Most people put up a shower curtain because it is cheap and quick, then wonder a year later why the floor keeps getting wet and the hem has gone black. A shower screen costs more up front but solves most of those problems. Here is an honest comparison from fitting both in Cardiff bathrooms, so you can decide which suits your home, your budget and how you actually use the bathroom.
A shower curtain is the cheapest option by a wide margin. A decent weighted polyester or PEVA curtain, a rail and rings will usually come in under 40 pounds, and you can fit it yourself in twenty minutes with a drill. A straight rail over a bath is the simplest job; curved rails give you a bit more elbow room but need solid fixings at both ends.
A fixed bath screen or over bath screen typically costs 80 to 250 pounds for the glass itself, with folding and hinged screens sitting at the top of that range. Fitting by a bathroom fitter is usually another 100 to 200 pounds depending on the wall, whether tiles need drilling and whether the bath edge is level. For a walk in shower enclosure with a frameless panel you are looking at 300 pounds upwards for the glass plus fitting. It depends on size, glass thickness and whether the wall is plumb, which in older Cardiff terraces it often is not.
This is where the curtain usually loses. Water runs down the inside of a curtain and, unless it is tucked properly inside the bath every single time, it drips onto the floor. Over months that soaks into floorboards and can rot the joists under the bath or lift vinyl flooring. We see this regularly in Victorian and Edwardian terraces around Canton, Roath and Grangetown where the bathroom floor is timber rather than concrete.
A glass screen sealed correctly with silicone along the bottom and the wall edge stops water at the bath edge. The key word is correctly. A screen fitted on an out of level bath, or one where the seal strip has been trimmed too short, will leak just as badly as a curtain. Screens over 800mm wide or hinged models also need a proper wall fixing rather than just the plastic plugs supplied in the box, because plasterboard and old lime plaster will not hold them.
South Wales is wet and most Cardiff bathrooms have small windows or none at all. Fabric and plastic curtains hold water in their folds, so mildew shows up along the bottom edge within a few months even with the extractor fan running. You can wash a fabric curtain on a cool cycle, but most people just replace it two or three times a year, which adds up.
Glass does not grow mould, but limescale does build on it. Cardiff's water is soft to moderately soft, so scale is less of a nuisance than it would be in Bristol or London, but you will still get water spots. A squeegee after each shower and a monthly wipe with white vinegar or a glass cleaner keeps it clear. Screens with an easy clean coating help but are not magic. Check the bottom seal strip and the hinge channel on folding screens, as that is where grime collects.
Over a bath, a screen works best when the bath is used mainly for showering and only occasionally for baths. If you bathe children regularly, a hinged or folding screen that swings back against the wall is worth the extra cost over a fixed panel, as a fixed screen makes it hard to lean over the bath. A curtain is genuinely the better choice if you need to pull everything out of the way, for example for someone with a bath lift or reduced mobility, or in a rental where you cannot drill tiles.
In a walk in shower or wet room a curtain is rarely a good idea. The water pressure from a modern thermostatic mixer or a rainfall head will blow a curtain around and push spray well beyond the tray. A fixed glass panel of 8mm or 10mm thickness holds still and looks far better. If the shower is in an alcove with three walls, a single panel across the open side is often all you need.
Weight is worth a thought too. A 1400mm by 800mm bath screen in 6mm glass weighs roughly 12 to 15 kg, so the wall fixing has to carry that, and a bath with a flimsy plastic edge can flex under it. A fitter will check whether the bath needs a support batten before putting the screen on.
For a bath that doubles as the main shower in a Cardiff home, a hinged or folding glass screen is better. It costs more and needs a competent fit, but it protects the floor, looks better and lasts ten years or more. A curtain is fine as a stopgap or where access matters more than appearance, but budget for replacing it and be strict about tucking it in. If your existing screen is leaking, do not assume you need a new one; often it is the silicone or the bath itself that needs attention, which is a cheaper fix.
Call Simon for an initial chat, or send a couple of photos of the space and Sycamore will come back with a quote the same week.
A few photos and a sketch of the room is usually enough for a first quote. For anything structural or tricky, we come and look.