My Walls Aren't Square. Will a Frameless Shower Screen Still Fit?

This is the question that stops most people from buying a shower screen online. It's a good question. One buyer on Whirlpool said that "even in brand new houses, out of plumb walls were a common issue. Some walls up to 25mm out of plumb."

The good news: you can check your own walls in five minutes with a spirit level, and you'll know before you spend a cent.

Why it matters for frameless glass

Frameless panels are made perfectly square. Toughened glass can't be cut or trimmed after it's made, so the panel you receive is the panel you install.

If the wall the glass fixes to leans, the gap between glass and wall will be wider at one end than the other. A few millimetres is fine: that's what silicone and bracket adjustment are for. Too much, and you get a tapered gap that looks wrong and is hard to seal, or glass that doesn't fit at all.

Our installation drawings put the limit plainly: panels won't fit if your walls are more than 5mm out of plumb. That matches the NSW Guide to Standards and Tolerances, which treats a wall as defective if it's more than 5mm off vertical over a 1.8m straight edge. So if your walls meet the building standard, they should suit a stocked frameless panel.

How to check your walls (5 minutes)

You need a spirit level, ideally 1.2m or longer, and a tape measure.

1. Find where the glass will sit. For a fixed panel, that's the wall the panel fixes to, along the line of your hob or screen position.
2. Hold the level upright against the wall at that line, bubble centred.
3. Measure the gap between the level and the wall at the top and bottom. Installers call this the "runout". Stegbar's measuring guide uses the same method.
4. Do it on both walls if your screen runs wall to wall (inline layouts), and on both walls of a corner.
5. Check the floor too. Lay the level along the hob or screen line. A hob that dips more than a few millimetres affects how the glass sits.

Write the numbers down. If every reading is 5mm or less, you're in good shape.

Measuring the opening when walls lean

If your walls aren't perfectly parallel, the opening will be a different width at different heights. Measure tile face to tile face at the shower threshold (top of the step, bottom of the step, or top of the hob), which is where our measuring guide tells you to measure. Then measure again at about 1m and near the top. Use the smallest measurement. Glass that's slightly narrow can be packed and siliconed. Glass that's too wide can't go in.

The configurator takes 3mm off your opening for the wall gap and finds the nearest stocked panel that fits. If no stocked size fits within 15mm, it tells you straight: custom quote.

If your walls are more than 5mm out

You've got options:

• Re-check the worst wall. Tiles and grout lines vary. A reading in one spot isn't always the whole story. Take readings in three or four places.
• Consider a different layout. A fixed panel only touches one wall, so only that wall needs to be close to plumb. An inline screen running wall to wall needs both.
• Go custom. We also make custom frameless screens, made to suit your walls. It costs more, but it's the right answer for a badly leaning wall. Ask us about a custom screen.
• Ask us. Send photos of the level against your wall through the Five-Minute Fit Check. We'll tell you whether a stocked panel will work.

What not to do

Don't try to force glass into an opening that's too tight, and don't let the glass touch tile or metal directly. The NSW Government's advice on toughened glass warns that breakage is more likely when an edge is in close contact with another hard surface. That's why installs use packers and a silicone gap.