Glass · Shower screens
Glass shower door weight, thickness and hinges
A glass shower door of 800 × 1950 mm weighs 31.2 kg in 8 mm glass and 39.0 kg in 10 mm. Glass is 2.5 kg per square metre for every millimetre of thickness. What decides the hinges is not only the weight: the door hangs from one side, so its weight at half its width pulls the top hinge out of the wall. Type the sizes and your hinge's rating; the page gives the weight of each panel, how many hinges it takes and that pull.
How it is worked out
Glass weighs 2500 kg/m³ (EN 572-1), so a square metre of 8 mm glass is 20 kg, of 10 mm 25 kg and of 12 mm 30 kg. For the door above: 0.8 × 1.95 × 8 × 2.5 = 31.2 kg. It hangs from its hinge side, and its weight W acting at half its width b tries to turn it out of the opening; the top hinge resists with F = W · b / (2 · d). With the hinges 1350 mm apart: 31.2 × 800 / (2 × 1350) = 9.2 kg, about 91 N, pulling the top hinge's screws out of the wall. A wider door or hinges closer together pull harder, which is why hinge datasheets limit the door width as well as its weight.
Which thickness
- 6 mm is usual where the glass sits in a frame or a channel on three or four sides.
- 8 mm is the usual thickness for a frameless door; it is what most glass hinges are made for.
- 10 mm for larger or taller frameless panels and walk-in screens with a free edge; it weighs a quarter more than 8 mm.
- 12 mm is heavy: check the hinge rating and what the wall can take before choosing it.
These are the trade's usual choices, not a calculation of strength. A walk-in screen held only at one edge and a bar is a different case from a door on hinges.
What this page does not do
- It does not rate the hinge. The capacities are the ones you type from the datasheet. Many hinges also give a maximum height; check it.
- It does not check the wall. The pull lands on the screws and the plugs: tiled plasterboard is not masonry.
- It does not choose the glass type. In Europe, shower enclosures come under EN 14428, which calls for safety glass: toughened to EN 12150-1, or laminated. In the US, the building codes treat glass around a shower as a hazardous location that needs safety glazing.
Questions people ask
- How much does a glass shower door weigh?
- A door of 800 × 1950 mm weighs 31.2 kg (68.8 lb) in 8 mm glass and 39.0 kg in 10 mm: width × height in metres × thickness in mm × 2.5.
- How much does shower glass weigh per square metre?
- 6 mm glass weighs 15 kg/m², 8 mm 20 kg/m², 10 mm 25 kg/m² and 12 mm 30 kg/m².
- What thickness is a frameless shower screen?
- Usually 8 or 10 mm toughened glass. 6 mm is common where the glass sits in a frame; 12 mm is heavy and needs hinges and a wall rated for it.
- How many hinges does a glass shower door need?
- Two for most doors, three when the door is heavier than the hinge's rating on two. The rating, and the maximum door width, are on the hinge's datasheet.
- Does shower glass have to be toughened?
- It has to be safety glass. In Europe, EN 14428 asks for toughened glass to EN 12150-1 or laminated glass. Toughened glass cannot be cut or drilled after toughening.