Showers · Ketchum & Sun Valley
The three kinds of glass shower door, what each one is good at, and how to pick the right one for your bathroom.
All three keep water in the shower. The difference is how much metal you see, how thick the glass is, and what it costs. Framed uses the most metal and the thinnest glass and costs the least. Frameless uses almost no metal and the thickest glass and costs the most. Semi-frameless sits between them.
Which one is right depends less on the glass than on the bathroom: the size of the opening, what is next to it, how the room is finished, and how long you plan to live with it.
A metal frame runs around every edge of the glass and the door. The frame carries the weight, so the glass can be thinner, which keeps the cost down. The practical choice for guest baths, rentals and tub surrounds. Finishes can match the rest of the room.
A frame around the fixed panels, but the door itself is a clean sheet of glass with hinges and a handle. You get most of the open look of frameless at a lower cost, with the frame doing some of the structural work.
Heavy glass with minimal hardware: hinges, clamps and a handle, and nothing else. The glass carries its own load, so it is thicker, and it is always tempered. The tile and stonework stay the thing you notice. This is the one most people picture when they say custom shower.
Look at the opening first. A frameless door needs solid blocking in the wall to hang from and an opening that is close to square. Walls here are rarely plumb and tile is rarely square, which is why every enclosure is measured in the bathroom before anything is ordered. If the walls are far out, a framed system hides more of that than a frameless one.
Then what is next to it. A hinged door needs room to swing without hitting a vanity or toilet. When there is no room, two sliding panels on a track (a bypass door) solve it, and bypass doors come in framed and semi-frameless versions.
Then the finish of the room. If you have put real money into tile and stone, frameless lets you see it. If the bathroom is simple and functional, framed looks right and saves the difference for something else.
Then how long you are staying. Frameless is the one people fall for in a house they plan to keep. For a rental or a house you will sell in a few years, framed or semi-frameless usually makes more sense.
If the bathroom is finished to a level where the glass would hide something worth seeing, yes. If not, you are paying for a look the room does not need. We will tell you which one you are looking at when we measure, and we would rather fit a framed door you are happy with than a frameless one you did not need.
Code requires it, and for good reason. Tempered glass breaks into small blunt pieces instead of shards. It also means the glass cannot be cut, drilled or notched after it leaves the factory. Every hole for a hinge or handle is made first, which is why the measurement has to be right and why an enclosure takes longer to arrive than a plain pane.
Hinged if the door has room to swing. Sliding, which we call a bypass door, if it does not. Bypass doors suit tub surrounds and tight baths. When one comes off its track or the rollers wear, that is a hardware repair rather than new glass.
A squeegee after each shower does more than any product. Water that dries on the glass leaves minerals behind, and over years those can etch the surface so that no cleaner brings it back. If your glass already has a haze that will not shift, send us a photo and we will tell you whether it is cleanable or has gone too far.
Often, yes. If one panel of an existing enclosure breaks, it can usually be replaced on its own. Keep the hardware, since hinges and handles can often be reused.
The showroom in the Scott Building at 110 Lindsay Circle in Ketchum, Monday to Friday, 8:00am to 5:00pm. Hinges, handles and clamps are much easier to choose in your hand than on a screen.
Pick a direction, not a product. Tell us framed, semi-frameless or frameless and roughly what the opening looks like, and the Instant Estimate gives you a ballpark in about a minute. Then we come measure, because the glass is made to your bathroom and cannot be trimmed afterward. The exact price is confirmed after that visit.
Planning a shower?
Pick framed or frameless, enter the opening size, and the estimator gives you a range on the spot. We confirm the exact price after a free measurement.
Where we work
Our shop is on Lewis Street in Ketchum. We cover the Wood River Valley from the top to the bottom, and the Sawtooth Valley over Galena Summit.
Sawtooth ValleyStanley, Sawtooth City & Smiley Creek, over Galena SummitRepair or replacement? Get a ballpark price in about a minute. Bigger custom project? Request a quote and we'll take it from measurement to final polish.
