Glass shower doors add a beautiful element of class and style to a bathroom. They are not always very private options, depending on the translucent quality of the kind of glass that has been used to make the door, but they liven up your bathroom and add a finishing touch to the decoration. They are a great option for shower curtains if you want to change the look of your bathroom but do not want to go in for either the inconvenience or the expenses involved in remodeling the entire room.

Installing Glass Safety

You might be one of those people who feel uncomfortable with installing glass in an area that might get slippery. Glass that is used for shower doors is usually half an inch thick and does not break even if you or your child happens to slip and fall on it. However, for your comfort, you might want to go for Plexiglas instead of traditional glass as this will be completely unbreakable.

Choosing the Right Kind of Glass

There are many different types of glass available for glass shower doors. Some are entirely transparent, whereas some are translucent. Except the new variety of bubble glass which is quite impossible to see through, there is no kind of glass that will be completely opaque. This might be an issue with the sort of privacy that you prefer to have in your shower unit, so you should decide on the door and the kinds of door you install according to how see-through you can afford your shower unit doors to be. For an extreme situation where you must have some sort of solid door to keep water from spilling into the rest of your bathroom without compromising on the privacy of the shower stall, you might consider using shower curtains as well as a shower door, although this will make the decoration extremely heavy.

Choosing a Frame

If you want, you can get a glass door with a metal frame, either to satisfy your fears about the strength of the glass – or to match wit the rest of the decoration of your bathroom. Glass shower doors can come in different kinds of trimming as well, like gold or chrome. You should select the trimming to match with the rest of your bathroom – especially your taps and showers and window frames. Make sure that the entire shower door fits in well wit the rest of the decoration – the tiles, the fixtures, the walls and the color scheme.

Frameless Shower Doors

You can also choose a frameless glass shower door that does not have the metal framing. Most modern bathrooms install the frameless design as they fit more on the contemporary atmosphere. The strength of the door on the other hand is not affected and it’s as strong as the framed doors. They are quite perfect for any walk in shower designs you have in your home.

So before you decide, let’s weigh in the advantages and disadvantage of shower screen or shower curtains for walk in showers.

The cost of installing

Obviously, if budget is a concern, then shower curtains is much cheaper than a frameless glass shower screen which can go from $1,500 to more depending on the kind of glass and hinges you will use while shower curtains, the cost will be less. With the curtain rods cost from $ 7 to $50 plus the cost of the shower curtains $ 8 from Target to the high end shower curtains treated with Teflon $ 30, the total cost will be less than a $100.

Maintenance and clean up

Maintaining and cleaning the bathroom is essential, and having to deal with water build up or water scale or soap scum or mildew is not something you want to do. With a frameless glass shower screen, you have to clean the glass regularly but if you use preventive measures like wipe off the water with the squeegee after you use it, then since it is frameless, it will be easy to maintain. With shower curtains, you can just wash it with washing machine to clean the curtain but it means that you have to take it of the rod every time you wash it and if you left it open when shower is not in use, it can grow molds and mildew.

Style and aesthetic beauty

Having to renovate your bathroom with walk in showers, you would want to show the new marble tile and the subtle, serene color of muted gray and blue that gives a relaxing feel. And you want to make our walk in showers feel open, light and airy. With shower curtains, certainly it will feel enclosed while with frameless glass shower screen it will definitely go well with the design of our walk in showers.

With these reasons, you might be more inclined to to get the frameless glass shower screen for your walk in showers, but if you have budget concerns, you can compromise for the moment. You can just get a removable tension rod and a shower curtains for the moment and you can just add the frameless glass shower screen when your budget allows it.