How Do I Replace the Bottom Gasket on an Ella Glass Shower Door?

How you replace the bottom gasket depends on which Ella glass door you have. On the 4-fold shower screen the bottom gasket is a replaceable rubber strip that slides into the channel along the bottom of the screen, is anchored with a knot at the wall end and end caps at the open end, and is trimmed to length, exactly as the installation video shows. The Primo 8mm frameless door has a low water retainer gasket instead of a rail, and framed sliding doors have a bottom track rather than a gasket, so start with Does the Ella Shower Door Have a Bottom Track or Is It Trackless? to confirm what is at the bottom of your glass. Replacement gaskets are requested through the support team, and you or your installer fit the new part.

Identify the Door and Its Gasket First

Ella offers several glass options, and the bottom edge is different on each one.

• The 4-fold shower screen is a 44 by 42 inch tempered glass screen in a chrome ionized aluminum frame that mounts to the wall beside the tub. Along its bottom runs an inward-angled rubber gasket that brushes the tub deck lightly and evenly; that gasket is the seal. What Is the 4-Fold Shower Screen on a Walk-In Tub? describes the screen and its 3-fold conversion.
• The Primo 8mm frameless sliding door has no bottom rail at all. What sits along the bottom of the glass is a flexible gasket that acts as a water retainer and expands about 3/8 of an inch to redirect water back toward the drain.
• Framed sliding doors ride in a bottom track. There is no gasket to replace; tracks, rollers and knobs are separate parts of their own.
• The bi-fold glass shower door offered on the 3060 LayDown tub has a gasket on the bottom of the door to prevent water leakage, and the LayDown screen gasket points inward toward the tub.

When you write in, have your tub model and serial number, say whether the screen is set up as 4-fold or 3-fold, and attach a photo of the gasket and of where the water appears. Open a ticket at ellasbubbles.com/support or call (800) 480-6850. Gaskets, hinge inserts, glass panels and rails are all replaceable parts, and the team confirms the right one from your photos. Ella does not send technicians: the part ships, and you or your installer fit it.

Before You Replace It: Is the Gasket Really the Problem?

A gasket that shows a gap and sprays water is almost always a height and level problem rather than a failed gasket. On the 4-fold screen the gasket must brush the deck lightly and evenly along its full length. Set too high, it leaves a gap that leaks; set too low, the rubber gets damaged and ends up looking mangled. A gasket fitted facing outward instead of inward, a wall channel that is out of level, or a wall that is not flat can all produce the same leak. Why Does My Shower Screen Gasket Have a Gap and Spray Water? works through those checks in order. Do them first, because a new gasket set at the same wrong height will be damaged the same way.

Fitting the New Gasket on the 4-Fold Screen

The installation video shows the gasket being fitted to a new screen, and a replacement gasket goes into the same channel the same way. The video recommends working with the screen on the floor bottom side up, which puts the bottom channel in front of you.

1. Lift the screen off its wall channel and lay it on the floor bottom side up.
2. Take the old gasket and its end caps out of the bottom channel.
3. Slide the new gasket into the channel at the bottom of the screen. A little silicone lubrication helps it slide in if needed.
4. The gasket is longer than the door, so there will be excess material. Leave a short length out at the wall end, cut it as the video shows, tie a knot with the loose end and tuck the knot into the space in the plastic corner. That knot anchors the gasket at the wall end.
5. At the opposite bottom front side of the screen, remove the screw, pull the gasket down the channel away from the open end, place the end cap molding onto the vacant space and secure it with the same screw. On a new screen the end caps come in the parts and accessories bag, so ask the team whether the caps you need ship with the gasket.
6. Draw the gasket through the end cap, insert one half of the seal end cap on each side of the gasket, glue both the end cap and the seal cap onto the molding, then trim the excess gasket.
7. Confirm the rubber lip points inward toward the tub, then set the screen back onto the wall channel and find the height where the gasket brushes the deck lightly and evenly along its full length. If the channel was disturbed, add a thin bead of silicone between the channel and the wall and let it cure before the first shower.

Primo Doors, Framed Doors and the LayDown Door

On the Primo door the only element at floor level is the flexible water retainer gasket, and a gasket that has shifted or has a gap can let water spray out. Send the team photos of the gasket and the glass edge so the correct strip can be identified. On framed sliding doors there is no gasket to replace; the raised bottom track collects water and soap film and simply needs regular wiping. On the LayDown bi-fold door, water at the floor is usually a placement issue: the fixed panel must be aligned with the tub's glass door, never centered on the side of the tub, and if the tub door itself is very tight, drain the tub fully and check leveling before opening it.

If water is escaping at the edge of a hinged glass door rather than under it, the hinges are the adjustment to make. Hinged Glass Screen Door Out of Line With the Frame: Adjusting the Hinges shows how to realign the glass and change the gap between two doors without removing the screen. And if the real problem is hand-shower spray reaching past the screen, Is There a Lock on the Walk-In Tub Door, and How Do I Stop Hand-Shower Splashing? explains why the screen covers 44 inches and when a curtain is the better answer.

Keeping the New Gasket in Good Shape

Clean the glass and the gasket with warm soapy water and a lint-free cloth after use. Never use alcohol, petroleum liquids or chemical cleaners on the screen, and never anything gritty. Check the screen height whenever it is remounted, since the level of the wall channel decides whether the gasket seats on the deck or hangs above it.

Watch: Ella's Bubbles: 4 Fold Glass Door Installation Video with chapters and a full transcript.

Common Questions