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Loudoun County and Fairfax County, Virginia are both short, scenic drives from our shower door showroom outside of Frederick, MD. As a result, we travel to these areas several times per week, installing frameless shower doors in some of the region’s most impressive homes. Here are three examples of shower door installations we completed towards the end of January 2017 in Reston, Leesburg, and Purcellville, VA.

Frameless Steam Shower Enclosure in Reston, VA

 

Steam showers are fully enclosed with glass in order to capture and contain digitally regulated steam. Typical frameless showers leave space above the unit for steam to escape, but steam shower enclosures run full-height to the ceiling.

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However, because fabricating shower doors in heights that exceed 84″ is bad for the hinges long-term, it is common to add a glass transom above the door. This steam shower enclosure in Reston, VA actually has two transoms above the shower door: one operable transom and one fixed transom. The operable transom immediately above the door pivots open and closed, giving the homeowner another way (beyond the digital steam regulation) to adjust the density of steam within the shower.

Frameless Shower Door and Panel in Leesburg, VA

 

This frameless shower door and panel is pretty straightforward from a hardware perspective. We used standard glass-to-wall hinges on the right wall and standard 2″x2″ glass clamps on the left wall to secure the glass panel. On the handle, however, the homeowners opted for an upgrade: a square combination 6″ pull handle/24″ towel bar.

 

 

These handles are popular because they offer the best of both worlds: a convenient pull handle on the inside of the shower door, as well as additional (and conveniently accessible) towel bar real estate on the outside of the door. It’s a very practical upgrade.

Framed Corner Shower Door in Purcellville, VA

 

In addition to frameless shower enclosures, we also fabricate framed shower units like this corner shower door in Purcellville, VA. Framed shower doors purchased from Big Box stores like Home Depot and Lowe’s can be dicey options. They are all prefabricated with limited adjustability to accommodate inevitable out of plumb and level conditions. The problem is that this adjustability undermines long-term usability of the unit. They have a tendency to settle and shift, requiring ongoing readjustment over the years.

Our framed shower units are not much more expensive than the ones available at the Big Box stores, and they are all pre-measured and fabricated to fit your exact space. This means that they will both look and function better over time. Framed shower enclosures are handsome, affordable alternatives to fully frameless shower doors.

OFFER: FREE GLASS CORNER SHELF WITH SHOWER DOOR PURCHASE

We are offering a free glass corner shelf to our customers in Loudoun County, VA and Fairfax County, VA with every purchase of a shower door between February 1, 2017 and March 31, 2017. Use coupon code SILVERLINE to take advantage of this offer!

 

 

Even though our shower door showroom is in the Frederick, MD area, we do a significant amount of work in the Baltimore area as well. We recently completed this frameless glass shower door in Columbia, MD.

It’s a very simple layout: a 28″ opening, perfect for a single door. For openings wider than 32″, we recommend a door and stationary panel, even though we can fabricate single doors in widths up to 36″.

Frameless Shower Doors with Textured Glass

This shower door uses 3/8″ rain glass instead of the more typical clear glass. We offer a wide variety of textured glass options for shower doors, but we generally only recommend them in the following situations:

• When bathrooms are relatively large
• When bathrooms receive an abundance of natural light

Outside of these situations, it is generally best to opt for clear glass. Textured shower glass tends to make bathrooms feel smaller, which is why we do not recommend them for bathrooms that already have limited space. Textured shower glass also reduces the amount of light that comes into a shower enclosure. This can be appealing in situations where textured glass is meant to provide extra privacy while showering. However, in the absence of abundant natural light to offset the effects, it can also lead to a drab and dim showering experience.

This bathroom in Columbia, MD is a beautiful space that receives a lot of natural lighting. In addition to good lighting design, the homeowners were smart to opt for lightly colored tile and paint. This further amplifies the natural light and more than offsets the textured glass. Also, the shower cabin is independently lit with warm lighting, and this combination of light sources makes it a fantastic space in which to start one’s day.

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To our customers in the Baltimore area (within 25 miles of the Inner Harbor), we invite you to use the coupon code CHARMCITY through 02/28/2017 to receive $100 off your frameless shower door order.

We had a great holiday season at Shower Door Experts! But after the 1st, it was time to get back to business. And we’ve done some really good work in January so far. Here are a few jobs in the Frederick area from the first half of January 2017.

Frameless Steam Shower in Frederick, MD

 

Steam shower enclosures require very precise measurements, because the glass needs to be tapered to accommodate the out of level conditions of the ceiling as well as the base. This panel-door-panel steam layout in Frederick, MD had knee walls on either side of the door opening. So we opted for glass-to-glass pivot hinges instead of swing hinges. If we had used swing hinges, we would have needed to use a glass-to-wall hinge at the bottom of the door, drilling into the knee wall. In contrast, these pivot hinges anchor into the shower curb and the ceiling, providing a very clean line of sight. This glass shower enclosure is now steam tight, making the shower experience extra luxurious and refreshing.

Frameless Corner Shower in Walkersville, MD

 

We do a lot of corner shower enclosures adjacent to soaking tubs, and this is our preferred layout when possible. It helps keep the costs down when we are able to hinge the shower door off of the wet wall (instead of a glass panel) because we can fabricate these units using all 3/8″ glass. We were able to do so on this job in Walkersville, MD. When we have to hinge off of stationary glass (to avoid a door swing conflict with a vanity or toilet, for instance), the stationary glass panels must be 1/2″ thickness instead.

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Since so many homes in the area have bathrooms with this layout, it’s smart to invest in a frameless glass shower enclosure. When it comes time to sell your home, it will have a feature that distinguishes it from other homes on the market. Plus, you get to enjoy your investment every single morning in the meantime!

