Month: December 2016

Ten years ago, we weren’t installing many frameless shower doors in Washington County, Maryland. Outside of Hagerstown, there just weren’t many high-end bathroom remodels being undertaken.

The landscape has changed dramatically since then, however. We’ve been picking up a lot of work in the southern part of the county recently, especially in towns like Sharpsburg and Boonsboro. There are a lot of beautiful old homes in these areas (and across the bridge into Shepherdstown, WV) where an upgraded bathroom can be a transformative project.

Besides the high ROI potential, replacing a clawfoot tub with a glass shower enclosure, for instance, can have a huge impact on one’s day-to-day routine. Anyone who has showered in a clawfoot tub with a jerry-rigged shower head and shower curtain knows it is a distinctly different experience than stepping into a glass shower enclosure each morning. Wiping the sleep from your eyes underneath a high-pressure rain shower head, ensconced in billowing steam, is like a shot of espresso!

Tiled Shower with Knee Wall in Boonsboro, MD

This frameless glass shower door we recently installed in Boonsboro is a great example of the design possibilities. The homeowner renovated their bathroom and had their contractor install beautiful, intricate tile work in the shower space. Note the integrated tile bench seat. Ever tried to shave your legs in a clawfoot tub?! It can be a dangerous, acrobatic feat. Incorporating a bench seat into a shower design is every bit as practical as it is relaxing for this reason.

The design also incorporates a 42″ high knee wall. The contractor left a comfortable 30″ opening for the shower door, so we were able to fabricate this unit as a door and buttressed inline panel, leaving maximum walkthrough space. The brushed nickel hardware finish of the shower hardware matches the brushed nickel framing detail around some of the tile work, as seen on the left wall.

GET A QUOTE ON THIS SHOWER DOOR

We could not be more pleased with how this project turned out! The frameless glass shower enclosure is just one of several attractive features in this upgraded bathroom, but it will be among the most heavily used on a day-to-day basis.

 

2016 is coming to a close, and the holidays are in full swing at Shower Door Experts. We had our annual Christmas dinner last Tuesday in Frederick, and it was an awesome night. Our Lead Technician, Mark Holsinger, won the Employee of the Year award, and he got this AMAZING custom championship belt for his efforts!

We have very little year-to-year turnover (Mark has been with us for over 10 years), so the holiday dinner is a great time to kick back with good friends, who we also happen to work with. We ate some steak, reflected on the year that was, and planned for the year that will be.

2016 marked our 25th year of operations. The owner, Tom Huck, started this company in 1991, and he’s built something really special in the meantime. Mark and our other lead technician, Rob Rice, do phenomenal work in the field. We’re a small company, but we box above our weight class when it comes to both volume and quality. We install a lot of shower doors. Some days our crews are in Maryland and Virginia, other days they’ll be in Washington, DC and West Virginia, grinding out some of the area’s best installations.

We are fortunate to the have the team we do, both in the field and in the office. Devin Huck, Tom’s son, controls the chaos of scheduling appointments, answering phones, replying to emails, and generally making sure the trains run on time. And he does a bang up job.

As we begin our 26th year in business, it is a blessing to have such a strong team in place, and it bodes well for 2017. To all our past, present, and future clients: we are honored that you let us into your homes, and we thrive on the smiles that follow a job well done.

Happy Holidays from Shower Door Experts!

GET A QUOTE ON A NEW SHOWER DOOR FOR 2017

Use coupon code ULTIMATEWARRIOR to be a champion like Mark: $100 off your brand new shower doors!

Our shower door showroom is located in Frederick County, MD, but we do a ton of work in adjacent counties, including Montgomery County, MD. Here are two recent shower door installations in Damascus and North Potomac that turned out really well.

Shower Door and Panel in Damascus, MD

This frameless shower door layout is popular for openings between 36″ and 60″, which covers a majority of simple shower openings in the DC Metro region. This homeowner in Damascus, MD remodeled their bathroom and opted to replace their fiberglass shower stall with custom tile. It’s a shame to cover up tile work like this with a shower curtain. So the homeowner decided to install a frameless glass shower door and panel instead.

We matched the brushed nickel bathroom fixtures with brushed nickel shower hardware: two glass-to-wall hinges, two glass-to-wall clamps on the left wall, and low-profile u-channel at the base of the stationary glass panel. All of our hinges have a lifetime warranty, and we sealed the glass with our Diamond Seal shower glass sealant, which also has a lifetime warranty.

 

Serenity Sliding Glass Corner Shower in North Potomac, MD

This is another popular shower layout in the DC Metro region: a shower stall directly beside a soaking tub. There are a few different ways to approach this layout, including a swing door beside a notched stationary panel that is cut out to accommodate the tub deck. However, when there isn’t enough space in the bathroom for a shower door to swing outward and avoid conflicts with a toilet or a vanity, there are sliding corner shower options as well.

