The Pros and Cons of Frameless Shower Doors

Discover what are the pros and cons of installing frameless glass shower doors in your bathroom: from cost to maintenance.

The Pros and Cons of Frameless Shower Doors

Frameless shower doors are becoming increasingly popular in modern bathrooms, but they come with their own set of pros and cons. They are usually more expensive than traditional framed shower doors, but they offer a sleek, minimalist look that can be hard to achieve with framed doors. Thicker glass is one of the reasons frameless shower doors cost more, and they usually weigh 80 to 100 pounds of pure glass. This means that installing them on the shower panel will not be easy and more expensive hardware, such as solid brass, must be used to ensure safety.

One of the main problems with frameless glass shower doors is that the seal could end up failing sooner compared to its framed counterparts. They only have rubber gaskets that are tightly sealed to hold water, but the rubber tends to crack over time. Fortunately for you and your bathroom, frameless shower doors can be custom made and you won't have to limit yourself to the typical standard shower doors you get from framed shower doors. Although it rarely happens, the glass on a frameless shower door can break and create a mess in the bathroom, although the use of tempered glass reduces the risk of finding dangerous shards of glass.

The only real problem you should consider when buying frameless glass shower doors, aside from the obvious cost and delicate installation, would be maintenance. In addition, if you are interested in a glass shower liner, you usually add another 30% to the total cost of the shower door. Custom look is one of the main advantages of thicker frameless glass shower doors. This makes it the perfect type of shower door for custom designs and styles you may have in mind and you can achieve a better minimalist look if it's the type of look you're looking for for shower doors or for the shower as a whole.

Not only will you pay more for the thicker frameless glass shower door itself, but it's also a more complicated installation. And while gaskets can be replaced, leakage problems occur more in frameless shower doors (especially those that weren't properly installed). In general, a thicker frameless glass door requires twice as much installation time as a thinner framed shower door. The glass on these doors is usually measured according to the height of the bathroom ceiling, the type of glass, and even the shape of the shower head, so it's definitely not something you can do yourself.

The perfect shower door not only keeps the floor dry, but it also adds style and interest to your bathroom. Don't invest in wonderful-looking wrap-around walls just to cover them with bulky metal-framed shower doors. Frameless glass doors offer a sleek look that can't be achieved with framed doors.

Nicolás Harris
Nicolás Harris

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