Frameless Corner Shower in Boyds, MD

 

Not all corner shower enclosures are adjacent to soaking tubs. Some simply meet knee walls at 90-degrees that serve to functionally divide a bathroom space. This one in Boyds, MD, for instance, divides the shower from the toilet, and doubles as a convenient spot for the toilet paper holder. Again, we were able to hinge the shower door off of the wet wall, saving the homeowner money on their new frameless shower enclosure.

VISIT OUR SHOWER DOOR SHOWROOM OUTSIDE OF FREDERICK, MD

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.

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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.

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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!

For relatively narrow shower openings, a frameless shower door and panel is the most popular layout option. We recently completed this glass shower door installation in Falls Church, VA, and it is a perfect example of this unit type.

The opening is approximately 34″ wide. In smaller bathrooms, openings between 28″ and 36″ are not uncommon. For openings narrower than 32″, we generally recommend a single glass door spanning the entire opening width. Doors of this size can use standard shower door hinges.

Single Shower Door vs. Shower Door and Panel

Sometimes it can be better to opt for a shower door and panel, however. For openings wider than 32″, we recommend a shower door and panel for two primary reasons. First, single doors between 32″ and 36″ wide (the maximum width) exert more pressure on the shower door hinges. Since we offer a lifetime warranty on our hinges, we want to make sure they perform perfectly for decades. Reducing the weight of the door by engineering it to be 26″-30″ wide is one way to accomplish this.

Second, small shower openings are most commonly found in relatively small bathrooms. This can mean that a toilet or vanity may conflict with opening the shower door. In these cases, having a stationary glass panel inline with the door is a matter of practicality. It ensures that the arc of the shower door opening leaves ample room for other bathroom fixtures.

Shower Doors in Falls Church, VA

In the Falls Church area, contractors and homeowners with narrow shower openings choose a shower door and panel layout over a single door approximately 80% of the time for these reasons. During the planning stages of a bathroom renovation, it can be helpful to commit to this layout so the placement of other bathroom fixtures (e.g., towel bars, robe hooks, etc.) can be optimized.

We do have options though when just a single glass shower door is preferable. We can use heavier duty hinges–or even a third standard hinge–to ensure that shower doors between 32″ and 36″ wide operate as they should for the life of the shower enclosure. All of our hinge options can be seen in person at our shower door showroom outside of Frederick, MD.

If you are debating which shower door layout is best for your bathroom project, contact us today! With a few details, we can provide you with a free shower door quote online or over the phone.

This frameless corner shower in Frederick, MD makes very efficient use of the available shower space. By planning ahead and thinking outside the box, the homeowner and bathroom contractor were able to create a beautiful shower enclosure next to the soaking tub.

The shower pan is a modest 34″x34″. But the contractor built a 12″ bench seat in the shower to open it up a bit. It was up to us to design and install a frameless glass shower  that would highlight the design features and make the bathroom space feel more open.

Shower Door Size

A typical shower door width is 28″. The maximum door width is 36″. Anything wider than this will wear down the hinge over time and can result in the door slipping. For 34″x34″ shower pans, we usually recommend a 28″ door next to a 6″ stationary notched panel that is cut out to accommodate the knee wall.

The homeowner did not want to limit the walkthrough space, however, so we opted for a single door that close against a fully buttressed return panel.

Corner Shower Return Panels

A return panel is a piece of stationary glass that meets the front of the shower at 90 degrees. When a return panel meets a notched panel, the return panel usually sets centerline on a knee wall. So if a knee wall is 4″ wide, the panel would set at the 2″ mark.

However, when a door meets a return panel directly, the panel needs to be set on the very innermost edge of the knee wall to ensure the door seals properly. This involves using a slightly different glass bracket – or clamp – and it is not an easy installation. Everything needs to be very exact for it to be successful. Fortunately, our technicians have all been with us for years (some as long as 15 years) and they’ve seen and done it all.

Shower Door Options in Frederick, MD

Choosing a layout and selecting hardware for a frameless shower door can be overwhelming. There are a lot of companies that make a lot of lofty promises, but none of them have what we do: a dedicated shower door showroom. Our staff is available to walk you through your options, show you full-size shower door displays, and answer any questions you might have.

Get a free shower door quote today!

 

We’ve been doing a number of shower door projects in Fairfax County, Virginia recently involving large showers. This recently renovated bathroom in Vienna, VA is a good example. The bathroom is a huge wet room, and the corner shower is correspondingly spacious.

The side with the shower door is approximately 82″ wide, and the side with the knee wall is approximately 52″ deep. Standard corner showers have an average width of 48″ and an average depth of 36″. So this corner shower is definitely on the large end of the spectrum.

Neo Angle Corner Shower

This unit has a nice design touch: it uses neo angles for a softer look where the two sides of glass meet. Most corner shower enclosures simply meet at 90 degrees. However, this designer used two 135-degree angles at the corner instead. It’s a subtle difference, but it gives the knee wall a distinctive look.

Granite Shower Knee Wall

The designer also selected granite slab to cap the knee wall. It coordinates nicely with the tile. And since the door is located between two pieces of stationary glass, we were able to accommodate the granite overhang design feature. When a shower door is directly beside a knee wall, this is not an option. The slab material should be flush with the edge of the wall when this is the case. However, when a stationary panel is directly beside a knee wall with overhanging slab material, we can notch out the granite to accept the glass in a seamless slot.

Shower Door Hardware

This shower enclosure uses clamps – or brackets – instead of u-channel to secure the fixed panels. It also has glass-to-glass swing hinges instead of pivot hinges. It can be difficult to choose between options like these without a frame of reference, which is why we have over a dozen full-size shower displays at our shower door showroom in Jefferson, MD, near Frederick. As always, we invite you to come compare hardware options and get a sense of how various shower door options look and feel in person!