We installed this sleek, modern Serenity frameless sliding shower door in North Potomac, MD, and it turned out perfectly! Instead of u-channel at the base of the glass, the homeowner selected glass clamps to keep the stationary glass secure. Unlike bypass sliding shower doors, modern sliding shower doors like the Serenity, Hydroslide, and Essence use a single sliding glass door that passes over an inline stationary panel. We have the flexibility to place the sliding panel on the inside or outside of the stationary panel to ensure that these frameless shower doors will not leak.

GET AN ONLINE QUOTE FOR A NEW SHOWER DOOR

[contact-form-7 id=”1119″ title=”Online Quote”]

Since December is #ShopSmall month, we’ve assembled some of our most recent local shower door installations into a single post. We’re a proud local, family-owned business, and every single one of our employees lives in one of the towns or cities we serve in the Frederick area.

We have employees who live in Hagerstown, Frederick, Jefferson, and Brunswick. And all of them say the same thing: their favorite jobs are the ones down the street from their homes and our showroom. The workdays are shorter, and doing great work in a neighbor’s home is rewarding in its own unique way. These are the people you smile at and wave hello to at the store. They’re the people who have a shared vested interest in a tight-knit, thriving community.

So in the spirit of celebrating #ShopSmall month, here are five local shower door installations we completed over the past few weeks:

Frameless Corner Shower Door in Frederick, MD

This is a beautiful frameless corner glass shower enclosure we installed in November. To complement the earthy tones of the tile, the homeowner opted for oil rubbed bronze bathroom fixtures, a finish we matched with the shower door hardware. The door is hinged off of a stationary glass panel using glass-to-glass pivot hinges, tastefully located at the very top and bottom of the door. These give the shower enclosure the fully frameless look most homeowners prefer.

Frameless 2/3 Neo Angle in Middletown, MD

 

 

This layout is increasingly popular in the area. A relatively deep shower space is divided from the bathroom by an angled knee wall and a narrow shower door opening. This is considered a 2/3 neo angle layout because it only has the one angled panel. Full neo angles have two angled panels–one on either side of the door–meeting the front face of the shower at 135 degrees. This homeowner opted for a 6″ ladder pull handle in chrome to achieve a modern hardware look.

NEED AN ESTIMATE FOR A NEW SHOWER DOOR? FILL OUT OUR QUOTE REQUEST FORM ONLINE!

Frameless Corner Shower and Tub in Sharpsburg, MD

 

So many homes in the area have a master bathroom with this layout: a shower pan directly beside a soaking tub. This frameless glass corner shower enclosure is a great example of how homeowners can approach this layout. The door hinges off of the wet wall, and a notched stationary glass panel is cut out to accommodate the bathtub. A buttressed return panel completes the enclosure at 90 degrees, held securely in place by a corner clamp, as well as a glass-to-wall clamp on the back wall.

Frameless 2/3 Neo Angle in Martinsburg, WV

 

 

We’ve been picking up a lot of work in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia over the past 2 to 3 years. We’re generally out that way at least once a week, working in some beautiful homes in Martinsburg, Charles Town, and Shepherdstown. This 2/3 Neo Angle in Martinsburg turned out really well. The homeowner opted for a 6″ Symphony handle to tie the rustic wood flooring to the marble and river stone shower pan. Even though jobs in the Eastern Panhandle are out of state for us, they’re still closer than the jobs we pick up in Baltimore or DC. Our showroom is right off of Route 340, so it’s a straight shot, and you couldn’t ask for a more beautiful drive than the one that takes you over the rivers and through Harpers Ferry.

Frameless Shower Door and Panel in Greencastle, PA

 

 

Last but not least, we have a door and notched panel that we did for a customer in Pennsylvania. Towns like Greencastle and Waynesboro are a short drive up Route 15 from Frederick, and we pick up 2-3 jobs per month in this area. You can see at the bottom left of the shower that we had to accommodate a geometric tile design detail. So we fabricated a stationary glass panel with a slight notch, and then used u-channel up the wall so we could set the door centerline on the shower curb. The oil rubbed bronze shower hardware works really well with the earthy hues of the tile.

NEED AN ESTIMATE FOR A NEW SHOWER DOOR? FILL OUT OUR QUOTE REQUEST FORM ONLINE!

We’re proud of every single shower door we install, all around the DC Metro region. But these jobs in our backyard are extra special to us. Take advantage of our shower door showroom in Jefferson, MD, near Frederick, and check out our full-size shower displays any weekday between 8:30 AM and 4:30 PM. Whether you stop in just to get some design ideas or you’re ready to make a purchase, we guarantee you a memorable and neighborly #ShopSmall experience!