Glass Shower Enclosure advice

12 years ago

Good afternoon,

My family is almost done with a major remodel of our house and it's time to choose a glass shower enclosure and a contractor to install it.

We have received two quotes on frameless shower doors, one at $2,100 and one at $2,900. I'm a big fan of "throw out the lowest bid", so Im looking to get a few more quotes on the job.

To those folks out there who have already gone through this process, can you offer any advice towards this process? (IE choosing an shower door contractor, framed/semi frame/frameless, is upgrading to 1/2" glass worth it etc) Is there anything you wish you had or had not done?

Thanks!

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Comments (4)

fnmroberts
12 years ago
We are in the process of having ours replaced. Ours is fairly small with only a half-glass above a pony wall and a door. Pricing we received was similar to what you mention, but we came across an independent who has quoted $1600 for 3/8 glass. We'll probably go with him as he has done work for a friend and it looks nice.

1/2 glass will not hold out any more water but does look nice. So I've learned, when going with heavier glass or risking falls/pushing against the glass, a semi-framed is considered the way to go.

We are going to have a short panel at the corner to make the door smaller (lighter) and will have a robe hook installed there. Convenient place for the towel.

We are not getting the glass shield as we are accustomed to cleaning the glass and tiles following use but it might be worth it if you have hard water.

I'll be interested in other tips offered as ours is still in the preparation phase. Good luck.
millworkman
12 years ago
3/8" Glass is generally more than acceptable unless you have a very large shower than I would suggest 1/2" Glass. If the door is to be hung off of a panel I would recommend using a header (semi frameless), if the panel is 12" or larger you can go with no header. If the panel is small the glass tends to not be very sturdy which out a lot of weight on the hinges and the unit will tend to wobble slightly. For attaching the panels to the wall and floor I prefer "mini-clips" as opposed to channel as it is less obtrusive and less metal to look at on the wall and floor.
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You have valid concerns and we take extra measures to acommodate steam vapor escape by treating the ceiling and/or adjoining painted surfaces outside the shower with usually an oil based primer and sometimes topcoat of paint . Steam rooms require a few things to be just right and if so you shouldnt have excessive release of vapor. Starting with the proper sized generator for the "adjusted cubic ft" A proper glass install with the acceptable tolerances ( we use sweep and bulb gaskets to compensate for minor inaccuracies and zip our steam showers up and then utilize the transom.) A transom smartly placed in relation to the Fan that also needs to be the proper CFM for the room and other hvac concerns,. Our fans are always on a timer, and preferably jumped on the same circuit as the showers interior light. You want the fan on from the start of the shower and remaining on for 30 +/- mins after you get out. I always suggest opening the transom and swinging the shower door IN to the shower when done. On this steamer ceiling we used the existing bathroom fan and planned ahead and had the painter coat our cedar install with sikens marine grade topcoat. Hope that helps a bit in your effort to rectify your concerns.-best
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Thank you both. The 2 glass fabricators I have talked with since I posted both said that 1/2" would be overkill, but they will take my money if I really want it. Since the side panels go all the way to the ceiling, they say I do not need anything thicker than 3/8" for structural reasons. I will ask about the mini clips. The regular clips are about 1-3/4" square. Right now, the plan is to use a channel at the bottom for support, which will be hidden by the 1/2" thick tile (plus mortar) butted up on each side of the glass at the curb. There will be clips holding each of the 92" H x 14" wide side panels to the wall (2 clips) and ceiling (1 or 2 clips). I am thinking about using a towel bar/handle on the door instead of a standard handle. It adds extra metal, but I need someplace to hang the bath mat to dry. (I hate to obscure the pretty tile work with a towel hanging on the door, but don't have another good place to put it.)
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I have a framless shower door with steam. I had a chanel carved into the stone frame around the door. I bet you won't pass inspection. This doesn't sound kosher. Did you discuss ahead of time how this was to be done? What material is around the glass? What's to keep the glass from moving if someone leans on it, silicone? I'll bet the contractor tries to tell you that it just fine. If you find out if it's against building codes, then you could have an inteligent argument with him. Ill tell you some of the problems that I had with my installation. The stone I used is "Rosa Verona". It's a particularly soft stone. The company that installled the stone said that it broke during delvery 2 times before they were able to install it. It finally worked out ok. I went with a glass company in the area that is the oldest and has the highest prices in the area. They came to measure when I had the three sides up (the groved stone). The tile setter purposly left the top, untiled. They inisted that all sides be done before they measure. My tile setter scrached his head, but they were very experienced and wouldn't be questioned. When they came back after the top was tiled, they realized that they had no way of getting the glass in. I finaly had to have someone carve out the tile on the top in order to insert the glass. It would have been SO much easier to just tile up to the glass on the top after it was slipped into the groves on the sides.
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cat_mom
12 years ago
We used 3/8" glass for our guest bathroom shower (the only bathroom for which we got a glass enclosure). We "up-charged" by using starphire/starfire glass to preserve the whiteness of the tile when looking through the glass, and we added Clear Shield (fabricator applied product vs Shower Guard, which is done as part of the glass manufacturing process). Even though the shower doesn't normally see much use beyond a week or two each yr when my parents come to visit, we have hard water, so an ounce of prevention gives us piece of mind (that the glass is protected against clouding/etching). We keep a squeegee and after shower spray in there when the shower's in use as well.

We also went with a slightly taller enclosure height; the clips would have hit right in the middle of our border tile mosaic at the lower height.

The 3/8" thick glass feels very sturdy, and substantial, not flimsy or rickety in the least. DH and I used that shower exclusively while our other bathrooms were being reno'd, and we were very happy with functionality of the shower door/enclosure.
Lynne Reno
12 years ago
Our GC got 7 or 8 bids on our glass shower enclosure and the cheapest was $1673. It's hard to photograph it, so here are the dimensions:
3/8" clear glass, chrome hardware. Door 24"x68" Return panel (this goes between tub and shower) 50 3/4" x 54 7/8", 12 1/8"x68" inline panel (goes next to shower door).

Glass Shower Enclosure advice

Comments (4)

fnmroberts

millworkman

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