Replacing the doors on your shower can become necessary if the doors are damaged or are extremely old and starting to look bad. Depending on the shower, you may be able to buy replacements shower doors for the unit you have or replace them with something a little more custom to update the space.
New Glass Doors
On many shower and bathtub combinations, the glass shower doors are standard size and use tracks to support the doors that often do not need replacing. The doors can be carefully removed from the tracks and then measured to make it easier to get the right replacement shower doors.
When you visit the local home center, take the measurements with you, and the associate there can show you what doors are available in the size you need. Once you choose the doors you like, installing them is the opposite of removing the original doors in the tracks.
Standup Showers
Larger standup showers with no tub often use glass doors that swing open like a standard door. The doors are more random in size and style, so replacing these doors may mean finding a glass shop to cut a new glass door for you or hiring a bathroom contractor to help.
Measuring the door and going to the home center may net you some results, but replacement shower doors need to be the same size, use the same hardware mounted the same way, and may not be as standardized as the tub doors used on your shower and tub combination.
If you cannot find a door, you can get the glass company to come to your home, measure the door, and make a new door for you. However, if the door was broken and you don't have the measurements to refer to, the only option may be to replace the door and glass around the shower with a completely new shower doors kit or custom design.
Replacing The Shower
While you may start out wanting to replace just the shower doors in your bathroom, you may find damage that convinces you to replace the entire shower stall and doors together when you start removing them from the old shower. Sometimes replacing the shower and the doors make more sense, is cheaper than custom doors, and will significantly improve the bathroom overall.
You can hire a bathroom contractor to come and replace the shower if you need to, and often if that is all they are doing, they can complete the job in a couple of days. Some contractors specialize in this kind of rehab or retrofit. The process is so streamlined that they can pull the old shower and shower doors out, replace them with new ones, and wrap the entire job up very quickly unless there is a plumbing or structural problem.
For more information on replacing or updating your shower doors, contact a professional near you.
