Frameless showers
Tempered glass
can't be trimmed.
Once it comes out of the oven, that panel is the size it is forever. So the measurement is the job — everything after it is just careful handling.
Teal subway, solid brassBoise
Six shapes cover most bathrooms.
Not because we only build six — because most rooms resolve into one of these once you look at where the drain is, which way the door has to swing, and whether there's anything to hinge to.
Door and panel
The common one. A fixed panel with a hinged door beside it, both hung off the wall or off the panel. Works in almost any alcove wide enough to swing a door into the room.
Corner enclosure
Two walls of glass meeting at a corner, usually with a door on one face. Wants a solid corner post or a header if the panels are tall — glass alone won't hold a corner square forever.
Single panel
One fixed lite, no door, open at one end. The cleanest thing you can do and the easiest to keep clean. Needs enough run past the head so water doesn't leave the room.
Slider
Barn-style on an exposed track, or a lift-and-drop that seals as it closes. The move when there isn't room to swing a door — over a tub, or into a tight water closet.
Tub screen
A short panel or a hinged screen on the tub deck. Hinged off glass or off the wall depending on what's behind the tile — and there is not always something behind the tile.
Steam enclosure
Full height to the ceiling with a transom that opens, so the room holds steam but still vents. Different sealing, different hardware, and the ceiling has to be flat enough to land on.
3/8" is the default. 1/2" is for reach.
Three-eighths handles the great majority of doors and panels and is what you'll see on most of the work in our gallery. Half-inch gets specified when a panel is unusually tall or wide, when it's carrying a door, or when there's nothing to brace it against and it has to stay flat on its own.
Half-inch is heavier, which changes the hardware and sometimes changes what the wall behind the tile has to be. That's a conversation to have before the tile goes on, not after.
Marble steam enclosureBoise
Standard glass is green.
Iron in ordinary clear float glass gives it a faint green cast. It shows most on the exposed edge and across a wide panel, where it tints whatever sits behind it. Worth knowing before you pick your tile, not after.
Clear
3/8" temperedGreen edge
Everyday tempered glass, and the right call on plenty of jobs. The green is subtle head-on and strongest at the exposed edges — and it carries onto whatever sits behind the panel.
Starphire
3/8" temperedColourless edge
Same lite, same tile, same light — the green is simply gone, so your tile and stone read in the colour you actually chose. Worth it on wide panels and pale stone.
Satin etch
3/8" temperedDiffused
Keeps the light, loses the view. Pattern glass does the same with more texture — P516 is the one you've most likely seen; Rain and Pavia are the other two we're asked for most.
Finish is taste.
Function isn't.
Pick the finish that matches your fixtures. But hinges, clamps and headers get chosen off the size and weight of the panel, and that part isn't negotiable — an under-specified hinge on a tall door will sag, and a sagging door stops closing clean.
Stocked finishes: chrome, brushed nickel, matte black, satin brass, champagne bronze and oil-rubbed bronze. Anything else is available, it just adds to the lead time.
Etching isn't soap scum. You can't scrub it off.
Minerals in hard water attack the surface of untreated glass and leave cloudiness that is damage, not dirt. A treatment gives the glass something to resist it. There are two ways to get there and they are not the same product.
Ask us which makes sense for your water — sometimes the answer is none of them.
Diamond Fusion
EnduroShield
Bonded onto finished glass, filling the pores where minerals get a grip so water sheets off. Less up front, and renewable later.
ShowerGuard
ClarVista
Baked in during tempering, so the protection is part of the panel rather than a layer on it. Can't wear through. Costs more, lasts the life of the glass.
The questions we actually get.
My walls aren't plumb. Is that a problem?
No. It is the normal condition — almost every opening we measure is out of square somewhere. We measure the room as it is and fabricate to those numbers, and where the gap would show we take it up in the hardware or with a scribed edge. What causes problems is measuring off the plans instead of off the room.
How long does it take?
Usually two to three weeks between the measure and the install. The glass has to be cut, edged and tempered before it can come to you, and tempering is a scheduled process at the fabricator — it is not something we can compress by asking nicely. If a job is urgent, tell us early and we will tell you honestly whether the date is real.
Will it leak?
A frameless enclosure is not a sealed box and is not meant to be — it needs to breathe or it fogs and stays wet. Water is managed by slope, by how far the panel runs past the head, and by where the door swings. Get those right and nothing reaches the floor. Get them wrong and no amount of silicone fixes it, which is why we care about the layout before we care about the glass.
Can you do a steam shower?
Yes, in all three shops. A steam enclosure runs full height to the ceiling with a transom panel that opens to vent. It needs a flat, level ceiling to land against, different sealing than a standard enclosure, and the steam generator sized to the room. Worth deciding early — converting a standard enclosure to steam later usually means new glass.
Do I need the low-iron glass?
Not always. On a small alcove with mid-tone tile you will barely notice the difference. On a wide panel in front of white marble or pale stone, the green cast on standard glass is visible and it will bother you. If you are unsure, ask us to bring a sample of each to the consultation and look at them against your actual tile.
Can you match something that was installed badly?
Sometimes. If the existing hardware is sound and the opening is workable we can often replace just the glass. If the enclosure was set out wrong to begin with — door swinging into a fixture, panel too short, no slope to the drain — replacing the glass repeats the problem. We will tell you which one you have.
Send a photo of the opening.
A photo with a rough width and height is enough for a ballpark. We'll tell you what configuration the room wants and roughly what it runs, before anyone comes out.