Framed Mirrors

Mirrors can make a significant impact on the impression of space within a bathroom. Some homeowners opt for flat mirrors with either beveled or polished edges, mounted with translucent plastic pieces or mastic. In conjunction with Cardinal Shower, we are pleased to announce our introduction of framed mirrors to expand upon these options. Framed mirrors can be a great choice for several reasons. First, they can actually be less expensive than flat mirrors due to the availability of stock sizes as well as the ease of installation. Instead of plastic pieces or mastic, our framed mirrors mount with a j-bar, which makes them more sturdy than mirrors mounted with mastic. Second, they can better complement bathroom fixtures and frameless shower hardware. Since the framing is available in finishes that complement bathroom fixtures (i.e., chrome, brass, brushed nickel, polished nickel, oil rubbed bronze, roman bronze, etc.), they can more effectively complement and tie together other bathroom components. We even offer some novel hardware finishes, like satin chrome, marble, and white. Third, since our framed mirrors are available in three framing profiles, different styles of decor can be taken into account. If your decor is more modern and minimalist, the flat CMF69 frame may be most appropriate. If your decor is more traditional, the fluted CMFM1 profile may be a better fit. The point is that the frame, via its shape and hardware finish, can make a statement in and of itself.

What we like most about the framed mirrors is that they give us the opportunity to offer our customers a unique package of mirrors and shower doors. However, plenty of customers opt to just purchase framed mirrors from us, largely due to the ease of installation. Each unit comes with four corner brackets, a hanging rail with screws and anchors, glass blocks, and eight retainer blocks. We recommend that you secure the hanging rail directly to studs for the most secure installation. The anchors are used when you cannot hit a stud.

Our framed mirrors are available in custom sizes, as well as the following stock sizes:

• 18” x 24” Framed Mirror
• 24” x 24” Framed Mirror
• 24” x 30” Framed Mirror
• 30” x 30” Framed Mirror
• 30” x 36” Framed Mirror
• 36” x 36” Framed Mirror

We have various sizes and all three frame profiles on display at our shower door showroom in Jefferson, MD, and we have a dedicated Framed Mirrors product page on our website.

Happy Showering!

Frameless Glass Shower Doors – Baltimore, MD

If you’re looking for a shower door in Baltimore, MD, it can be a tricky endeavor. With everything Baltimore has to offer as in the way of affordable properties ripe for bathroom renovations, there aren’t many bath and kitchen showrooms in the city itself. Sure, homeowners can go to Home Depot or Lowe’s for a shower, but who wants to put up some generic, one-sizes-fits-all shower door in a space with custom tile work or other high-end bathroom improvements? Fortunately, homeowners looking for a customized shower in Baltimore needn’t look further than Frederick County, Maryland, where Shower Door Experts has a glass shower enclosure showroom in Jefferson.

Shower Door Installation Baltimore, MD

In tandem with our website, which is a rich, neutral resource for all things shower doors, our shower door showroom allows us to deliver a level of service that simply can’t be matched. Not only can you do all the research you’ll need to do before starting the process of ordering glass shower doors, you can follow up on that research by coming to our shower door showroom and putting your eyes on the actual hardware we’ll use to fabricate your frameless shower doors. Other companies work out of their vans and a garage. We work out of a showroom with ten full-size shower displays, shower door hinge samples, shower handle displays, glass shelves, medicine cabinets, and more. Homeowners looking for a frameless glass shower enclosure in Baltimore, MD can meet with one of our design consultants and review every detail of their shower project. Can’t make it out to the showroom? We can also set up and in-home consultation to review your glass shower door needs in Baltimore. We can bring shower hand samples, hardware finish samples, and everything else you need to make an informed decision. Also, don’t forget the myriad of shower door resources available online, including:

·      Our shower door portfolio with pictures of virtually every shower layout, including corner showers, neo angle showers, and sliding showers

·      Our shower door glossary, which has all the technical terms you’ll need to communicate the details of how you want your finished shower enclosure to look and perform

·      Our shower door downloads page, which has PDF versions of our proprietary forms, shop drawing templates to help you get a firm estimate without physically seeing your shower space, and all our brochures. We also have a separate shower door videos page with technical information and product overviews.

