Bathroom Remodel Shower Doors In Royal Oak, MI
One bathroom, out of service, in a house you are still living in. The glass is the last thing in and the easiest thing to sequence wrong. Here is when to bring us in, what has to be finished before we can measure, and what to have decided by then.
Where The Glass Belongs In Your Remodel
A single bathroom remodel is a different animal from a new build, because you are living in the middle of it. Demolition, plumbing, waterproofing and tile all happen in a room down the hall from where you sleep, and every one of those is another trade's work that has to finish before glass can even be measured. Your panel gets cut to the opening the tile setter leaves behind, so the measure comes after the tile rather than alongside it.
If there is already an enclosure in that room, it comes out and leaves with us, and in plenty of remodels the glass turns out to be the entire project. Homeowners who like their tile and simply want the room to feel new again often land on shower door replacement rather than a gut. Either way our side runs the same: a free in-home measure, glass built to those numbers, then our own crew back to set it. If you are still deciding how far to take the room, the overview of shower doors across Royal Oak is a reasonable place to start.
Two decisions are worth making before the demolition rather than after. The first is whether you are keeping a tub opening or ending up with a walk-in, because those take different glass, and bathtub shower doors sit on a deck that has to be level and solid before we measure. The second is the hardware finish, since it usually has to live with a faucet and a valve trim you ordered early, and those get awkward to change once the wall is closed up.
Living In The House While It Happens
Two Visits, Not One
The measure and the install are separate trips with fabrication in between, because your glass is cut to your opening rather than pulled off a shelf. Plan the bathroom around being out of service across both, and ask whoever runs the room to leave the shower clear on install day.
What Has To Be Done First
Plumbing, waterproofing and tile are other trades' work and all of it comes before us. The pan or curb has to be set, the tile grouted, the walls final. Fixtures and the vanity can follow, though if the vanity is already in we check the door swing against it while we are there.
What Leaves With Us
The old enclosure comes out and goes with us, so you are not storing a pitted frame in the garage until trash day. The new glass is built in our own shop and the same family installs it, so the person who measured your bathroom is the person setting the panel.
Sequencing Around The Tile Setter
The tile is the hinge point of the whole job. Until it is on the wall we have nothing to measure against, and the moment it is on the wall it decides what the glass can do. A curb that finished slightly high, a wall leaning out at the top, a niche landing close to the door line, all of that is normal and all of it is workable, but none of it is knowable in advance. So the order is tile first, measure second, glass third. A number taken before the tile is a guess wearing a tape measure.
Older Royal Oak baths tend to make one decision for you, and that is how the door opens. Where the vanity or the toilet sits close to the opening, sliding shower doors keep the swing arc off your floor entirely, which is the cleanest answer in a tight room. Where you want a simpler enclosure with a solid sealed edge, framed shower doors still do that job honestly. We check the clearance with a tape at the measure and tell you which your room actually supports.
- Tile, grout and waterproofing finished first
- Pan or curb set and fully cured
- Hardware finish matched to the faucet you ordered
- Door swing checked against the vanity
- Someone home for the measure and the install
- Old enclosure removed and hauled away
Common questions.
When in my remodel should I call you?
Call once at the start, so we can flag anything that affects framing, blocking or the curb while those are still open questions. Then call again as the tile goes on, to book the measure. The first conversation takes minutes and costs nothing. The second is the free in-home measure.
How long will my bathroom be out of service?
That depends far more on your other trades than on us, so ask whoever is running the room for the schedule. What we can give you is the shape of it. Glass is measured after the tile, fabricated to your numbers, then installed on a separate visit. We give you realistic dates once your order is set.
My contractor wants to order the door himself. Should he?
Have him call us either way. We are glad to work through your contractor or directly with you, but the numbers still have to come off the finished opening rather than off the plan he bid from. Whoever we deal with, one person should own the glass decision so nothing gets ordered twice.
What do you need me to have decided before the measure?
Whether you are keeping a tub opening or ending up with a walk-in, the hardware finish, and roughly how you want the door to open. You do not need the final glass picked, since we bring samples and you can compare clear, low-iron, frosted and rain glass in your own bathroom light.
What does install day look like in an occupied house?
We protect the path from your front door to the bathroom, work in that one room, and take the old enclosure and every offcut away with us. Glass is not a dusty trade, so there is no demolition attached to our part. We do ask for a cleared shower and no other trades in the room.
Can I use the shower before the glass goes in?
Ask your contractor, because that turns on grout cure and waterproofing, which are his call rather than ours. What we ask is that the shower is dry, clear and empty on the day we install, with nobody else working in that room. Setting a heavy panel around other trades is how things get chipped.
Remodeling A Royal Oak Bathroom?
Book a free in-home measure once your tile is done, or call now and we will tell you what to line up first. Call (586) 315-8900, text (586) 800-9481, or email [email protected]. Showroom at 42624 Van Dyke Ave, Sterling Heights, Mon to Fri 9 to 5 and Sat 10 to 2.