Las Vegas Shower GlassCustom Shower Doors & Enclosures

Custom shower glass starts at fifty dollars per square foot, and where your enclosure lands within that depends on four things: the size of the opening, the glass thickness, the configuration and the hardware finish. A straight alcove door in 3/8 inch glass with chrome hardware sits at the bottom. A large corner enclosure in 1/2 inch low-iron glass with a specialty finish sits well above it. Semi-frameless comes in 20 to 30 percent under a comparable frameless enclosure and is a genuine option rather than a downgrade. We do not quote a figure over the phone and then revise it at your door, because the opening decides the price and we have not seen it yet. The free in-home measure takes about thirty minutes and produces a real number.

Fourteen to twenty business days from measure to installation, with the installation appointment running two to four hours. Almost all of that elapsed time is fabrication in our own shop, and it is a sequence rather than a queue: the panel is cut to your recorded dimensions, every exposed edge is polished, hinge and handle holes are drilled, and only then is the glass tempered. Nothing about that order can be rearranged, because tempered glass cannot be cut, drilled or ground afterwards without shattering. That is also why the thirty-minute measure at the start matters so much: a dimension recorded wrong is a panel remade, not a panel adjusted. If you have a deadline, a sale or a renovation to work around, say so at the measure.

The difference is where the metal is and what carries the load. A frameless enclosure has no frame at all: heavy 3/8 or 1/2 inch glass is held by hinges and clamps fixed into the wall, and every edge you see is polished glass. A semi-frameless enclosure frames the fixed panels in a slim channel and leaves the door itself unframed, so the edge you touch is still bare glass. Because the channel carries load the glass would otherwise carry alone, semi-frameless can use thinner glass and lighter hardware, which is where the 20 to 30 percent saving comes from. It also tends to control water very slightly better, since the channel physically drains back into the pan. Frameless is the cleaner look; semi-frameless is the more forgiving install.

For most Las Vegas bathrooms, 3/8 inch (10mm) tempered glass is the right answer and we will say so. It is rigid enough to hang from hinges without flexing, it keeps both glass and hardware costs sensible, and it suits the great majority of residential openings. Move up to 1/2 inch (12mm) when the geometry asks for it: wide door leaves, panels reaching toward a nine or ten foot ceiling, or a steam enclosure, where the extra rigidity keeps the seals in contact along their whole length. Half-inch glass is significantly heavier, so it needs heavier hinges and sound wall framing behind the tile, which we check before quoting it. Both thicknesses are fully tempered safety glass, which is a code requirement in a bathing area rather than an upgrade.

Yes, and replacement is a large share of what we do. We remove the old enclosure and take it away, which is part of the job rather than something left with you. Removal is the step that needs care, because levering an old aluminium frame out of hardened sealant is exactly how tile gets chipped: we cut the sealant, release the frame and clean the substrate back so the new glass seats against a sound surface. Upgrading a dated framed door to frameless or semi-frameless is the single most visible change you can make to an older bathroom. Occasionally removal reveals failed grout or damaged pan edge that the old frame was hiding, and if it does we will show you before continuing rather than sealing over it.

Yes, and there are three separate cover types that people often merge into one. Our installation work carries a workmanship warranty covering how the enclosure was fitted: alignment, sealing, and anything traceable to the installation. Premium hardware carries the manufacturer's warranty against hinges, handles and rollers failing in normal use. The tempered glass carries its manufacturer's cover against defects in the material itself, which is distinct from impact damage, since a panel struck on an edge is not a defective panel. Consumable parts such as the clear vinyl door sweep are wear items, expected to be replaced periodically, and inexpensive. The current terms in full are set out on our warranty page, which is the authoritative statement rather than any summary here.

Polished chrome, brushed nickel, matte black and brushed brass are stocked, and oil-rubbed bronze, satin brass and champagne bronze can be ordered. Two pieces of practical advice. Match the shower hardware to the fixtures already in the room rather than to the vanity or the lighting, because the eye reads the shower valve and the door hardware together and a mismatch between those two is the one people notice. Second, weigh how visible water spotting will be. Las Vegas has some of the hardest water in the country, and polished finishes show mineral spotting far more readily than brushed ones. Matte black is the strongest statement and the least forgiving on both counts. We bring finish samples to the measure so you choose against your own tile and light.

One habit matters more than everything else combined: squeegee the glass after each shower. Las Vegas water is among the hardest in the United States, and the damage hard water does to shower glass is not a film sitting on the surface that a better cleaner will lift. Dissolved minerals left to dry etch into the glass itself, and once that has happened it is permanent. Thirty seconds with a squeegee prevents it entirely. Beyond that, clean weekly with a non-abrasive glass cleaner, and keep acidic descalers and abrasive pads away from both the glass and the hardware finishes. We can apply a protective coating that makes water sheet off rather than bead, which reduces how often you need to clean, though it is not a substitute for the squeegee.