A shower door is a permanent alternative to standard shower curtains. These doors are much easier to clean and do a great job of keeping water off your bathroom floor. Adding a shower door to your bathroom design is a simple and inexpensive way to transform the look of your space, but when it comes to planning such an addition, you’ll need to know all the dimensions so you can select the correct shower door.
An incorrectly measured shower door will most likely cause water leaks onto the bathroom floor plus the tight opening will make it difficult to enjoy your showering experience. In this article, we’ll help answer the height of a shower door.
Standard Shower Door Height
If you’re asking yourself, how tall should a shower door be, it depends on the weight and width of the shower door. The average height ranges from 72 inches to 79 inches, though 72 inches are commonly found on the market. The ideal width for a comfortable and aesthetically pleasing shower entrance is between 22 and 36 inches. If you go over 36 inches, you’ll need to install an extra side glass panel to support the weight of the door.
Another factor to be mindful of is the type of shower door you want to install. The door’s size will be determined by whether it is framed, frameless swings inward, or slides.
Let’s delve further into how to measure for a shower door correctly and the standard height and width dimensions of different types of shower doors.
How to Measure for a Shower Door
When measuring your space for a pre-made shower door, accuracy is the key starting point. The amount of available space you need to work with is important before shopping for a suitable enclosure or panel. Not all shower doors can adapt to your bathroom space so be sure to follow these steps to determine the most precise measurements:
– To measure the width, start from the top, middle, and bottom of the wall. Measure to the nearest inch. If the top, middle, and bottom measurements differ, go with the largest of the three to determine the width.
– To measure the height, take the distance from the top of the shower pan to the point where the door is likely to end. You must also keep in mind your own height as well as anyone else who’ll be using the shower. Bonus tip: if your bathroom is tiled, be sure to measure the top tile as the shower door’s maximum height. Warning: If the shower door swings outward, there must be adequate clearance space. As a rule of thumb, allow a minimum of 30 inches on either side of the door. This is so you can leave the shower door open between uses. For shower doors that swing inward, however, you won’t need to worry about the extra space as these doors allow water to drip onto the shower’s tray instead of the floor.
– The space required for your shower door should correspond to the shower tray’s size or the walk-in shower area. For a three-sided shower enclosure, for example, measure along each side of the shower area from the top to the bottom. Think carefully about the height specifications, especially if your bathroom has a low ceiling.
With the above in mind, let’s now explore the different types of shower doors and their dimensions:
Heights of Different Types of Shower Doors
Framed or Frameless Inline Glass Doors
An inline shower door consists of a panel that’s connected to a wall or additional glass panels. This type of shower door can be framed or frameless and normally opens at an angle of 180 degrees. These door designs can be opened from the left or the right and often come as double doors. The typical width of an inline glass shower door starts from 12 inches to 36 inches and the height can be between 24 inches and 100 inches.
If you choose the frameless design, you’ll benefit from the maximum amount of light entering the shower without sacrificing the visual impact. Another advantage of frameless showers is their sizing flexibility. A frameless shower door can be as large or small as you want since the glass is custom ordered to fit the joint. In practice, most frameless shower doors tend to be custom-made with certain dimensions.
Fixed Shower Panels
Fixed shower panels have many advantages and are installed to a fixed portion of the wall in a series of panels with small openings. This makes the shower door easier to open and walk into the enclosure. The fixed screens are available in a variety of dimensions with clamps on the left or right as corner units or standalone enclosures.
The standard width of fixed shower panels ranges from 3 inches to 95 inches and the height is 10 inches to 150 inches.
Pivot or Swinging Shower Doors
The standard dimensions of most pivoting shower doors are 48 inches in width and 68 to 70 inches in height. You must also allow around 1/16 inches for the walkway to get in and out of the shower.
Sliding Shower Doors
Most standard sliding shower doors are 60 inches in width and the opening is around 21 inches wide. These types of shower doors are usually 79 inches high.
Conclusion
Most shower doors come in standard sizes, which range from 26 to 55 inches in width. The thickness of most doors varies between 3/8 of an inch to half an inch. All in all, the width of an average shower door rarely goes beyond 36 inches – unless you choose a custom-made screen. In terms of the shower door height, the screen usually measures between 39 and 82 inches. However, there are shower doors that can go up to 100 inches in height depending on your ceiling height. Remember, the higher the screen, the less likely it is for the water to spray over it and onto the floor. By considering all the standard height and width dimensions of different shower door types we’ve mentioned, you’ll easily be able to find the right screen for your bathroom.
