How to adjust a pivot glass shower door

Do you want to learn how to adjust glass shower door hinges?

Glass shower doors can sometimes loosen over time, making the unlevel, and may even start leaking.

In this guide, I will go over...

• How to use wood shims to make the door level
• Why the hinges should be slightly loosened
• Checking the door gap (so it won't shatter)

Let's get started with this guide!

Nothing can be more frustrating that a poorly adjusted glass shower door. As a home inspector, I have come across many shower doors that weren't working correctly, were not adjusted properly, and were even leaking at the bottom.

Almost always, the solution is to adjust the shower door hinges, and this is something that pretty much all homeowners can do themselves. All you need is some wood shims and a phillips screwdriver. Though if you have a buddy that can help hold the door as you insert the shims, it can definitely help.

Read Also: What Are The Best Frameless Shower Doors?

Before you start adjusting the shower door, you will need to slightly loosen the hinges.

The glass shower door hinges are a type of clamp with rubber gaskets on each side. Gently loosening the hinges will make the shower door a bit loose which will give you the wiggle room to get the desired levelness.

You don't need to loosen any hinges that are attached to the shower wall, but only the hinges that are connected to the shower door that you want to adjust.

For most shower doors, you will just need a simple phillips screwdriver. If you only have a powered drill, make sure to put it on the lowest torque setting, and to be quick on the trigger.

Once you have loosed a few brackets a tiny bit, and there is some play in the door, you can move on to the next step.

Read Also: What Are The Best Semi-Frameless Shower Doors?

Step #2. Insert Wood Shims To Level Shower Door

The second step in adjusting a glass shower door is to insert wood shims into the low spots of the door. Shims are thin pieces of wood that are thicker at one side. Wood shims will allow you to get the door perfectly level before you retighten the hinges.

If you don't have wood shims, you may be able to use other objects or plastic pieces to achieve the same goal of door levelness.

You will probably want to insert at least two sets of shims at the bottom of the door, and one or more shims along the side. If you have a partner with you, they may be able to just hold the door level by holding onto the handle.

And your shower door may have a clear rubber gasket or plastic lining on the bottom of the door that needs to be removed to make room for the shims. You will have to remove this gasket by sliding it out before you can put any wood shims.

Read Also: What Are The Best Frameless Shower Doors?

Before you retighten the hinges, it's important that you leave a little gap between the shower door and the wall (or other glass panel).

You will need to open the shower door a bit, and make sure there is the right amount of side gap between it and the wall.

You don't want to retighten the hinges, and then when you open the door, the glass door touches the wall which may cause the door to shatter.

Step #4. Retighten Shower Door Hinges

And now that the door is perfectly level with the shims, and you left a little gap between the door and the wall, it's time to retighten the hinges.

Go through each hinge that you loosened and hand tighten them. You don't want to over-tighten the hinges and strip the threads, but make sure they are nice and hand tight.

After tightening the hinges, you can remove the shims. If you removed a rubber door gasket at the bottom, simply reinsert the gasket.

Read Also: What Are The Best Semi-Frameless Shower Doors?

Final Thoughts

Adjusting a glass shower door really isn't difficult, and most homeowners can do it in an hour or less. All you will need is some wood shims which they sell at all hardware stores, and a single phillips screwdriver.

The basics of the procedure is to first loosen the hinges so that you have a little play in the door. Then insert wood shims on the bottom of the door and the side.

And don't forget to open the shower door to make sure there is clearance between it and the wall (so it won't shatter when opened). After the door is level, you will retighten the hinges.