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| Frameless glass shower screen; glass that's not straight?! | |
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| Topic Started: Feb 19 2010, 01:54:18 PM (605 Views) | |
| suzn | Feb 19 2010, 01:54:18 PM Post #1 |
True Blue Mate
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We are nearly done with our bathroom renovation and just ordered a frameless glass shower screen. We had Betta come out and give us a quote, it was just under $950. for 900x900 installed. 3 weeks later when we'd heard nothing from them, we ended up cancelling the order and then found an identical looking one on eBay from a seller with a good feedback rating. It was less than half the price. When we began installing it, it became clear that even though the top of the glass and the bottom of the glass lined up, in the middle/half way down the glass was bowed - causing a gap of over 6+mm around the door handle vs the larger fixed piece of glass. Both pieces are bowed. At first Mr eBay claimed that a tolerance of 2% (3-5mm) was considered normal.  Bent/bowed glass on a shower screen is normal????? Has anyone seen a glass shower screen with bowed glass? They are having a guy come out on Sunday to replace the pieces. Hopefully that goes smoothly so we can get our shower up and running. Fingers crossed. |
 Living in Oz since 2002 ~ Temp Residency granted Dec 2004 ~ Perm Residency granted Oct 2006 ~ Dual citizenship official May 2009 | |
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| gpierce | Feb 19 2010, 03:26:29 PM Post #2 |
True Blue Mate
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What's the thickness of this glass? No I have never seen a bowed shower screen;) |
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| suzn | Feb 19 2010, 03:44:34 PM Post #3 |
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True Blue Mate
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glass thickness: 1cm shower screen w/bowed glass |
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Living in Oz since 2002 ~ Temp Residency granted Dec 2004 ~ Perm Residency granted Oct 2006 ~ Dual citizenship official May 2009 | |
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| gpierce | Feb 19 2010, 04:10:45 PM Post #4 |
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True Blue Mate
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That's crap. Definitely bad. |
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| Dev | Feb 20 2010, 01:03:17 PM Post #5 |
"No day but today."
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I've never heard of that before. I did quite a bit of research when I was going to renovate the bathroom in my house, and I never, ever came across something that bad. I'm sorry, Hun.  Can you get your money back?
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Devon ----------------------- "What a shame that bitter irony has no nutritional value." 
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| suzn | Feb 20 2010, 05:16:09 PM Post #6 |
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True Blue Mate
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Thanks for the feedback. Bowed glass - who'd thought that would be even something we'd have to worry about! Well, they are sending out a dude tomorrow to replace the pieces of glass. My other half is not going to be satisfied unless this glass is perfectly & totally straight - otherwise we will definitely be wanting to get our money back. And...... if it all goes well, maybe by tomorrow night we will actually have a working shower again. Cross your fingers for us. |
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Living in Oz since 2002 ~ Temp Residency granted Dec 2004 ~ Perm Residency granted Oct 2006 ~ Dual citizenship official May 2009 | |
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| janders1957 | Feb 21 2010, 10:23:35 AM Post #7 |
True Blue Mate
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Not real clear on the picture, but it looks to me like there's a U shaped aluminum channel over the edge of the glass? If so, my take is that the aluminum is bowed. Sounds like you're already committed to the replacement, but if not, and IF the frame can be taken apart, try very gently bending the aluminum back. You'd want to support the ends of the extrusion, and apply gently pressure to the center. Actually, not the dead center, but say with both hands maybe a foot apart, centered on the length. Press a ways and release, sight down the length to see if it's straighter. If not, repeat with just a bit more pressure. You want to take your time and work slowly. Too much pressure in one spot will result in a noticeable kink that will be hard to take out. I have to deal with getting metal bar stock straight fairly often, so have a good feel for it. But it's quite doable for a first timer with patience and caution. If you get it straight, just be careful when replacing onto the edge of the glass. Glass might have taken a 'set' with that curve, but with a bit of care, shouldn't be a problem getting it back into the channel. Probably rubber gasket strips, a bit of watered down dish soap will ease the task greatly. Ok, just re-read your last post. If the glass is being replaced, sounds like it is in a metal frame. Make sure he checks the aluminum extrusion that is bent. New straight glass will not straighten the channel if it is bent. If you are lucky, he might be able to straighten and reinstall your old glass and not bill for the new glass. |
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| janders1957 | Feb 22 2010, 02:27:11 AM Post #8 |
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True Blue Mate
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Uhm, just reread the subject, missed the frameless bit first time around. If there's no frame around the glass, then I sure got it wrong looking at the picture... If that's really the case, ask the glass guy that fixes it, just what the heck could bow glass like that. I'm sure curious! |
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| suzn | Feb 24 2010, 07:24:54 PM Post #9 |
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True Blue Mate
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Yup, it's a frameless one. The beam you see in the pix was just used for the photos and to try to indicate the gap. So, the guy showed up on Sunday to replace the glass or give a full refund. He told me 'listen, you paid less than $400 - this glass is mass produced in China - the glass is not going to be perfect...' He admitted that he did not see anything wrong with the original pieces he had delivered us. If we had gone with Betta (at more than double the cost of this one), the glass would have probably come from China but the toughening process would have been done in Australia - probably not en masse like in China. Having already drilled holes in the tiles for this particular shower screen - we decided to try the new pieces of glass he brought. BINGO - we now have a shower! The glass was not bowed on the replacement pieces, it seems much straighter. After almost a year of not having a proper functioning bathroom- I am so relieved that it's all almost finished and functioning. YAY!! I'll share photos in the next day or so. |
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Living in Oz since 2002 ~ Temp Residency granted Dec 2004 ~ Perm Residency granted Oct 2006 ~ Dual citizenship official May 2009 | |
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| shylady | Feb 24 2010, 08:55:48 PM Post #10 |
oldYank
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"I could’ve turned a different corner, I could’ve gone another place... " ku,'09 | |
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