Shower door stop repair

[Charles Bishop]

A customer has a glass shower enclosure. The door opens out and closes against a plastic strip. The plastic strip is glued onto the glass with what looks like, but probably isn't, Rubber Cement. Part of the stop has come loose, and needs to be reattached. This would mean removing the no longer working "rubber cement" then putting new on, and maybe clamping the stop in place.

Does anyone know what is used to glue the plastic to the glass. It's possible it's just clear caulk, but I'm not entirely sure it it. I was thinking it was something specific to the shower stall/glass industry.

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, Wonder if it was a stick on plastic strip(or tape?) From a roll you remove backing and press it onto a dry surface.

[Joe]

One material not likely to affect the plastic, have reasonable adhesion to plastic and glass would be silicone sealant. Older types of clear silicone would be easiest to try. Silicones will bond tenaciously to older cured material so complete removal would not be necessary. Be aware that once a silicone is used. nothing will adhere well to it. In other cases, auto rear view mirrors (with plastic bases) are mounted to windshields with cyanoacrylate adhesives. This is cheaper than silicone and useful for smaller pieces. Finally, 3M makes a fair number of adhesives useful in many industries for bonding gaskets to glass. IMO, one of these available at any body shop supply outlet might do the job best. Use with a sealant remover/ cleaner for best results. Don't overlook a friendly chat with a local glass shop as a source of material or help.

Joe

[norminn]

Can you just trash the old strip and replace it with stick-on clear plastic bumpers? They come in all sizes and certainly wouldn't be very noticeable.

[Charles Bishop]

No, it looks like a bead of caulk, flattened between the glass and the stop.

[Charles Bishop]

Thanks, all good advice.

Charles

[Charles Bishop]

The door doesn't close against the fixed pane, it closes into the opening, and the stop, which is glued onto the fixed pane, keeps it from moving through the opening, much like a stop in a normal doorway.

[Charles Bishop]

It turns out that there is a specifically made product for this. It's a clear, double sided tape made to stick to glass and the plastic stop. It's relatively expensive, $60 for um 20 feet. I went to a glass shop and they gave me a roll remnant of about 6 feet for $8. It's trick to put on if you're putting on just a portion since you have to lift up the plastic stop just enough to get the very sticky tape on the glass without lifting the plastic off of the tape that's there. After that you need to get the cover tape off of the outside of the sticky tape and then press the plastic into place. Worked ok though I had to redo it twice until I was satisfied.