How Do I Fix a 4-Fold Shower Screen That Leaks or Will Not Fold Flat?

A 4-fold shower screen that leaks is almost always sitting at the wrong height, out of level, or too far out on the tub deck, not suffering from a bad gasket. A screen that will not fold flat against the wall usually has a hinge connection that has loosened, lost its plastic retainer insert or its spacer, or it has been mounted on a side with no wall to fold against. Both problems are checked with the screen in place, starting with the gasket and level checks in Why Does My Shower Screen Gasket Have a Gap and Spray Water? and then moving to the hinges.

How the Screen Is Built, and Why It Matters for Both Problems

The 4-fold screen is a 44 by 42 inch set of 1/8 inch tempered clear glass panels in a chrome ionized aluminum frame. The panels are joined by PVC geared hinges, there is a knob on both sides, and the screen pivots 90 degrees at the wall channel and folds accordion style against the wall when not in use. Each hinge is held by hinge screws with plastic retainer inserts, with screw caps snapped over them on the top edge, and a plastic spacer sits between connected panels. Along the bottom runs an inward-angled rubber gasket that brushes the deck; that gasket is the only seal, so the height and level of the wall channel decide whether the screen stays dry. The overview in What Is the 4-Fold Shower Screen on a Walk-In Tub? describes the screen, the 3-fold conversion and the replaceable parts.

Two things follow from that construction. Water problems are about where the gasket meets the deck and where the panels sit on the deck. Folding problems are about the hinge hardware and the wall the screen folds against.

Fixing a Leak: Height, Level, Gasket Direction and Deck Position

1. Confirm the tub itself is level. A tub that is not level makes it impossible to set the screen so the gasket brushes the deck evenly.
2. Check the wall channel. It must be at perfect level on a flat, non-porous wall, with fixings that suit the wall type. The screen can be moved inside the channel to allow for a wall that is not square, and a thin bead of silicone between the channel and the wall finishes the seal.
3. Set the height. The bottom gasket should brush the deck lightly and evenly along its full length. Too high leaves a gap that leaks; too low damages the rubber insert and leaves it looking mangled, which then leaks as well.
4. Check the gasket direction. The rubber lip must point inward toward the tub, never outward.
5. Check where the screen sits on the deck. With the screen opened across the tub, the bottom edge should follow the inside edge of the deck, the inner lip closest to the bathing well, along its full length and especially over the door and on the hinge side. If any panel drifts toward the outer edge, spray runs into the gap between the door and the deck and appears as a leak at the door even though the seal is fine. That check is laid out in Where Should the 4-Fold Shower Screen Sit on the Tub Deck?.
6. Look for a horizontal seal that was cut short, or the excess gasket at the open end not anchored under its end cap and seal cap. The installation video shows how the gasket is knotted at the wall end and capped at the open end.
7. Rule out the hand shower. Keep it below deck height and aimed at the tub wall, and fill above every jet before switching on any therapy, as described in Why Does Water Spray Out of the Tub When I Use the Hand Shower?.

The 4 Fold Glass Door Installation video shows the wall channel being marked and set at perfect level, the gasket being fed into the bottom channel and anchored at both ends, and the screen being placed onto the channel to find the proper height and level. Watching those steps makes it easy to see which one was skipped on your installation.

Fixing a Screen That Will Not Fold Flat

1. Inspect every hinge connection along the top edge. Pop the screw cap and confirm the hinge screw is present and tight, but not over-torqued, and that the plastic retainer insert is seated. When an insert has fallen out, the panel connection is released and the panels no longer track together. Refit the insert with the same screw and snap the cap back on. A lost insert is a small part the team sends.
2. Confirm the plastic spacer between connected panels is still in place. The Three Fold Shower Screen Assembly video shows the retainer inserts being removed and refitted and the spacer being kept in place when a panel is reconnected, which is exactly the hardware to look at when a screen binds or sits proud.
3. Check the chrome knobs. They mount through the glass with rubber gaskets and should be tightened firmly without over-torquing. A knob that is loose or missing its gasket can catch the neighboring panel.
4. Check the mounting side. The screen mounts to the wall beside a tub that sits in a corner or alcove, on the wall side away from any extension panel. Mounted on the extension panel side, it has nothing to fold flat against. In a 60 inch alcove where a 52 inch tub uses an extension panel, the screen is converted to the 32 inch 3-fold by removing one section.
5. Check the channel and the height again. A screen set so low that the gasket drags on the deck, or hung in a channel that is out of level, does not sit square when it is folded back, and the gasket shows the damage.
6. If the screen still swings too far into the room or will not fold back, photograph the hinges and the wall channel and send them in so the team can spot a hinge or channel issue.

Parts and What to Send with a Ticket

Gaskets, hinge retainer inserts, glass panels, rails and knobs are all replaceable parts. If you are still waiting on a screen, Four-Fold Shower Screen on Backorder explains how the rest of the order ships. For a ticket at ellasbubbles.com/support or a call to (800) 480-6850, have your tub model and serial number, whether the screen is set up as 4-fold or 3-fold, a photo of the gasket and of where the water appears, a photo from directly above showing where the bottom edge meets the deck, a close photo of the two panels furthest from the wall, and, for a folding problem, a close photo of the hinge that binds.

Related Guides

• Four-Fold Glass Shower Screen: Damaged Hardware, the Return Window and Why Panels Cannot Be Added
• Replacing or Reattaching the End Cap and Horizontal Seal on a Folding Shower Screen
• The Four-Fold Bath Screen Printed Manual: Parts Supplied, Loose Fittings, Tools and the Eleven Numbered Steps

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