Replacing a shower door in Paterson usually hands back more room than people expect. An old framed unit eats the opening: a wide aluminum jamb down each side, a header across the top, a track along the bottom, all of it covering wall and tile that has been there the whole time. Take it out and the true opening is bigger than the glass that was sitting in it. We template the opening those pieces are covering, build new tempered glass to it, and the tile, the pan and the plumbing stay exactly as they are.
Measure a framed enclosure and what you are measuring is the frame, not the shower. A jamb channel sits against the tile down each side and covers a strip of it, the header covers more along the top, and the track hides the curb. All of that is structure the old unit needed and new glass does not. So at the free measure, with the old enclosure still hanging and the shower still in use, we read the channels and the header to work out exactly what they are covering, and template the opening that will be there once they are gone. The glass is cut to the bare opening rather than to the frame. In a small bathroom, the width that comes back is the difference between an enclosure that looks added on and one that looks built in.
What the recovered room gets spent on is the part worth deciding. Width can go to the door itself, so the way in is wider than the old framed door ever allowed. Where enough comes back, it can go to a fixed panel instead, with the door hung beside it. Height is the other gain: a framed unit stops at its own header, and new glass can be run up to where the tile stops instead. Which of those suits your room depends on the swing it allows and on where the tile ends, and all of it is planned from the one template taken at the free measure. You see the choices laid out before anything is ordered, and the decision stays with you rather than with the old frame.
In a two- or three-family the job can be two or three doors rather than one, and we work per unit. The building does not have to be emptied for any of it, and no shower is taken out of service before its own glass is ready. Where every unit is occupied, the installs are spread across separate days rather than run together, so no household is without its shower for longer than its own install takes, and each tenant can be given their day well ahead. Which unit goes first is your call. We will tell you what each one needs and how long its shower is out of use, and you set the order from there, whether that follows the leaks or the leases.
A unit between tenants is the simpler case, and it runs on a clock. Book the measure for the day the unit empties and the glass follows about one to two weeks behind it, cut and edged in our Lodi shop and out for tempering, and then the install is a single visit. If the vacancy is shorter than that, mention it when you book, and you get a plain answer on whether it fits before you plan around it. On the day, our crew takes the old enclosure down, carries it out of the building, sets the new glass, seals it and tells you how long the silicone wants before anybody showers. Done that way, the glass is in before the next tenant arrives.
Replacements from Paterson bathrooms and from Fair Lawn, Saddle Brook and Garfield nearby. Look at the edges of each opening: the strip of tile beside the glass is what an aluminum jamb would be covering, and in the smaller rooms that strip is the difference you can see.
More custom glass in Paterson: frameless shower doors, sliding & bypass shower doors, semi-frameless shower doors. See everything on our Paterson, NJ page. Shower Door Replacement nearby: Paramus, Ridgewood, Hackensack, Fort Lee, Lodi, Midland Park, Englewood, Teaneck, Fair Lawn, Mahwah, Wyckoff, Tenafly, Franklin Lakes, Ramsey, Glen Rock, Montclair, Wayne, Carlstadt. Learn more about our shower door replacement statewide, or read the How much do shower doors cost in NJ? and How to clean & maintain glass shower doors guides.
The glass usually is, and the useful question is what that does to the door. A few extra inches of opening can move the handle far enough to clear a vanity it used to catch, which sometimes means the door is better hung off the other jamb than the one the old frame used. That is a call we make with the tape in hand, and we explain the reasoning rather than just the answer. None of it disturbs the curb, the tile or the pan.
It can be either, and the two are worth separating before new glass is ordered. A sweep that has gone stiff is a part on the door, and a new door arrives with its own. Water that keeps coming after the shower has been off a while is getting past the tile or the curb instead, and new glass on its own will not stop it. If that turns out to be the case, the tile work comes first, and you learn that at the measure.
It can be, if the template is taken before the vacancy starts. The measure does not need an empty unit: if the tenant who is leaving will let us in during their last days, the opening can be templated with their things still in the bathroom, and the glass is already under way by the time the unit clears. Whether to ask them is your call. Left until the unit is empty, two weeks is close to the whole lead time.
No. We template the openings we can get into that day and come back for the one we missed, and the readings already taken go to the shop meanwhile. Nothing is ordered for a bathroom nobody has stood in, so the unit we missed simply runs behind the others by however long it takes to get in. Say at the start which unit is likely to be the awkward one and we will plan the order around it.
To whoever you tell us to bill, with each opening named the way your own records name it. Give us the unit designation you use, a contact who lets us in, and the billing name, and the quote and the paperwork after it come back in those terms. We can settle the time with your tenant if you prefer. Choices about glass, finish and hardware stay with you.
Some, though not as much as a hinged door would take back. A new bypass still hangs from a header and closes against a seal at each end, so part of what the old frame covered stays covered. What changes is how much: the wide aluminum jambs and the track along the rim are replaced by a header, jamb seals and a guide, and each panel is made to the alcove as we template it. The height is open to change as well.
What settles a replacement quote is which end the water gets out at, whether the unit is occupied, and roughly how wide the old enclosure runs. Measuring is free, and the quote it produces is written and firm. Call or text (201) 460-1313, and ask for a morning if the tenant works days.
What settles a replacement quote is which end the water gets out at, whether the unit is occupied, and roughly how wide the old enclosure runs. Measuring is free, and the quote it produces is written and firm. Call or text (201) 460-1313, and ask for a morning if the tenant works days.
Text Jessica directly and she'll get right back to you. To speed things up, include:
