New Construction Shower Doors In Royal Oak, MI
Glass is one of the last trades through the door, which is why it is the easiest one to leave until it parks your punch list. Here is where we fit into a Royal Oak build, what the opening has to be before we can measure, and when to call.
The Last Trade In Is The First One To Schedule
On a new build the shower enclosure lands near the end, and that position is why it goes wrong. Everything ahead of it moves: framing, waterproofing, the pan, tile, the vanity. Glass cannot be cut off a plan set, because the only number that matters is the opening your tile setter actually left behind. So the sequence that works is simple. Tell us the job exists while the walls are still open, get two framing details right, then bring us in once the shower is finished and dry.
Those two details belong to your framer, and both land long before we ever see the house. First, solid blocking behind the tile wherever hinges or clips will sit, because a heavy panel pulls against that wall every time someone opens it, and doubly so with the frameless shower doors most buyers now expect in a primary bath. Second, the swing. Mark where the door opens on the framing plan and walk it against the vanity, the toilet and the door into the room. Both are easy with the walls open and hard to undo after the tile is set.
If the house has more than one bathroom, decide the enclosure type and the hardware finish once and carry it through every opening. Then the only thing changing room to room is dimensions, and your buyer reads one standard rather than three unrelated ones. Odd footprints do not break that rule either. A corner, a neo-angle or a walk-in with a return panel is handled as a custom glass shower enclosure cut to the shape you framed, so the specification holds even where the room does not repeat.
What We Need From The Job Site
Ready For A Measure
We measure after the tile, the waterproofing and the pan or curb are finished, the walls are final and the room is clean enough to work in. Fixtures can follow later. What cannot follow later is the surface the glass will sit against, because every number we take comes off it.
Blocking And Backing
Hinges and clips need something solid to bite into. Tell your framer where the door lands and get blocking set behind the tile before the drywall goes up. It is one note on a framing plan. Solving the same problem on a finished tiled wall is a different conversation.
One Named Decision Maker
Tell us who owns the glass decision on this job and who signs off on final dimensions. On a spec house that is usually you. On a pre-sold house it is often the buyer, and the job then moves at whatever pace that buyer moves. Name the person up front.
The Order Of Operations That Keeps A Job Moving
Here is the sequence in plain order. Framing goes in with blocking at the hinge line and the door swing marked. Waterproofing and the pan follow. Tile gets set, and that step decides how the finished glass will look, because we cut to the walls you hand us rather than the ones on the drawing. Then we measure the finished opening, the glass is fabricated to those exact numbers, and our own crew comes back to set it. Two visits and not one, because a custom panel is never a stock size.
Changes after the measure are the thing to watch. If the curb height moves, if a second bed of thinset goes down, if a knee wall shifts, the numbers we took are no longer the numbers on site, and we would rather re-measure than force a panel into an opening that changed underneath us. On the day of glass shower door installation we need the shower clear and nobody else working in that room. And where a wall came out of plumb far enough to bother a full frameless header, semi-frameless shower doors absorb more of that variance quietly.
- Blocking set behind the tile at the hinge line
- Door swing marked on the framing plan
- Curb pitched in toward the drain, not out
- Tile and waterproofing complete before the measure
- Hardware finish chosen alongside the plumbing trim
- One named approver per opening
Common questions.
When should I call you on a new build?
Twice. Once early, while the walls are still open, so blocking and door swing get handled on the framing plan where they belong. Then again once tile and waterproofing are finished, for the measure. That first call costs nothing and heads off the two problems that are hardest to undo after the tile is set.
Can you fabricate from our plans instead of measuring?
No, and you would not want us to. Plans give you design intent. The glass has to fit the opening your tile setter left, including a wall that leans a quarter of an inch across its height. We take the numbers off the finished shower and fabricate to those instead.
How do you handle a house with several bathrooms?
Set the standard once. Choose the enclosure type and the hardware finish for the whole house, and every bath becomes the same specification at different dimensions. We still measure each opening on its own, because no two are identical even under one roof, but you approve one decision instead of several.
Who picks the glass on a pre-sold home?
That is yours to decide, and it is worth deciding out loud. On a spec house the builder normally chooses. On a pre-sold house the buyer often wants a say in glass and hardware, which is fine, provided somebody owns the date that choice is due. Glass sits at the end of the schedule.
What if the tile came out of plumb?
We work with it. We measure the wall as built and cut the panel to match, which is routine on almost any job. There is a limit, and where a wall leans past it we tell you at the measure and show you the styles that carry that movement better than a full frameless header.
Do you handle the plumbing, tile or waterproofing?
No. Those are other trades and all of them run ahead of us. We supply, fabricate and install the glass and its hardware, and where an old enclosure exists we take it out and haul it away. Keeping our scope that clean is part of why the last item on a punch list stays a simple one.
Building In Royal Oak? Call Before The Drywall
One early call sorts blocking and door swing, and the in-home measure is free once your tile is done. 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.