Which bath screen should I choose for a shower over a bath?
Fixed, hinged, folding and sliding bath screens compared on the things that actually matter — how much water they hold in, how you get past them, and how they clean.
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Time
- 20 min
- Read
- 5 min
Short answer
A single fixed panel keeps most water in, has nothing to go wrong and cleans in seconds, but it makes cleaning the bath awkward and you have to step past it. A hinged or double-panel screen solves that at the cost of hinges and seals. Choose by how you get in and out of the bath, then by glass thickness — 6mm minimum, 8mm if you can.
Bath screens look like an aesthetic choice and are actually an ergonomic one. The screen has to let a person get in and out of a bath safely, let somebody kneel beside it to wash a child or clean it, and stop a shower's spray from reaching the floor. Different households weight those three completely differently, which is why there is no single right screen.
Step by step
- Work out which end of the bath the shower is at, and which side you get in from.This decides everything else. A screen at the tap end covers the spray but sits exactly where you swing a leg over. On a bath against a wall with only one approach, a folding screen that gets out of the way is worth more than a marginally better seal.
- Consider the single fixed panel.One piece of glass on a wall channel, typically covering about half the bath length. No hinges, no seals except at the wall, nothing to adjust, and it cleans with one wipe. It is the most reliable screen there is. The downsides are that you step past a fixed edge, and it makes reaching the far end of the bath to clean it awkward.
- Consider a hinged or pivoting screen.A panel on a wall hinge that swings outwards over the bathroom floor, or inwards over the bath. It gets fully out of the way for cleaning and for bathing a child. The hinge is a wear point and the wall joint has to be sealed on the outside face only so that water inside runs back into the bath.
- Consider a two-panel folding screen.A fixed section plus a hinged section that folds back on itself. It gives close to full-length coverage when open and folds to almost nothing. It has more joints, and the fold line is a place water tracks through if the seals are poor, so buy a good one or do not buy one.
- Consider a sliding or bath-length screen.Two or three panels running in a track along the bath rim, giving near-total coverage. Best water containment of the lot, and the worst to clean — the bottom track sits on the bath rim and collects water, soap and hair.
- Set a minimum on the glass.Six millimetre toughened glass is the sensible floor; four millimetre feels flimsy and flexes. Eight millimetre is noticeably more solid and heavier, and needs a wall that can carry it. All of it must be toughened safety glass — check for the kitemark or standard etched in a corner.
- Look at the bottom edge and the seal.The screen has to have a seal along its bottom edge that meets the bath rim, and ideally a drip strip that throws water running down the inside back into the bath. A screen with a bare glass edge sitting above the rim will let water out at the bottom regardless of how well it is fitted.
- Check what the wall behind is made of before you commit to a heavy screen.A framed 4mm screen will hang off most things. An 8mm frameless panel is a substantial weight on a small number of fixings, and it needs solid masonry or a properly noggined stud, found before you buy rather than after.
Common mistakes
- Buying on appearance and discovering you cannot get into the bath past it — The screen is fixed and the bath is not. Stand in the bathroom and mime getting in and out before ordering.
- Choosing a bottom-tracked sliding screen in a hard water area — The track holds standing water and scales up within months, and it is the hardest part of any bathroom to clean.
- Sealing the wall joint on both sides — Water that gets behind the screen at the wall then has nowhere to drain except into the wall. Seal the outside face only and let the inside drain back into the bath.
Alternatives
- Shower curtain and rail: Cheapest by a wide margin, gets fully out of the way, and copes with awkward bath shapes that no screen fits. Needs washing, clings, and lets more water past at the ends.
- Full-length sliding bath door: Effectively an enclosure on a bath. Best containment available and the choice where the bathroom floor cannot cope with any splash at all. Heavy, expensive and the track is a permanent cleaning job.
- L-shaped or P-shaped shower bath with a matched screen: If you are replacing the bath anyway, a shaped bath with a wider showering end and its own matched screen solves the containment problem properly rather than patching it.
Questions people ask
Does a bath screen need sealing at the bottom?
No — the bottom edge carries a seal strip that rests on the bath rim, and the joint has to be able to drain back into the bath. Siliconing the screen down to the bath rim traps water in the channel.
Will a screen fit a curved or shaped bath rim?
Not always. Screens are designed for a flat rim of a certain width. On a shaped shower bath, buy the screen designed for that bath or expect a compromise at the bottom seal.
Is a frameless screen worse at keeping water in?
Slightly, at the wall joint, because there is no frame to carry the water down. A good frameless screen with a proper wall channel and a drip strip is fine; a cheap one is not.