Frameless shower door sticker shock

[Anonymous]

We are looking to replace a slider door with a custom frameless one. It’s a normal-size shower 5’ across, and when I put in the dimensions to one of the regularly recommended local glass places it is telling me well over $3k for a panel and door with the thinnest glass available that is not treated with anything special. Is that really what they cost or should I be looking elsewhere? Our contractor is very strongly discouraging us from getting a non-custom option from HD or Wayfair due to quality issues.

[Anonymous]

Look at other options, OP. We had a frameless glass shower and it was such a PITA to keep clean. I also felt so exposed it in. Totally a me problem but I haven't put another shower in like it because I hated it so much.

[Anonymous]

I would go with a non custom door and a frame if you must. You may need to replace it or repair later and it will always be expensive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look at other options, OP. We had a frameless glass shower and it was such a PITA to keep clean. I also felt so exposed it in. Totally a me problem but I haven't put another shower in like it because I hated it so much.

OP here…our old house had these in the showers and I loved them! To each their own.

[Anonymous]

We had the same recently, when redoing 2 bathrooms. Spent 5k on shower glass, yikes!

[Anonymous]

I have a custom frameless glass shower and it has Diamon finish on it so you just scrub it with water and a clean loufa and the scum comes right off. It's not hard to clean at all. Though if you had hard water I could imagine it could be more work to stay on top of, but with the finish the scum just wipes right off. It sort of fogs up while you're showering so I don't feel exposed while showering. Mine was $3500 in 2021 for a moderate sized (3x4' ish) corner shower with 2 glass walls. They added a custom bathrobe hook and a hand towel rack which was neat. Totally worth it to me and really elevates the look of the bathroom.

[Anonymous]

Did you get more than 1 quote? We just had a frameless shower glass door installed and it was $1700. We got 2 quotes. The other one was $2700 for the same glass door!

[Anonymous]

I’m in the market for a shower door as well. They have some non-custom ones that fit 5 foot openings at Home Depot, why not those? The opening to my shower is 4 feet and I was looking at ordering an $800 sliding glass door, from Delta. I guess I’m asking why does it have to be custom when it is a common sized opening?

[Anonymous]

Whoops, just read your post a little more thoroughly. You said your contractor is not recommending do to quality. For what it’s worth, the reviews were good for doors on Home Depot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did you get more than 1 quote? We just had a frameless shower glass door installed and it was $1700. We got 2 quotes. The other one was $2700 for the same glass door!

Are you comfortable giving the name of the company that gave you that much lesser quote?

[Anonymous]

Look at Dreamline, they sell thru Lowes and HD and have a variety of configurations and selection of hardware finishes.

3K for custom shower door is not unusual as it is inclusive of shipping. I think Mr. Shower Door is the main purveyor on the east coast and this would be coming from NY. If you can't find anything off the shelf from Dreamline, go straight to your local glazer for the door. We did after splitting with the GC and the glazer's cost was $800 for a 24" door with C.R. Laurence hardware and installation (back in 2006).

[Anonymous]

Our contractor recommended a custom shower door installer and were quoted $1400 which according to the contractor was a great deal - 4 ft. I looked into ordering one from Lowes but our contractor also mentioned quality concerns and said they can’t guarantee anything if they install it themselves because sometimes they break at install which wouldn’t be covered by them (Lowes also didn’t cover it). If you go a non custom option, I’d order one of the glass doors that HD installs themselves so the work is guaranteed - warranted.

[Anonymous]

I’m about to embark on a bathroom reno. Do you think a fixed pane of glass for a walk in shower would be a lot less?

[Anonymous]

Save up for the frameless. It will add value.

[Anonymous]

Might seem idiotic, but can someone explain what the difference between frame and frameless (understood one has a frame) is, perhaps with photos? What does a frameless shower door catch to?