Installation of a shower cabin

Recommendation points

• Installation of a shower cabin
• Types and features of shower cabins
• Economy class shower cabins
• Showers of the middle class
• Premium shower cabins
• Closed shower cabin – completeness and equipment
• Installing the pallet and back wall
• Top panel assembly and door hinge
• Electrical, water and sewerage connections
• Useful Tips

Installation of a shower cabin

A shower cabin as an independent sanitary device appeared not so long ago. The first booths began to go on sale in the late 80s of the last century. At first, they looked more like a DIY kit. Pallets were sold in one place, curtains for cabins in another, faucets and showers in a third. Even if it was possible to assemble a suitable set of pallet-curtains, it was still necessary to carry out thorough construction, installation and cladding work in order to prepare the water supply to the shower, to level and tile the walls, at least at the place where the booth was installed. After all, the curtain and pallet did not have a ready-made rear wall and roof that mated with them.

Today, more and more often buyers are turning their attention to ready-made solutions. This is a smart approach. Why spend money on expensive cladding when you can get a reliable factory built cab that can be installed anywhere! Shower cabins have become so popular that their release is no longer limited to the simplest set for self-assembly and revision by folk methods – it is an independent, classified class of plumbing fixtures.

Types and features of shower cabins

According to the modern classification system, all shower cabins are divided into three classes:

Economy class shower cabins

These are the simplest and least functional devices. They involve interfacing with already tiled surfaces, and if they have a back wall and a panel for the mixer, then all the amenities end there. The appearance and design of economy class cabins is laconic and stingy. It is clear that the most important advantage of such cabins is the low price..

Showers of the middle class

They are distinguished by a more advanced design, the presence of a back wall in all models, they have a built-in radio, hydromassage, several types of showers, a roof, lighting and a forced ventilation system. Such cabins can be installed regardless of what material the walls are lined with..

Premium shower cabins

This includes cabins that are distinguished not only by their exquisite design, but also by high functionality. Such cabins usually have thermostated mixers, IR heating of the cab, radio and video panel, several types of hydromassage, overhead spout with various effects (waterfall, small splashes, etc.). Models that combine a shower cabin with a pair box are very popular. In addition, the management of such booths already includes elements of digital technology..

Closed shower cabin – completeness and equipment

The closed combined shower cabin is in great demand today. It’s all about a combination of functionality, quality and price that is very beneficial for the buyer. A combined cab is understood as a combination of materials from which the pallet, rear wall, roof (acrylic), doors and sides (glass) and guides (aluminum) are made. Enclosed cabins are middle class and rarely cost more than $ 800.

For the money, you get a regular shower, overhead shower, hydromassage with adjustable jets, built-in fan, lights and radio. Naturally, such a serious set will not fit in one box. After you unpack three cardboard packages, you will find a pallet with a screen already assembled and prepared for installation (be careful – some screens are non-removable, which presents a problem in servicing the siphon and water connection points if they are located below). It is shown in photo 1. From the inside (photo 2) it can be seen that the pallet already has a built-in siphon with a corrugation for connection to the sewer and an aluminum frame for installation on site. In this example of a French-made shower stall, you can see that the frame is painted, glued into the pallet itself and has a reinforcement at its bottom. The legs are height adjustable and the screen is removable.

The roof is also supplied ready-made. It already has a built-in speaker from the radio, a spout and a fan. The roof is shown in photo 3. It is covered with a protective film that must be carefully removed. The speaker and fan are also protected from damage with a blue film. Photos 4 and 5 show how to remove the protective film. The most important thing in this business is to carefully cut the film along the contour of the speaker and fan. This operation is performed with a sharp wallpaper knife, which will come in handy later..

In addition, the cab includes an acrylic rear wall. She is also fully prepared for installation. A mixer, nozzles and connections to them, a control unit, a shower with a stand, a mirror and a holder for soap and bubble accessories are already installed on it at the factory. The rear view is shown in photo 6, and the front view is shown in photo 7. The wall is also packed in a protective film, which must be removed before installation. The process is no different from the one shown earlier, only the area of ​​the removed film is larger, and there are obstacles (photo 8).

Separate packaging contains glass sides and doors. Place this box face up on a flat floor. Carefully open the cardboard cover. Inside, there will be doors and sides folded one on top of the other. They are padded with foam and wrapped in bubble wrap. The glass from which this beauty is made is tempered. Therefore, do not lay it flat on a hard floor from the drawer. It can burst into thousands of pieces under its own weight. It is better not to touch them before you start hanging the doors and installing the sidewalls. A general view of the unpacked box with glass parts is shown in photo 9.

In addition, the shower enclosure includes a separately installed power supply and a box with fasteners. In order not to confuse which connector to connect to, they are all signed. Photo 10 shows what the adapter looks like. And photo 11 shows the wire markings. The icons are understandable without any words and there are no problems with the electrics.

After the cabin is unpacked, the integrity of the glass assemblies is checked, the plastic parts are prepared for installation, the installation work can begin.

