Due to shower wall shape, need a custom shower door. Want to make it a frameless glass door. Has to be 24 inches wide, height is less than 6’8″. Want 1/4 inch glass, tempered, of course.
Question – where can I get the hinges? Know where to get the glass have holes bored & blank tempered.
About croaked when I talked to the Binswanger Glass weenies and they quoted me a price of nearly $2 GRAND. That sounds way beyond outlandish. I made a glass door for a audio cabinet a few yrs ago and got the door made for less than $50.
I do glass work – etching – and know its limitations & peculiarities. Did 4 panels for a restaurant and paid a lot less than that for the entire installation, including the brass pole.
Don
The GlassMasterworks – If it scratches, I etch it!
Replies
don't know for sure but I think it is more than just plain tempered glass. check around and ask them why it costs so much.
Hi, Don-
We've crossed paths here before on some glass issues. I spent 25 years in the decorative glass business, can't understand why your quote was so damn high. I wouldn't expect, as a glass shop, that I would have paid more than $200-$500 wholesale for this piece, and that's counting hole and edge fabrication in addition to the sht. glass charge. Of course, retail may possibly be 100% markup. But that's still way short of the two grand! Did your quote break down the charges?
Your best source for the hardware, and perhaps the door fabrication, would be from shower door manufacturers, who often do everything in house. In my neck of the woods, Seattle area, my choice for this is Hartung Industries, a glass supplier which also has a shower door/enclosure line, Hartung Agalite.
Hope you get somethin' figured out, Don!
Ken Hill
"the Binswanger Glass weenies and they quoted me a price of nearly $2 GRAND."
Don,
Not that this helps you much, but the folks at Wisconsin Shower Door quoted me $800. for a custom (anything under 30" wide) 3/8" glass door complete and installed as a walk-in customer (no haggling yet price).
Jon
Everyone else seems to be having a cow over the quoted prices, which I don't understand. Frameless, being the key word here, easily can double the cost of a door, because edges have to be mitered. Here in New Jersey, $4000 to $5000 for a custom frameless enclosure is common. It is definitely not something you can do yourself. Be sure of your wording in what you ask for.
Don,
My local glass shop supplied and installed 2 - 24" doors in a 48" opening, 3/8 glass, very nice hinges, two nice pulls(big, solid brass) for $1,100.
The current bid for my house is $1,400 for 3 panels(one has a leg that saddles over a bench).
Try another glass shop?
Hinges for glass shower enclosures come from C.R. Laurence (http://www.crlaurence.com), or its dealers. In my experience, frameless enclosures are 3/8" or 1/2" tempered, not 1/4".
Hi Don,
I renovated our master bathroom last year and also had to laugh at the frameless shower enclosure quote I got... something like $3.5k for a very standard 40" square base. 3/8" glass as i recall, which is standard for frameless. The enclosure would have more than doubled the overall cost of the job.
Instead I opted for a partial glass enclosure, with a curtain in front. I just measured what size I needed, and where the holes had to go, and had a local shop fabricate the piece for me. Cost about $300, for 1/2" glass... I figured since you'd be looking at it end-on much of the time, the extra thickness would be worthwhile. No fancy beveling, just the standard small bevel to remove the sharp corner. The hardware (no hinges in this case, but they do carry them) came from CR Laurence, cost about $80 including the brace bar which doubles as a curtain. The markup on their stuff at retail is insane through places like binswanger et al.... let me know if you are unable purchase from them, maybe I can help. Anyways, my point is that installing the piece wasn't that hard (though I was responsible for the framing and tile, so I made sure it was square)
Sidebar. I definitely needed glass on one side (kind of a nice view out the window, and the sun rises from that direction most of the year). I decided on glass separating the shower and tub, with a curtain in front, because a door would be problematic in this bathroom. I would definitely go for it if I was convinced it was right for my application. Probably would have to move the closet out of the way to prevent the doors from interfering (see photos)
A little while ago I closed up a 48" opening on a shower. Frameless with a 24" door, solid brass hardware. $460 FOB wholesale.
Find another glass out fit.
I do tile,and love the frameless thick glass look.
Most of my quotes are about $40-50 a square foot for the nice half inch glass framless installed.
Bear in mind that most half inch framless doors are listed as "clear" but really have a slight green tint. When I honestly want true clear glass, the price is about double that rate, about $100 a foot. Most of my suppliers call the green stuff "clear" and the clear stuff "really clear."
You can also order glass doors on line and have them delivered to your door and install them yourself. See Dave Wilson at http://www.glasss.com/. They will run about half the above price.
If you do the mail order thing, measure really carefully, pooch that door out about an eigth from the jamb. Hopefully the jambs are dead plumb, or you'll have to pooch it out more. Me, I order it locally and have them install it. Add 10-20% for my time supervising the job and for call backs, if any. Or pass it through, if the customer wants to order it himself.
Good Luck!
Regards,
Boris
"Sir, I may be drunk, but you're crazy, and I'll be sober tomorrow" -- WC Fields, "Its a Gift" 1934
I think that is outside there business area. They will do it, but expect to pay for it.
I needed a replacement for a full view storm door. I called them and $120. Remembered the name of the door company and get a replacement for $28 including a new frame.
I wish I could give you a name, but we used to spec a stainless, commercial hinge for frameless shower doors on boats, as in 120'-200' yachts. Not a bargain, but well finished and reasonably priced for nice stuff. I would do an online search for commercial door hardware. If I get a minute and can find something, I'll get back at ya.
Formerly BEMW at The High Desert Group LLC
OK, got your mouse finger ready? This was almost too easy!
http://glasss.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=FG&Category_Code=H
http://www.customglasscreations.com/Hinge.htm
http://www.crlawrence.com/adv/shwrdoor/Pages/lduty.html
http://www.amazingglazing.com/productPages/showLine.asp?GroupID=8122&Path=3::8121::8122
http://www.jthardware.com/products/hinge.htm
Have fun!
Formerly BEMW at The High Desert Group LLC
To ALL, really. Thanks for all the info. I think I now have enough to get the job done at a decent price. All the shower doors I've seen are 1/4 inch, but I will seriously consider the idea of going to 3/8 inch. Matter of fact, the framed 34 inch door we have in our glass studio is 1/8 inch. There is a CR Laurence warehouse in Etlanner - I go by it frequently on the way to the place where I buy granite tiles for etching. I was about to look in their catalog, but lost it. I'll try their on line version. Also have the Sommer & Maca catalog. There is a place in Loganville, GA that has good prices on commercial clear glass, and he does a real fine job finishing edges. Had some small stuff done by him for trophies several yrs ago, but forgot about him. I am very familiar w/ the colorless stuff. They call it "Crystal Clear." Made by PPG in MI, I think. Expensive as the national debt. Used to be made here in GA. till they rehabbed the plant because it lost control of the mineral content of the glass and it was coming out too blue.
We are sick of the gunk that collects in the corners of frames around doors, so it is going to be frameless. I can instrall it - just need to find all the parts.
Thanks, again.
DonThe GlassMasterworks - If it scratches, I etch it!
Maybe checkout https://islandglassandmirror.com and contact the owner they are extremely helpful.