Home page

Accessories: Shower room hardware accessories may seem inconspicuous, but they are very important.

Release time:

2021-02-23

When choosing a shower room, most people mainly consider factors such as the frame material, tempered glass, and price, often neglecting the selection of hardware accessories.

Accessories: Shower room hardware accessories may seem inconspicuous, but they are very important.

When purchasing a shower room, most people mainly consider factors such as the frame material, explosion-proof glass, and price, often neglecting the choice of hardware accessories.
Shower room hardware accessories may seem insignificant compared to large materials like glass and frames. However, in actual use, hardware accessories are crucial factors that affect the lifespan and experience of the shower room.

Common hardware accessories used in mainstream shower rooms include: hinges, pivots, rollers, tracks, handles, and water barriers.
1
Pivots and hinges.

Pivots and hinges are used in hinged shower doors.

Whether it's a pivot or a hinge, they are used in the shower room to connect fixed glass and movable glass for opening and closing.
Pivot.

A pivot is a shaft structure that bears bending moments and torques during rotation, resembling the appearance of a hinge but with a simpler structure. In shower rooms, upper and lower pivots are commonly used.

Hinge.

A hinge, also known as a pivot, consists of a two-fold structure made of metal sheets, rotating around a central axis. It is recommended to use stainless steel hinges in shower rooms for their high strength and corrosion resistance.
In hinged shower rooms, the hardware components for opening and closing are more robust and durable; hinges are more common and provide a higher-end configuration, but may deform with prolonged use. The specific configuration should be based on actual needs and shower room design.
Tracks and rollers.

The combination of rollers and tracks is used in sliding door shower rooms.
Track.

The upper and lower double-layer tracks are designed with a V-shaped groove. The track materials mainly include two types: aluminum alloy and stainless steel wrapped aluminum alloy.

Pure aluminum alloy tracks are mostly curved to a certain degree because the arch shape is more pressure-resistant. You can press or squeeze the samples displayed in the store; if there is a dent, it indicates insufficient strength, either due to inadequate thickness or poor material.
Sliding shower room tracks have a curvature. Due to the high hardness of stainless steel, it is not easy to process, so tracks generally do not use pure stainless steel but rather stainless steel wrapped aluminum alloy. The stainless steel wrapping can enhance the overall strength of the track, while the internal aluminum alloy can be shaped into curves, and the outer stainless steel can be made straight with clean lines. The simplest way to judge the quality of a track is to manually push and pull it several times to feel its smoothness. If it is not obstructed, does not feel sticky, has no noise, and is smooth and quiet, it is a good track. If one shower room does not feel right, try several more to make comparisons.

A high-quality sliding door shower room typically uses a V-shaped track design with a double roller structure, providing self-lubricating effects and smooth sliding. Based on the double roller structure, the lower roller is equipped with a spring-press structure, requiring only a light press for easy installation and maintenance, while also facilitating daily cleaning of the track. The roller material is mostly ABS plastic; the best way to judge roller quality is to push and pull it on-site, choosing a smooth and silent roller set. High-quality sliding door shower rooms generally adopt a V-shaped track design with a double roller structure, which is wear-resistant, and the double rollers slide smoothly, providing stable and non-wobbly operation.
Handle.

In terms of appearance, shower room handles come in various shapes to meet different bathroom style choices. Common materials for household shower room handles are stainless steel and zinc alloy.
304 stainless steel handles outperform zinc alloy in both corrosion resistance and durability, but their designs are relatively simple and they are more expensive.

Zinc alloy handles are easier to process, allowing for curved and shaped products, and after electroplating, their corrosion resistance is adequate, making them cheaper than stainless steel handles.
The choice of handle material can be based on budget and requirements for quality and design.

4
Water barrier.

It is best to choose a water barrier with a height of more than 5 cm, and the water barrier in the shower room should be pre-embedded. This not only improves the waterproof effect, preventing water from leaking through the floor tiles into the dry area, but also helps level the bottom of the shower room, reducing installation difficulty.
To achieve good wet and dry separation, the pre-embedding of the water barrier must be done during the leveling stage before waterproofing the bathroom, followed by waterproofing construction, or after embedding the water barrier, a second waterproofing construction should be done before laying tiles in the shower room to ensure effective wet and dry separation. This is necessary because the shower room is a high-frequency water usage area. Although the bathroom's base layer has been waterproofed, there is still a layer (or multiple layers) of cement material between the tiles and the waterproof layer. Cement is not waterproof, and tiles have seams, which do not achieve complete sealing. If the water barrier is not embedded in the waterproof layer, water in the shower room may seep through the gaps in the tiles and bypass the water barrier, leaking outside the shower room, potentially causing water stains, mold, or even deformation and cracking of the tiles in the dry area.

This step is often overlooked during construction and is nearly impossible to repair in the later stages of renovation, so it requires special attention!
Common materials for water barriers on the market include quartz stone, marble, artificial stone, and PVC. Quartz stone has excellent hardness and texture but is expensive and difficult to process, with a single shape; it can be considered if the budget allows. Marble has natural patterns, is beautiful but brittle, and is not recommended. Since the water barrier is not a load-bearing component of the shower room, the requirements for strength and hardness are not high. For ordinary household use, artificial stone and PVC materials are more recommended. Artificial stone and PVC are easy to process and can be shaped into straight, curved, and various imitation stone patterns, offering good cost performance. The above are the core hardware accessories for shower rooms; other components such as bumpers, sealing strips, pull rods, and wall clamps, although not mentioned in the text, also require careful attention and quality discernment during actual purchasing.