In the beginning, a shower was just a tray and a tap. Sometimes there was not even a tap, as a simple hose was enough. Today, much has changed. People strive for perfection and the best version of many items, including the shower itself. Beautiful, multicolored shower taps and cabins with decorative features have been created.
From Tray to Cabin
The evolution of the shower begins with the story of a deep tray and moves towards minimalism. Today, super-flat shower surfaces are the pinnacle. Market innovations resulting from production innovations are a natural response to increasing customer demands and the constant need for change in bathroom arrangements. Aesthetics, comfort, and functionality go hand in hand with architectural trends. The shower space has undergone a particularly intense revolution in the last decade. The greatest changes have occurred in the segment of shower trays.
Corner shower cabins are the most common choice of cabin type. Their popularity stems both from the wide selection of such cabins and their functionality. Installed in the bathroom corner, they take up little space and are often installed in bathrooms where a bath previously dominated. Wall-mounted cabins can be square, quadrant (half-circle), pentagonal, rectangular, hexagonal, or other irregular shapes at the base.
Another solution is niche shower cabins, where the doors are the only side. This type of cabin is ideal for a bathroom with a recess; some people even build an additional wall or walls to create a shower recess. Walk-in shower cabins do not need a tray or doors; their area in the bathroom is separated by a wall. These cabins look good in large spaces.
Diversity of Shower Cabins
Shower cabins are divided into many types. One criterion is the side. The cabin can be left, right, or universal. Another element is the filling of the shower cabin. It can be made of transparent glass, graphite glass, frosted glass, or other glass. Plastic shower cabins are also available. The entrance to the cabin can be through hinged doors, sliding doors, or folding doors. Cabins also come in various types. Among them, we distinguish: rectangular, square, or half-circle.
Shower cabins can be chosen with or without a protective coating. For most of us, the glass surface seems perfectly smooth. However, it is not. It has millions of micro-roughnesses that are invisible to the human eye. Because of this, water and soap residues adhere to its surface, creating stains and then a visible, unaesthetic lime scale. Moreover, hard water and cleaning agents used in the household, as well as the shampoo and soap we use every day, leave a lasting mark on the glass surface.
Aware of this, shower cabin manufacturers began searching for ways to limit this negative phenomenon. They apply special protective coatings to the glass. These are designed to fill the human eye's invisible roughness, creating a perfectly smooth surface and protecting it from direct contact with water. Such protection primarily ensures that water droplets have limited ability to linger on its surface, thereby reducing the formation of deposits. The second benefit of this solution is that the glass surface is protected from corrosion, meaning that with time, the shower cabin does not naturally degrade.
Dimensions of Shower Cabins
The overall height of a cabin can be 185 centimetres, 190 centimetres, 195 centimetres, 200 centimetres, or 210 centimetres. These are just standard dimensions, as we can, of course, buy a cabin of a different height. The dimensions given most commonly occur in stores. The shorter side of a shower cabin can be 70 centimetres, 80 centimetres, 90 centimetres, 100 centimetres, or 120 centimetres. These are the standard dimensions offered in stores. The longer side can be 80 centimetres, 90 centimetres, 100 centimetres, 110 centimetres, and 120 centimetres.
If we have already determined the dimensions, we can refine our shower cabin on our own and apply coatings ourselves to make cleaning easier. On the Internet, among entries regarding protective coatings, you can find many comments saying that the protective glass coating can be applied independently, without having to pay extra to the cabin manufacturer. Of course, this is possible. Special impregnates are available on the market for this purpose, creating a protective coating on the glass. It has similar properties to those applied by cabin manufacturers, using the cold method.
However, you must remember that applying such an impregnant requires a lot of patience, as it needs to be evenly spread and then carefully rubbed into the glass surface for a satisfactory effect. To maintain its effectiveness, the process should be repeated on average every 3 months. From experience, however, we know that glass protective coating, even the simplest one, is slowly becoming standard, and most cabin manufacturers are adding it to their products as a series.