Installing the pallet and back wall

There are no problems with installing the pallet. After it is installed in its final position, you need to measure the correctness of its location relative to the horizontal with the water level. The pallet does not need to be specially set for an additional slope. Everything is already provided in it in the bottom part. The position is adjusted with screw feet, which after adjustment must be locked with lock nuts. Photo 12 shows how to check the position of the pallet with a water level, and in photos 13 and 14 – how the legs are adjusted and fixed..

After the pallet is in position, you can start installing the back wall on it. For installation in the pallet and on the bottom flange of the wall, coaxial holes are drilled. Roughly speaking, the wall is simply bolted onto the pallet with lock washers. But first, the installation site must be thoroughly siliconized. The connecting bolts are most conveniently tightened with an automotive ratchet socket wrench. Photo 15 shows where the silicone should be applied, and Photo 15.1 shows the process of tightening the bolts with a socket wrench. A general view of the shower cabin after mounting the rear wall is shown in photo 16.

At the end of this work, you can start installing doors and sidewalls, installing the roof.

Top panel assembly and door hinge

The top panel or roof in a closed shower is a very important element. It not only gives strength to the entire structure, but it houses an additional shower, lighting, fan and speaker from the radio. It is better to install an extra shower divider in advance. After assembly, the cabin is about 2.5 m high and it is quite difficult to carry out this operation practically on weight. The roof is attached to the rear wall in the same way as the bottom of the shower stall. But you don’t need to use silicone. The water still does not reach the top (photo 17).

Now it’s time to install the guides along which the doors and side panels, made of smooth glass, will slide. First, the lower runner is mounted, on which the side windows are installed. The glasses are already bound. They are attached not only to the guides, but also to the back wall. The most difficult place when installing the guides – bottom and top – is to get with long screws through the back of the binding into the threaded holes prepared for them inside the profile. The bindings are attached to the back wall with self-tapping screws provided in the kit, and this operation is simple.

First of all, the lower guide is installed, to which both glasses are screwed. Then the glass bindings are screwed to the wall one by one, and the assembly is completed by installing the upper runner. Photo 18-20 shows in stages all the working moments of the assembly of this complex unit. The process can be simplified if two people assemble it entirely separately from the cab, and then install the assembly in place and screw it to the back wall.

The most crucial moment in the cab assembly is the door hinge. Depending on the type of booth, they can be semicircular or straight. In this example, the doors are semicircular and made of tempered glass. Therefore, they require careful handling. Do not lay such doors flat on the floor without spacers, knock on them or act in any other mechanical manner. The insidiousness of tempered glass products is that it can collapse long after the exposure ends.

The door hinge begins with the installation of the fittings. The installation procedure may differ from model to model. Therefore, you need to read the instructions for the model of the booth that you have. In this example, two pairs of rollers are pre-installed on the doors in the holes prepared at the factory (photo 21-23), then the doors are hung in place, putting the rollers into the guide (photo 24).

Similar actions are performed with the second door, after which it remains to install the lower stops. They are designed to prevent the doors from deviating from the vertical position, which can lead to the rollers falling out of the guide and the door falling. The installed limiters are shown in photo 25, and the general view of the booth after hinging the doors is shown in photo 26.

Electrical, water and sewerage connections

The main distinguishing feature of medium and premium class cabins is their complete set. They are already fully prepared for connecting to the necessary networks. The electrical wiring is connected to the low voltage outputs of the adapter using the appropriate connectors. They not only have the appropriate marking, but also a strictly individual shape, which excludes their incorrect wiring. Despite the fact that the power consumed by the booth devices is low, and low voltage is used for power supply, an RCD must be installed in the electrical panel, through which the entire load in the bathroom is supplied. Naturally, it makes sense to talk about this if there is grounding in the house..

Hot and cold water is also easy to connect. In the booth, all internal wiring to the shower, hydromassage nozzles and the upper spout has already been completed. It remains only to connect to the water supply network. Considering that a closed shower stall does not have technological holes in the rear panel, it is best to connect with flexible hoses. The connection point for hot and cold water connections is shown in photo 27.

A tap into the sewer can be difficult if, for example, an old cast-iron pipe is not replaced with a plastic one or the level of the tap point is too high. In the first case, you will need, at a minimum, to install an adapter “cast iron – plastic”, and in the second, it is possible that the cabin will require the construction of a special podium with a step.

Useful Tips

To prevent the booth from sliding on the floor, you need to glue the plastic legs to the silicone when installing the pallet in place;

Before you put water in the shower, glue all joints and abutments in the booth with silicone. This procedure should not be carried out on wet surfaces;

If the cockpit screen is not removable, a service hatch can be cut into it to access the siphon. Acrylic is cut well with a grinder at medium speed. A cut-out fragment can be used as a hatch door, which must be glued to the hinges with epoxy glue;

If you have low pressure in the water supply system and for this reason the hydromassage works poorly, you can install a boost pump;