Barrier-Free And Aging-In-Place Shower Doors In Bloomfield Hills, MI
A shower you will still walk into easily in twenty years is decided at the entry, not at the glass. How low the threshold sits, how wide the way in is, and what the wall behind the tile will hold are the three things worth settling before anything else.
The Entry Decides Everything Else
Most shower conversations start with the glass. This one starts with the gap you walk through. Threshold height, opening width and whether anything has to be pulled toward you to get in are the decisions that shape the enclosure, and once they are settled the glass part is straightforward. Take them in the other order and you end up designing an entry around a door somebody already chose. Custom glass shower enclosures in Bloomfield Hills can be built around almost any entry, but they have to know what that entry is.
Curbless and low-curb showers are usually inline at heart: one long run of glass along a single wall, most often a fixed panel with the opening beside it. That keeps the way in predictable, always in the same place, and clear of anything to step over past the threshold itself. What moves in that run is the real choice. A sliding opening travels along the glass and never comes toward the person standing in front of it. Hinged swing shower doors in Bloomfield Hills give a wider, faster opening and want clear floor in front of them to do it.
It is worth being blunt about who does what, because this buyer is usually coordinating several trades at once. Framing, waterproofing, floor sloping, drain relocation, curb removal, demolition and tile all belong to other trades, and all of it happens before we take a reading. Our work is the glass, the hardware and the bath accessories, measured off the finished surfaces and set in one visit by the same family. Describe the entry you are planning, or better, let us stand in the room, and we will tell you what glass can do with it.
Three Things To Get Right Early
Block The Wall Now, Add The Bar Later
A bar that carries weight anchors into solid backing behind the tile, not into tile and thinset. While a wall is open, block it generously along the entry side and the back wall whether or not a bar goes in this year. Backing disappears under the finish, costs almost nothing while a carpenter is already there, and cannot be added later without opening the wall again.
Bars That Look Like Towel Bars
We carry and install INVISIA bath accessories, which read as a towel bar, a towel ring, a shelf or a corner bar and are built to support real weight. They can be finish-matched to your enclosure hardware and they go in with the glass, set by the same family. A decorative towel bar that was never built as a grab bar should not be used for support.
The Floor Is A Tile Decision
What we usually suggest underfoot is smaller textured tiles rather than large smooth ones, a matte finish rather than a polished one, and a teak mat or bench inside the shower. None of that is glass work and all of it belongs to your tile setter, but a bench changes where a panel lands, so raise it at the measure.
Planning A Low Or Curbless Entry
Start with the threshold, because it is the hardest thing to revisit. A low entry is easier to step over than a tall curb, and a curbless one takes the step out altogether, but neither is a glass decision. The floor has to be sloped and drained to hold the water a curb used to hold, and that work is done, cured and tiled long before we measure. Where a curb has to stay for structural or plumbing reasons, keeping it as low as the build allows is worth asking your contractor for while the room is open.
Then the opening itself. A wider way in is easier to get through, and how wide it can be is a support question as much as a design one, settled between panel weight, what the wall will hold, and the hardware that carries it. We work that out with a tape in the actual room rather than in the abstract. Everything after is ordinary: readings off the finished tile, 3/8 inch tempered glass fabricated to them, and glass shower door installation in Bloomfield Hills booked off a free in-home measure.
- Threshold height settled before the tile, not after it
- Solid backing blocked in wherever a bar might ever go
- Slope, drain and curb work done by other trades before we measure
- Inline glass along one wall, with the way in always in one place
- Grab bars finish-matched to the enclosure hardware
- Decorative towel bars never asked to carry weight
Common questions.
Do You Install Grab Bars?
We do. We carry and install INVISIA bath accessories, set by the same family that sets your glass, so it is one visit rather than two trades on two days. They can be finish-matched to the enclosure hardware, and many of them double as a towel bar, a shelf or a corner bar rather than announcing themselves.
Can We Just Use A Sturdy Towel Bar?
No. A decorative towel bar was not built to carry weight and should never be used for support. A bar made for support can look very similar on the wall, but it mounts differently and anchors into solid backing behind the tile instead of into tile and thinset alone.
We Are Not Ready For A Bar Yet. What Should We Do Now?
Block the wall while it is open. Solid backing behind the tile on the entry side and along the back wall costs very little when a carpenter is already there, vanishes under the finish, and keeps the option open indefinitely. It is the one item here that closes permanently once tile goes on.
What Does A Curbless Entry Change About The Glass?
Mainly the configuration and the bottom detail. Curbless showers are usually inline, one long run along a wall with a sliding or hinged opening in it, and the bottom of the panel meets a sloped floor rather than sitting on a curb. Slope, drain and waterproofing come first, and all three are other trades' work.
Do You Build The Curbless Shower Itself?
The glass, the hardware and the bath accessories are ours. The pan, the slope, drain relocation, waterproofing, framing, curb removal and tile are other trades, and their work is finished before we take a reading, because panels are cut to the surfaces they will actually touch. Tell us what the entry will be.
Should The Opening Slide Or Swing?
The room decides that. On an inline run, a sliding opening keeps the moving panel travelling along the glass, so nothing comes toward you as you step in. A hinged door gives a wider, faster opening but needs clear floor in front of it. We set both out with a tape at the measure.
Plan The Entry Before The Tile Goes On
Planning ahead for a Bloomfield Hills bath, or working on one right now? Call (586) 315-8900, text (586) 800-9481 or email [email protected]. We come out from the Sterling Heights showroom for a free in-home measure and a no-pressure quote.