Glass shower doors are gaining in popularity with homeowners because not only do they look great, but they will add value to your home. Many homeowners are ditching the traditional tub and shower with a curtain, and they are adding a fully enclosed, walk-in shower with glass doors.
Glass shower doors are trendy
On the Angie’s List website several years ago, an Ohio resident posed this question: We’re remodeling our bathroom. Which is better to help increase the resale value of our home: a tub, a shower and one sink; or a big shower and two sinks?
How would you have answered the question? Here is the reply from Angie’s List:
All that said, top remodelers and real estate agents tell us that there’s a trend right now of homeowners replacing their garden tub or regular bathtubs with oversized showers, so you may want to start that trend in your neighborhood if it hasn’t yet arrived. Angie’s List
That Ohio resident wasn’t the only one with a burning desire to know the answer to the question. A reader of the New York Times asked a similar question to one of the newspaper’s columnists. Specifically, the reader was curious about how to give a bathroom a high-end look. An interior designer answered: “Glass doors are almost always preferable.”
Medina Glass Co. Vice President Pat Neyhart said the trend of installing glass shower doors and enclosures continues today because they look good and they add value to your home.
Medina Glass works homeowners, home builders and remodelers to help design the best shower possible that will fit in the available space in the bathroom. Also, attention will be given to the dimensions and where the toilet and sink are so the glass shower doors can function without any problems.
You can choose a frame for your glass shower doors
When a homeowner talks to the builder or the remodeler and expresses a desire to have glass shower doors installed, the crew at Medina Glass will speak with the homeowner to see what the envision for the bathroom. There are essentially two ways to go: A framed shower enclosure or a frameless heavy glass one.
The framed shower option is constructed of a thinner glass. Because of this, they are the less expensive of the two options. Though they do not cost as much, they are still very appealing, Neyhart said. Homeowners have several choices to make when selecting a framed shower door enclosure: What kind of metal do you want for the hinges and handles, and what color would you like them to be? Would you like a shower door that you can open and shut like a typical door, or do you want one that slides open? These framed shower enclosures are manufactured for Medina Glass by Basco Shower Enclosures. 
Or, you can go frameless with heavy glass doors
Neyhart calls these the “Cadillac” of glass shower doors. They are “totally custom-built, and they are better,” he said. The heavy glass shower doors have just minimal framing. The edges of the glass are exposed, and the glass is highly polished. “They’re very good looking,” Neyhart said.
“Frameless shower enclosures are very popular right now for a few reasons,” Medina Glass Co. Manager Brian Keltz said. “The frameless design makes it so there is no framing breaking up the line of sight, so showers with custom tile or stone work inside can be ‘shown-off’ or displayed. Also, frameless showers are custom made to fit the openings for an exact fit, so one isn’t limited to trying to use a manufacturer’s standard size unit. There is a lot of freedom to customize these types of units which enables us to get creative and make it easier for us to meet the customer’s vision of how they want their enclosure to look.”
When choosing heavy glass shower doors, you can also opt to protect the glass from minerals and lime deposits in the water by adding the ShowerGuard option. ShowerGuard is a clear coating that is fired on the glass during the tempering process. It becomes a protective layer added to the shower doors, so it is part of the glass.
These shower doors will last a long time, but it is important for homeowners to use proper care with the glass. This includes cleaning it before the water has a chance to dry on the doors. As water dries, it can pit the glass because of the lime , Neyhart said. By selected the ShowerGuard protection, water will be prevented from penetrating into the glass. This will help it stay looking nicer for a longer time.
Some things to think about when choosing glass shower doors
- Heavy glass shower doors will need to be reinforced. They need to be anchored into something, like wood, Neyhart said. If they are secured into drywall material, the weight of the doors might pull away from the wall. If the doors cannot be anchored in something sturdy, a Basco framed enclosure is a good option.
- Take time to decide where you want to put the doors. Neyhart says you don’t want to have to get all the way into the shower just to turn on the water. If this happens, you will likely get splashed by cold water. Make sure there is plenty of room to open the doors (if they are hinged).
- It is important to make sure the sill (sometimes called the curb) is sloped back so the water moves toward the shower drain. If not, then there is a chance water will leak from the doors onto the floor.
Glass shower doors can be simple and elegant or complex and intricate. If you would like to explore the possibility of remodeling your bathroom to include glass shower doors, give us a call at (330) 725-4605 or send us a message here.