Is tempered glass unbreakable?

No. It is about four times stronger than annealed glass of the same thickness and it breaks into small blunt pieces instead of shards. It is also vulnerable at the edges, and a hard impact on an edge can break a panel that would shrug off the same hit in the middle.

Why do frameless showers use 3/8 in glass?

Because there is no frame doing structural work, so the glass has to be stiff enough to carry itself and its hardware. Quarter inch is not, which is why it belongs in mirrors and framed units.

Does spontaneous breakage really happen?

Rarely, and yes. Nickel sulfide inclusions in the glass can expand years later and break a tempered panel with nothing touching it. It is a manufacturing defect covered by the glass maker, and it is one reason we buy SGCC certified glass rather than the cheapest available.

Is low iron glass worth 20 percent more?

On a large expanse next to pale stone, yes, because standard glass reads faintly green there. On a small door against busy tile, no. Judge it from where you will actually stand.

How long does the protective coating last?

A handful of years, and it degrades faster under abrasive cleaners, ammonia, vinegar, or a razor blade. It makes cleaning easier, it is not permanent, and anyone telling you it is a lifetime treatment is selling something.

What hardware finish survives near the ocean?

In exposed coastal locations we use 316 stainless. Plated specialty finishes look excellent indoors and pit within a few years of salt air, and we will say so before you buy one.

Materials

The glass, in detail

This is the page we wrote so you can push back on us. Every upgrade below has a real effect and a real cost, and for at least half of them the honest answer is that you do not need it.

Tempered versus annealed

Annealed glass is glass that cooled slowly. Cut it, drill it, polish it, and it stays workable, and when it breaks it produces long sharp shards. Tempered glass starts as annealed, gets fully fabricated, then goes through a furnace and a rapid quench that puts the surfaces in compression and the core in tension.

Two consequences follow, and both matter. It is roughly four times stronger, and it can no longer be modified. Not a new hole, not a trimmed edge, not a notch. That is why the measure has to be right before anything is fabricated, and why we send our own installer to take it.

When tempered glass does fail it dices into small blunt pieces. That is the safety behavior building codes are after, and it is required in every location we work in.

Thickness

Three eighths or one half

The most common upsell in this trade, and the one most often unnecessary.

Half inch glass costs roughly 55 percent more per square foot, weighs about a third more, and needs heavier hinges and real blocking in the wall. The stiffness increase is genuine and it is not linear with price.

Where it earns the money: panels over about 84 in tall, wide fixed panels carried on a single support, and any glass that functions as a wall rather than a door. Where it does not: a 28 in swing door in a 76 in opening, which was already rigid.

Clarity

Why standard glass looks slightly green

Iron oxide in the raw batch. It is not a defect and it is not a quality difference.

You see it two ways: as a green line on the polished edge, and as a faint cast when you look through a large area of glass. Low iron glass reduces the iron content, removing most of both, at about 20 percent more glass cost.

The decision is about context, not quality. Against white marble, pale limestone, or a light plaster wall, standard glass shifts the color of what is behind it. Against a saturated tile, nobody will ever see it. Stand where you will stand every morning and decide from there.

Surface treatments

Frost, reeded, and etched

Priced by treated area, because the cost is process time rather than material.

An acid etched frost is uniform and permanent and it hides water spots well, which is why a frosted band at eye level ages better than clear glass in a heavily used shower. Reeded and fluted glass is a rolled pattern that distorts rather than obscures, and it has a direction that has to be planned before cutting.

Custom etched artwork we quote after seeing the drawing. Layout, registration, and rework risk vary too much to publish a number we would have to walk back.

Coatings

What the protective coating does

A flat $200 per enclosure, and a sacrificial layer rather than a permanent one.

Glass is slightly porous, and mineral deposits from hard water bond into the surface over time. That is what etched glass really is: not dirt, but damage. A hydrophobic coating fills the surface so water beads and carries deposits off instead of leaving them behind.

It wears. Abrasive cleaners, ammonia, vinegar, and razor blades strip it early, which is why those are explicit exclusions in our warranty. A squeegee after each use does more for your glass than any coating, and the two together do best.

Care routine that keeps coverage intact

Squeegee or towel the glass after use, top to bottom
Clean weekly with a pH neutral glass cleaner and a soft cloth
Never use ammonia, vinegar, abrasive pads, or a razor blade
Wipe hardware dry, and do not spray cleaner directly at hinges
Check the door sweep once a year and replace it when it stops touching

Hardware

Coastal exposure is a durability decision

Within a few miles of the water, finish choice stops being about style.

Salt air attacks plating. Chrome and brushed nickel hold up well indoors. Matte black, brushed gold, and oil rubbed bronze are coatings over brass, and a scratch in one cannot be polished out the way chrome can. Exposed exterior hardware gets 316 stainless, which is the grade with molybdenum in it and the reason it resists chloride pitting.

If you want a specialty finish in a location we know will pit, we will install it and we will tell you first in writing.

Specifications

Our standing spec

Standard: SGCC certified tempered safety glass, permanently etched
Shower thickness: 3/8 in standard, 1/2 in for tall or wide panels
Mirror thickness: 1/4 in standard, 3/8 in for large pieces
Guardrail glass: Laminated tempered, thickness per engineering
Clarity: Standard clear or low iron
Edges: Machine polished, seamed and arrised before tempering
Coating: Optional sacrificial hydrophobic layer, $200 per enclosure
Exterior hardware: 316 stainless in exposed coastal locations

Questions

About the material

: No. It is about four times stronger than annealed glass of the same thickness and it breaks into small blunt pieces instead of shards. It is also vulnerable at the edges, and a hard impact on an edge can break a panel that would shrug off the same hit in the middle.
: Because there is no frame doing structural work, so the glass has to be stiff enough to carry itself and its hardware. Quarter inch is not, which is why it belongs in mirrors and framed units.
: Rarely, and yes. Nickel sulfide inclusions in the glass can expand years later and break a tempered panel with nothing touching it. It is a manufacturing defect covered by the glass maker, and it is one reason we buy SGCC certified glass rather than the cheapest available.
: On a large expanse next to pale stone, yes, because standard glass reads faintly green there. On a small door against busy tile, no. Judge it from where you will actually stand.
: A handful of years, and it degrades faster under abrasive cleaners, ammonia, vinegar, or a razor blade. It makes cleaning easier, it is not permanent, and anyone telling you it is a lifetime treatment is selling something.
: In exposed coastal locations we use 316 stainless. Plated specialty finishes look excellent indoors and pit within a few years of salt air, and we will say so before you buy one.

See what these choices cost

Every upgrade on this page has a published number next to it.

Open pricing

What the warranty covers

Ten years of workmanship and hardware, the exclusions, and how transfer works.

Read the warranty