Bathroom Remodel Shower Doors In Shelby Township, MI
One bathroom out of service, a tile setter to work around, and a family still living in the house. Glass is the last thing in and the easiest thing to get out of order. Here is where it belongs in your Shelby Township remodel, what to have ready, and what to ask for before the tile goes on.
Your Glass Comes After The Tile Setter Leaves
The most common mistake in a one-bathroom remodel is buying the glass up front with everything else. Tile, fixtures and a vanity can all be ordered from a plan. Glass cannot. It is cut to the opening that exists at the end, after demo, after the plumbing moves, after waterproofing, after the tile is set and grouted. Order it early and you are ordering for a room that does not exist yet.
So the sequence you want is simple. Your tile setter finishes and the grout goes in. We come out for a free in-home measure of the real opening. The glass is fabricated to those numbers. Then we come back, install it, and the old enclosure leaves with us. If the tile and base are staying exactly as they are and only the glass is changing, that is a shower door replacement and it is a much shorter version of the same path.
Two things follow from that. First, glass is two visits rather than one, so plan the room's downtime around a measure and an install instead of a single appointment. Second, get on the calendar when your tile date is set, not on the morning the grout dries. If your remodel keeps an alcove with the tub in place, bathtub shower doors follow the same order of operations. Everything else we build locally sits on the shower doors in Shelby Township page.
What Changes When You Live There
Two Visits, Not One
A measure and an install are separate appointments with fabrication in between, and someone has to let us in for both. Homeowners who planned around a single visit are the ones caught out at the end of a remodel. Build both into the plan the same way you planned around the plumber and the tile setter.
Decide Before Anything Is Cut
Swing direction, handle side, hardware finish and any towel bar or hook that mounts to the glass all get settled before fabrication. Holes are drilled before the glass is tempered, so a hook cannot be added later. Ten minutes of decisions at the measure protects the one thing on this job that cannot be adjusted afterward.
One Bathroom Down
With a single bathroom out of service, the order of operations matters more than the speed of any one step. Do not have us measure over unfinished tile just to feel like progress is happening. A measure taken too early gets thrown out, and glass cut from it will not fit the room you end up with.
What To Ask Your Tile Setter For
Your tile setter has more influence over how the finished glass looks than anyone else on the job, and most of it comes down to plumb. Ask for plumb walls on every surface the glass will touch, a level curb with consistent pitch, tile carried onto the curb, and no proud edges at the jambs. Tell them a glass enclosure is coming, because a wall that would disappear behind a framed unit shows up plainly against a bare glass edge.
Also settle what is staying. If the curb is being rebuilt, the base is changing height, or a wall is getting furred out, we need to know before the measure rather than on install day. Some openings are better served by a door that never swings at all: where a vanity or toilet crowds the swing path, sliding shower doors keep the floor clear, and where a channelled, more traditional look suits the room, framed shower doors are still a real answer. We will tell you honestly which one your opening suits.
- Plumb walls on every surface the glass meets
- Curb tiled, level side to side, pitched into the shower
- Grout finished before the measure, not after it
- Swing path checked against the vanity and toilet
- Hardware finish chosen with your new faucets on hand
- Someone home for the measure and for the install
Common questions.
When In My Remodel Should I Book The Measure?
Book the appointment as soon as your tile date is on the calendar, then have us out once the tile is set, the grout is in and the curb is finished. That is the first moment the opening is real. Calling earlier with questions is fine, but the numbers we cut from have to come from finished surfaces.
Can I Just Order The Glass With The Rest Of My Materials?
Not with any confidence. Every panel is cut to your actual opening, and that opening shifts during the remodel as tile thickness, a rebuilt curb or a furred wall change the numbers. Tempered glass cannot be trimmed after the fact, so the measure has to come at the end of the tile work rather than the beginning.
My Tile Came Out Slightly Out Of Plumb. Is That A Problem?
Usually not. We measure the opening as it really sits and cut the panels to it, which is the entire reason for a field measure. If a wall leans far enough that you would notice the gap along a bare glass edge, we tell you at the measure, while your tile setter is still reachable and something can be done about it.
Do I Need To Be Home For Both Visits?
Someone who can make decisions should be there for the measure, because swing direction, hardware finish and glass choice all get settled then. For the install we need access to the bathroom and a clear path to it. Move what you can out of the room ahead of time and the work goes smoothly.
What Happens To The Old Enclosure?
It comes out and leaves with us. We pull the old door and its frame, take it off site, and you are not left stacking glass and aluminum at the curb on trash day. If your contractor already demolished the old unit, mention it at the measure so we know what condition the jambs and curb are in.
Can I Use The Shower The Day You Install?
Not immediately. There is silicone along the glass line and it has to set before the shower sees water. We tell you at the install how long to leave it for your job. Plan on the room being out of service a little past install day, and do not count on it being your only bathroom that night.
Measure It When The Tile Is Done
Text us a photo of the opening, or book a free in-home measure once your tile setter has finished. Fortune measures, builds and installs Shelby Township remodels from the Sterling Heights showroom. Call (586) 315-8900 or text (586) 800-9481.