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Frameless Shower Enclosure Installation in Soquel
Today’s frameless shower enclosure installation – 3/8″ clear glass with chrome hardware. This one is located in Soquel. 
We Fix Botched Shower Door Installations
We were recently contacted by a gentleman who had a shower enclosure installed in a neighboring community (Santa Clara).The job went terribly wrong, and he needed some help. He was looking for advice about what to do about the poor glass fitting and bad caulking job done by the previous glass contractor. My advice to him was to have the original contractor come back and clean up the mess.
After a couple of weeks, he contacted me again and told me that he wanted me to come and redo the installation for him. Apparently, he was tired of dealing with the existing contractor, and just wanted it to be finished. Although I don’t normally do work in that area, I agreed to come out and see what I could do for him.
The silicone used by the other shower door installer had gone bad, and hadn’t really adhered to the tile anyway. I’m happy to say that we were able to take out the glass, and reinstall the enclosure using parts that the previous contractor had provided. It feels good to be able to make a bad installation turn out right.
Applied Frames for Existing Mirrors
One issue that is common to bathroom mirrors is the pealing of silvering around the edges of the glass. This phenomenon is known as “black-edge,” and is especially a problem near the coast. It is a type of oxidation that happens (like rust)… I won’t bore you with all of the technical mumbo-jumbo.
There are couple of ways to address this problem before it happens. One is to treat the edges of the mirror with an industrial sealer. This prevents moisture from compromising the reflective layers of the mirror and prevents black-edge. The other method, which we prefer, is to provide copper-free mirrors that are very resistant to the contamination that causes this problem.
But what if your mirror is already showing signs of the hideous mirror disease? Is there any way to fix it? Sadly, no… There are really only two options. One is to remove and replace the mirror with a new one. The other is to use an applied frame. These mirror frames are made to be installed on existing frameless mirrors, and come in a wide variety of styles and colors. I had my doubts about them, and haven’t really suggested them much in the past… The cost of having them installed is about 25% less than just replacing the mirror with a new one, in most cases. I didn’t really see the point…
Then we actually installed some of them on a job in Aptos, California last week. I was really impressed with the high quality of the product, and the way the frames looked after installation. Having had first hand experience with these applied mirror frames, I really like them, and would recommend them to anyone. Even though the cost savings isn’t that significant, the experience for the customer is very low-impact, which is important when it comes to renovation. There is virtually no mess of any type, no dirt, no noise, and the work can be accomplished in a very short amount of time. Best of all, the result is a beautiful framed mirror instead of the old mirror with bad edges.
For more information, give me a call at (831) 464-3899.
-Chris
RE: Replacing Shower Door Hinge Gaskets
How difficult is it to replace the gaskets in the frameless glass shower door hinges? Do you have to take the door all the way off or can you do it one hinge at a time and leave the other two hinges attached? If you do have to take the door all the way off, do you also have to unscrew the hinges from the wall or can you leave the hinges attached to the wall and just remove them from the glass?
You may be able to do them one at a time with the glass in place. It will be a little more challenging with three hinges rather than two, but the gaskets are pretty thin, and should be easy enough to change in a small space.
I normally have one guy inside and one guy outside. I put wood shims under the glass to make sure it doesn’t shift when the hinge cover plate comes off. You should be able to remove the two screws in the cover plate without removing the four screws that anchor the hinge to the wall. If you wet the gaskets with a little rubbing alcohol they will slip right into place, and get a good seal.
Let me know how it works out,
Chris Phillips – Owner
Showcase Shower Door 