How long does a frameless shower take to install?

The install itself is usually a half day for a single door and most of a day for a multi panel enclosure. The wait is fabrication: about 10 to 14 business days between the final measure and the install date.

Can you install over existing tile?

Yes, that is the normal case. What matters is what is behind the tile. Hinges have to anchor into a stud or into blocking. If neither is there, we either shift the hinge position or the wall has to be opened, which is not our work.

Do frameless showers leak?

A correctly installed frameless shower keeps water in the shower, but it is not a sealed box. Water can weep at the hinge side and at the bottom of a swing door. Layout, door swing, and shower head aim control that far more than any product upgrade.

Is the protective coating worth $200?

It makes the glass easier to keep clean for a few years and it wears off. It is not permanent and it does not replace squeegeeing. Buy it if you want the easier maintenance, skip it if you were going to squeegee anyway.

What if my curb or opening is out of level?

Small deviations are absorbed in the fabrication. Larger ones show as an uneven gap at the sill, and we tell you at measure rather than at install. Correcting the curb itself is tile work, not glass work.

Frameless showers

Frameless Shower Doors and Enclosures

Tempered glass, no metal frame, hardware sized to the panel it carries. Configure yours below and see the installed range before anyone visits your house.

What you are buying

What frameless actually means

A framed enclosure hangs light glass inside an aluminum channel that does the structural work. A frameless enclosure has no channel. The glass is the structure, which means it has to be thicker, tempered, cut within tight tolerance, and carried by hinges and clips anchored into something solid behind the tile.

That is the whole reason frameless costs more and the whole reason it looks the way it does. There is no track at the sill to collect water, no vertical frame breaking the sight line, and no gasket turning gray in year three. What you get instead is a maintenance job: glass and hardware you wipe, and a sweep or seal that is a wear part.

Choosing a layout

Most bathrooms fall into five shapes. A single swing door in a tiled opening is the cleanest and cheapest. A door with a fixed panel handles openings wider than a door should be, roughly anything past 36 in. A return panel wraps a corner. A neo angle cuts a corner at 45 degrees and costs more because three panels have to meet on angle. A walk in with no door works only when the ceiling, the head height, and the shower head position all cooperate.

If the opening is wider than about 30 in you need a header bar or a fixed panel, not a wider door. Doors over 36 in sag on their hinges over time no matter whose hardware you buy, and a sagging door stops closing square.

Glass thickness, honestly

Three eighths inch is the right answer for most residential showers. Half inch costs roughly 55 percent more per square foot, weighs about a third more, and needs heavier hinges plus real blocking in the wall.

Where half inch earns its keep: panels taller than about 84 in, wide fixed panels with a single support, and any glass that reads as a wall rather than a door. Where it does not: a 28 in door in a 76 in opening. That door was already rigid at 3/8 and the extra thickness only shows up on the invoice.

Clear or low iron

Standard clear glass contains iron, which shows as a green cast on the polished edge and a faint tint across large panels. Low iron removes most of it for about 20 percent more glass cost.

The test we give people: stand where you will stand every morning. If you are looking at a small door against a busy tile, skip it. If you are looking through 60 in or more of glass at white marble or a pale limestone, low iron is the difference between clean and faintly aquarium.

Hardware and finish

Chrome and brushed nickel are stock and priced the same. Matte black, brushed gold, and oil rubbed bronze carry a surcharge because the coating process and the lead time both cost more, and because a scratched specialty finish cannot be polished out the way chrome can.

If you are doing more than one item in the same house, keep the finish consistent. Our configurator carries your finish forward to every item you add for exactly that reason.

Published pricing

What this costs, installed

Ranges are installed prices for the Palm Beach and Broward service area, including measure, hardware, and cleanup. Every row opens the configurator on that exact configuration so you can check the math yourself.

Configurator

Price it now

Open the full designer

Change anything and the price updates as you go. Nothing here asks for your email.

Layout

$2,100 - $2,800

Installed range, confirmed at measure

Step 1 of 8 - Layout

13%

Specifications

The details on the page

Glass: Tempered safety glass, 3/8 in or 1/2 in, clear or low iron
Edges: Machine polished on all exposed edges
Max door width: 36 in, wider openings use a fixed panel or header
Standard height: 76 in, taller runs quoted after measure
Hardware: Solid brass hinges and clips, six finishes
Anchoring: Into stud or blocking, never tile alone
Lead time: Typically 10 to 14 business days from final measure
Warranty: 10 years workmanship and hardware, see warranty terms

Scope

What is included, and what is not

The second list is the one that causes arguments in this trade, so it is on the page rather than in the fine print.

Included in the price

Final field measure by the installer who will hang the glass
Tempered glass fabricated to your measured opening
Hinges, clips, handle, and wall anchors
Sweep and seals where the layout needs them
Installation, silicone, and cleanup
Haul away of the old enclosure when there is one

Not included

Tile repair, replacement, or re grouting
Structural blocking added inside a finished wall
Plumbing relocation and shower head changes
Curb or pan rebuilds, and out of level curb correction
Permits when a municipality requires one for the work around the glass

Questions

Answered plainly

: The install itself is usually a half day for a single door and most of a day for a multi panel enclosure. The wait is fabrication: about 10 to 14 business days between the final measure and the install date.
: Yes, that is the normal case. What matters is what is behind the tile. Hinges have to anchor into a stud or into blocking. If neither is there, we either shift the hinge position or the wall has to be opened, which is not our work.
: A correctly installed frameless shower keeps water in the shower, but it is not a sealed box. Water can weep at the hinge side and at the bottom of a swing door. Layout, door swing, and shower head aim control that far more than any product upgrade.
: It makes the glass easier to keep clean for a few years and it wears off. It is not permanent and it does not replace squeegeeing. Buy it if you want the easier maintenance, skip it if you were going to squeegee anyway.
: Small deviations are absorbed in the fabrication. Larger ones show as an uneven gap at the sill, and we tell you at measure rather than at install. Correcting the curb itself is tile work, not glass work.

See the whole price list

Every product, every range, with the configuration behind each number.

Open pricing

How the work actually runs

Measure, fabrication, install, and what we need from you at each step.

Read the process