Shower Door Sweeps

Shower door sweeps are the plastic devices pasted or screwed to the bottom of your shower door, with the purpose of preventing water from spilling out of the shower, while you are there with the water running. When water starts to seep through to the floor it is time to change the sweep before the accumulation of water damages your floor outside the shower. It is very important that these are kept in tip top shape to protect wooden structures beneath your bathroom floor and in front of your shower. Water has a tendency to find its way through small cracks and holes and we may never find out how it got under the shower floor until it falls through.

So when you see water on the floor outside the shower, take the time to change the sweep. It is relatively easy to do; all you will need is a screw driver. Make it two screw drivers, a flat one and another Phillips. A pair of pliers will help if it is rusted in place or too tight. Open the door all the way and try pulling the sweep from under the door. If it does not slide off it is probably screwed on so check to see where the screws are located and which type of screwdriver you will need. Usually they will have two or three screws on them so remove all of them and the sweep should slide off easily.

Once it is removed, slide it out carefully so as not to tear or damage it. Take the sweep you have just removed to the hardware store or the bathroom accessories store and use it as a sample to buy the new sweep. The new one should have the same length and just a touch more width, less than one half centimeter more to compensate for the wear it has received through the years. Once you find the right size buy it and also buy a small tube of transparent silicone adhesive.

Once the door rail is clean and dry, put a small bead of transparent silicone adhesive on the sweep’s edge, the one that goes on the rail. Just a thin bead will do, all we want is to seal the railing and the rubber inside of it from the water contact and from any water that tries to get out of the shower through the rail. Very carefully slide the new sweep into place all the way and close the door to make sure that the sweep closes snuggly with the floor and the door without leaving any openings through which water can spill out.

If everything looks okay, open the door and replace the screws where they were. Be sure to use the same screw in each hole; do not interchange them because they will not necessarily have a tight fit in a different hole. Tighten them slowly over the rubber sweep; do not use excessive force that you may tear the sweep inside the rail. Let the silicone dry for a couple of hours and turn on the shower to make sure the water is perfectly contained.