Getting shower door in Baltimore, MD can be difficult due to the lack of shower-specific businesses and places. If you come see us out in Jefferson, MD, we’ll make it worth your while. Mention this blog post and we’ll take $100 off of your shower order! Glass shower enclosures don’t need to be expensive and mysterious, whether you’re in Baltimore or Timbuktu. When you let Shower Door Experts guide you through the process, you’ll get a great deal on a great product that’ll improve the value of your home and the quality of your day-to-day routine. Get directions to our glass shower enclosure showroom through the embedded Google map below. And, as always…

Happy Showering!

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New Patterned, Textured Glass From Cardinal Shower

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Cardinal Shower has outdone themselves with a new batch of patterned shower glass. Shortages of even the most basic and popular patterned glasses have been plaguing the industry for the past two years. Flat glass companies like AGC Glass have been moving away from textured glass production, opting to produce solar panels instead. Who knew that the foremost environmental question of our time would be a choice between clean energy and attractive showers? Doesn't seem fair...

Perhaps it's for the best though. Since Cardinal manufactures shower enclosures, the company has a firm grasp on what its customers are looking for when it comes to custom glass. AGC Glass is a conglomerate, so its product development and production were based more on profitability than an understanding of the custom shower niche. And that niche is ever-changing and dynamic, so it makes the most sense for a shower enclosure company to vertically integrate patterned glass production into its operations. Cardinal will be able to more quickly and fully respond to customer preferences and industry trends than a large and cumbersome conglomerate would.

Cardinal's first batch of in-house patterned glasses are intriguing to say the least. Capitalizing on its innovative work with cast glass, the company has released the following six patterns (shown above):

• Cardinal Affinity
• Cardinal Flurry
• Cardinal Lunar
• Cardinal Rain
• Cardinal Tranquility
• Cardinal Wisp

Not only are the patterns extremely distinctive, but the glass itself is super clear low-iron glass. Low-iron (or Starfire) glass as a trend is red hot right now because it doesn't have the faint green hue that traditional clear tempered glass has. More and more homeowners are opting for low-iron glass to shed the best light (both literally and figuratively) on custom tile and stone work. Cardinal's decision to produce their in-house patterns with low-iron glass is a stroke of genius in our opinion. And since the patterns themselves are so attractive and creative, we see big things ahead for the product line!

Cardinal Shower Glass Options

Happy Showering!

Shower Door Experts in Europe

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Recently, this Shower Door Expert spent two weeks in Europe on vacation. However, as the saying goes: “You can take the boy out of Shower Door Experts, but you can’t take the Shower Door Expert out of the boy.” To the chagrin of my significant other, one hotel room in particular in Rotterdam, NL became the basis for a photo shoot, as it was outfitted with many glass details and high-end bathroom fixtures.

The gallery above has full high resolution pictures, but here are some of the highlights:

• The headboard of the bed was a flat table-like surface, and the designers chose to place an acid etched piece of glass inset with LED backlighting. This exactly replicates an application we used in our showroom, using an inset backlit panel within our neo angle display. Using glass in this manner puts off a soft, ambient light, which can really dictate the ambience of a room.
• For a 5-star hotel, the shower enclosure was pretty underwhelming. I know, I know… not everyone is an industry geek, and it was certainly functional. I just expected something fully frameless in a hotel of that caliber. In any case, it was still an interesting application because this semi-frameless shower did not have a header, which is something you don’t really see stateside. This was accomplished through the use of a small stabilizer bar, running from the panel on the right to the back wall. We’ve used stabilizer bars on fully frameless units where headers weren’t an option, but I’d never seen one on a semi-frameless unit. Even though was plenty of metal framing and channel (including an obnoxious handle running the full height of the door and doubling as a strike jamb), the stabilizer bar opened up some options design-wise. We’ve been doing more and more units that use them lately, but most of the ones we use run vertically to the ceiling and have modern offsets.
• Sauna in the bathroom?! Yes, please.

Check out the full gallery above, and note the use of a wall-mounted sink and wall- mounted toilet to maximize space. There was also a window between the bathroom and bedroom, which struck me as odd at first, but ultimately grew on me due to the sunlight it allowed in. One thing is certain: someone with way more design acumen than yours truly put together one heck of an attractive, serene space! Creating a spa-like environment is my definition of a successful bathroom, and this one fit the bill.

