Replacing your old boxy shower with a newer neo angle shower enclosure might make all the difference when you are attempting to sell your home. In an era of declining home values, one of the ways to make your home more attractive to potential buyers and to stay above the competition is by remodeling one of your home’s living areas. According to real estate brokers, the two most important rooms of your house are the kitchen and the bathroom. Studies have shown that on average, the most cost-effective remodeling efforts are bathroom additions and second-story additions.
Neo angle shower enclosures, for those not familiar with the term, are constructed from a central door with adjoining shower wall panels fitted at angles on both sides. Instead of a square shape, you have a five-sided shower, with two sides being the interior tiled (or fiberglass) walls of the shower, and three glass panels. As seen from above, you’d be looking at a lop-sided pentagon.
Obviously, when building a shower, an important design goal is to make sure that the water stays in the shower. This can be accomplished in a couple of ways: shower curtains, and shower doors. Shower curtains can be difficult to clean, and they tend not to last very long. If not used correctly (and what small child has never had a shower leakage incident with a shower curtain?), the water will find its way to the bathroom floor outside of the shower. Neo angle shower doors usually solve this particular problem.
Neo Angle Shower Enclosure Doors
There are lots of different options to choose from once you’ve decided on a bathroom shower upgrade. Depending on the shape and size of your shower, you can select a sliding door design, a swinging door, or a combination door known as a bi-fold. Curved, tempered-glass doors are also available, are reversible for access from the left or the right, and provide a feeling of elegance. Shower doors can be framed (with metal surrounding the edges of the glass panels) or you can opt for a neo angle frameless shower enclosure.
However, if you’re designing a neo angle shower that needs to be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), a heavy shower curtain might be the best choice, since you would want to eliminate the lower track in the shower opening in order to allow wheelchair access.
When selecting a neo angle glass shower enclosure, there are a number of options to choose from that involve the glass panels themselves. Choices involve the thickness of the glass, which can range from thicknesses of 5/32″ to 3/8″. The thicker the glass, the more costly the cost of the shower upgrade. The most popular glass styles are clear or opaque, but other choices or patterns are available, such as obscure, rain, or reflective. The glass can also be etched, beveled or fluted.
While clear glass is popular in some areas, cleaning clear panels can be difficult, because spots and streaks are more easily seen than in the more opaque styles of glass.
If framed glass panels are chosen, a wide range of finishes and colors can be selected for the frames. Chrome, oil-rubbed bronze, brushed nickel, antique or any of dozens of custom powder coatings can be employed.
Still to choose from are a number of door handle styles, single or double towel bars, magnetic catches, and other items of hardware. The standard rule of thumb is that the hardware tends to be more costly when choosing a hinged shower door as opposed to a sliding door.
Add to this the fact that there are numerous shower enclosure manufacturers, each with their own set of features and options, attempting to attract buyers in all price ranges, the combination of all these variables can make planning a bathroom upgrade a challenging task. But whether you choose a neo angle shower enclosure, or stay with the more traditional square or rectangular shapes, you’ll be making an investment in your home that will make it more enjoyable while you remain in the house, and more likely to gain the attention of future buyers of your home.