are going to hire a contractor for most of the work, you can save yourself a lot of money by doing the demo yourself. Here are 5 tips we followed to ensure a seamless (notice I didn’t say effortless) demo.

1. Skip the sledge hammer.

Seriously, these things do far more harm than they do good. The key to good demolition is take down exactly as much as is necessary and NO MORE. We recommend a sturdy hammer and a flat bar as your tools of choice.

2. Take out anything you are reusing first.

May sound like an obvious point, but take a few moments to consider everything you will reuse. Have you removed the trim? Is there another use for scrap wood? We are reusing our vanity doors as access panels for behind the showers in our home. What can you reuse or resell?

3. Where will the trash go?

See what services your city offers and figure out before the demo how you’ll get rid of the trash. Here in Springdale, AR the city will pick up construction waste or yard waste twice a year! How awesome is that? And if you stack it real nice they might take more than the 1 square yard they officially say they take! See if your town offers a similar service. If not, another affordable option is to use a truck or trailer to bring it to a dump. If you don’t have access to these Lowe’s and Home Depot offer a construction bag for around $100 including drop off and pick up. Just be sure to explore your options and make sure that the trash fits inside the limits of the dump service you’re using.

4. Be Intentional with the process.

Now you’re all ready to go to town right? If you have watched any DIY shows on TV your plan should be to do the opposite. Try to disassemble each piece one at a time. Think about how it was installed, and try to do the reverse. Not only is this the safest way, it is also the easiest and least messy way.

5. Use caution with water!

Plumbing was the greatest struggle in our renovation. Just turning off the water was not enough. If you are demoing near plumbing be sure to check if local shut offs are still working. Due to the pressure some of these may leak when closed, even though there are no leaks normally. Also empty any receptacles of water (like the toilet). Unless you want to use a turkey baster to get all the water out of the toilet like we did, take the toilet out before the shower so you can put the toilet directly in it to let it drain. Once the water main is shut off, run a faucet in your house to relieve pressure.

Use the overflow valve on the water heater to remove the last bit of pressure. This tip alone could have saved me 4 hours. Without doing this you may have water slowly leaking out of open pipes like we did.

Anyone can tear something up. Just be sure all your plans to put it back together are in place before your start so you don’t have an demo-ed room for months on end!

Well, we’re officially done with demo and most of the plumbing! Next on the list is getting the tub installed in mortar which we’re working on today. But first, here’s Arielle with white hair from sanding the ceiling.