Frameless shower door slipping

Question

The hinges for the door to my frameless shower keeps slipping and the door keeps rubbing:

Since I'm not the one that purchased/installed the shower, I can't be absolutely certain, but I'm pretty sure the hinges being used are the ones shown here.

The only solution I've found so far is to loosen the large screws on the hinge (shown in the images linked to above), physically lift the door so it isn't hitting the shower wall any more, and tighten the screws back down. But I've ended up doing this about every month now since moving into the house because no matter how tight I try to get the screws, the door keeps slipping. As a result, the screw heads are starting to get chewed up. Maybe I'm not tightening the screws sufficiently, but they're as tight as I can get them with a hand-held screw driver, and I'm afraid that if I over-tighten (by using a power drill) them I'll break the glass door.

Is there a better solution to keep the door aligned properly? Do I need to get different hinges? If so, can you recommend which ones I should get?

Answer 1

the screw heads are starting to get chewed up

They are probably machine screws. I'd take one out and take it to a hardware store and buy a set with the same thread but with hex, star or square-drive heads. The length is not critical because you can always buy longer than needed and shorten them with a hacksaw (keeping a nut on the screw to straighten the thread with after cutting)

Is there a better solution

The shower door manufacturer may be able to supply replacement parts. I'd contact their customer support for advice.

Otherwise, after supporting the door securely, I would disassemble one hinge completely to see what is inside. Maybe there's a gasket of synthetic rubber that is supposed to grip the glass. It might be worth trying to supplement or replace that, for example, with a rectangle cut from a bicycle inner tube and maybe roughened a little.

Answer 2

I had the same problem and finally took the top hinge apart and placed a plastic tile spacer between the hinge and glass door so that it can’t slip anymore. Installer should have done this in the first place.

Answer 3

Try this:

Block the door up, and secure it so it can't fall. Tempered glass is tough, but not indestructable.

Disassemble the hinges. Remove the gaskets. Take the door off the hinges. remove the back gaskets.

Clean the glass if there is dirt or scum.

Rehang the door, but use thin double sided carpet tape to fasten the gasket to the glass. This should have zero slip.

IF it doesn't work, and creeps, then either rubbing alcohol or varsol should remove the glue so you can try something else.

Option 2.

Sometimes hinge kits are sold with two gaskets, one for use with thin glass one for thicker glass. You may be able to solve your problem by taking one gasket, to a shower supply store and ask if they have replacment gaskets that are slightly heavier.

Answer 4

To help with the glass slipping you can do two things:

1. put a plastic shim between the glass and the hinge at the notch in the glass on top.
2. clean hinge and glass after lightly sanding where the hinge squeezes the glass and retighten the hinge cover plate.