Shower doors · Windsor-Essex
Glass shower doors for Windsor bathrooms: framed to frameless
Either the old door is done, like a cloudy plastic tub enclosure, or something small has let go: a sweep that puts water on the floor, a drooping hinge, a slider off its roller. We don't fit doors ourselves; we're a free referral service. Your request goes to an independent Windsor-Essex glazier who handles shower work, and we chase it until you get that call back. If a new sweep fixes it, that's the quote you should get.
- Door swaps and small repairs
- Tempered safety glass, as code expects
- Framed, semi-frameless or frameless
Three door styles
Framed, semi-frameless and frameless: how they differ
Count the metal. More frame means more forgiveness, less frame means less to scrub.
Framed
Metal on every edge. Thinner glass, forgiving of a leaning wall, usually the gentlest on the budget. Scum settles in the track.
Semi-frameless
Metal around the fixed panels or the outer edge, but not the door. Lighter-looking, with some room to adjust for uneven tile.
Frameless
Heavy tempered panels hung on hinges and clips. A squeegee glides across, but the wall behind needs solid backing and the measure has to be spot on.
Over a tub
Sliding, pivot and bypass doors over a tub
A tub enclosure nearly always slides, since a door can't swing out over the bath. Bypass doors are two panels passing on a track; one fixed panel beside a slider is the frameless-style version. Pivot doors suit stand-up showers with room to swing.
Plenty of Windsor's older houses still have a tub enclosure from a past remodel, sometimes in plastic. Swapping it for glass on the same tub is a contained job. If the shower itself is changing, see custom and walk-in enclosures.
Safety glass
Tempered safety glass is required by code
Ontario's Building Code rules out plain glass in a shower or bathtub enclosure; only safety glass qualifies. For shower doors that means tempered glass, heat-toughened so that a break leaves dull granules rather than daggers.
Worth fixing
Repairs: leaking sweeps and seals, sagging doors, broken rollers or hinges
The glass rarely wears out; the soft and moving parts do. Replace the whole door only if the frame has corroded, the glass is etched, or nobody makes the parts anymore.
Water on the floor
The bottom sweep and edge seals harden and split with time. New ones are a small job and the most common fix.
A door that sags
A frameless hinge may have loosened or worn out. Tightening or replacing it usually brings the door back level.
A slider off its track
Bypass doors ride on small rollers that crack or flatten. A pro can often match them from a clear photo.
What affects the quote
What drives the price
Every shower is measured and the glass made to order. These move the quote:
- Framed, semi-frameless or frameless, and how many panels
- Glass thickness, and clear, frosted or patterned glass
- The size of the opening
- Hardware and finish, from plain chrome to matte black
- Removing the old door, and walls or curbs out of plumb
For a repair, add a close-up of the broken part to your photo.
Glass and finish
Glass thickness, coatings and hardware finishes
Frameless doors need thicker panels than framed ones, and the pro sets the thickness for your layout. A factory coating makes water bead and run off. Match the hardware to your taps, and ask about a vanity mirror at the same time if that one's looking tired.
Frosted and patterned glass give privacy in a shared bathroom and hide spots. A tempered niche shelf is a cut-to-size job the same pro can often handle.
During a reno
Measuring and timing around a bathroom reno
If the shower is being retiled, the glass is measured after the tile and curb are finished, then made to size, so plan a gap before install. More bathroom glass is on the glass and mirrors page.
Signed with a salesperson at your kitchen table? Ontario's cooling-off rules let you back out of an in-home contract. Whoever you hire, get the quote on paper.
Questions
Shower glass door questions
Explore your options
Other bathroom and glass jobs
Shower glass jobs come from older bathrooms in the city and newer ensuites out in the County, including Walkerville, South Windsor & Devonshire, LaSalle and Tecumseh & St. Clair Beach.
Send the opening size and a photo
Measure across and up the opening and snap a picture. A Windsor-Essex shower-glass pro gets the details, and we keep after it until they ring.