Happy Showering!

Exciting Website Changes

We've officially transitioned to WordPress for content management of the Shower Door Experts website, and it's a liberating change! We now have complete in-house control over the frequency and content of updates and changes. Since the WordPress version of the website went live early last week, we've added a slew of new content, and we'll be adding things daily for the next few weeks. Changes and additions thus far include:

• New Showroom page (under About Us)
• New Shower Door Handles page (under Products >> Shower Door Hardware and Finishes)
• New Shower Towel Bars page (under Products >> Shower Door Hardware and Finishes)
• New Shower Door Knobs page (under Products >> Shower Door Hardware and Finishes)
• New Shower Robe Hooks page (under Products >> Shower Door Hardware and Finishes)
• New Videos page (under Downloads)
• Updated Shower Door Glass Sealant page (under Products)
• Updated Forms page (under Downloads)
• Updated Portfolio

The Portfolio page(s) in particular are getting a major overhaul, so please pardon our dust and formatting irregularities as we strive to add 200+ pictures over the next few weeks, complete with product information and descriptions.

Everyone at Shower Door Experts is excited about these changes and additions as we endeavor to build the most authoritative and user-friendly shower site possible. If you find our site to be high on information and short on sales pitches, then we've done our job! Please use the comments section below to request any additions to the site or to give feedback on our work thus far.

Happy Showering!

showerdoorexperts.com

Frameless Shower Door Repairs in MD, DC, and VA

Repairs can be tough because a lot of times the time and labor involved end up being much more than the actual cost of the part(s) needed. Or a shower enclosure that isn't worth very much to begin with (i.e., old framed builder's grade shower units) may need a level of repairs equal to half the unit's value or more. We try and use common sense when diagnosing issues and recommending shower repairs, and if it makes more sense to replace a shower enclosure, we're not afraid of making that recommendation. What we absolutely don't want to happen is to get paid for a shower repair, only to have to make multiple trips out to re-service the same issue. That benefits no one!

Thankfully, this typically doesn't happen, as we're usually able to confirm our over-the-phone diagnosis and make any necessary shower repairs onsite. The over-the-phone diagnosis is where our office staff tries to pin down exactly what the issue is. We then email a Service Call Agreement, outlining the minimum charges due and what will be addressed. We went to this system to ensure that everyone would be on the same page regarding cost and scope of the shower repair work. It's been working out well!

In Maryland (MD), Virginia (VA), and Washington, DC, the vast majority of repairs end up costing the client less than $150. This includes work like shower hinge adjustments, replacing shower sweeps and polycarbonate vinyls (gaskets), shower leak diagnostics and repair, re-siliconing or re-caulking, and other repairs. So if you're having issues with your shower enclosure, drop us a line a tell us a bit about the issues you're having. It never hurts to run it up the flagpole, right? More than likely we'll be able to get your shower enclosure looking and working properly, and at a minimum cost!

showerdoorexperts.com

Happy Showering!

 

Loudoun County, VA & Leesburg: Visit Our Shower Door Showroom

Loudoun County, VA is a geographic and demographic anomaly. A model for balancing suburban sprawl, it's also the home of exceptionally dense concentrations of industries and wealth. The bathroom remodeling industry, for instance, thrives in Loudoun County because of relatively high home values and median incomes. When people redo their bathrooms and specifically their shower doors, there's no shortage of options. We frequently joke that you can't throw a stone in Chantilly without it hitting a Bath & Kitchen showroom, and most likely that stone would ricochet and hit the showroom next door or across the street. While there are plenty of businesses that specialize in tile, granite, and/or bathroom remodeling, many of which sell shower doors among their other offerings, there isn't a dedicated shower door showroom in Loudoun County. However, there is one a short drive away in Jefferson, MD. 

"Where the heck is Jefferson, MD?!" People 30 minutes away in Rockville, MD and Bethesda, MD ask us this incredulously, as if we're remote Appalachian hill people. In truth, Jefferson is a few miles west of Frederick, MD, which more people are familiar with. We imagine Loudoun County residents are similarly unaware of our tiny hamlet. Fun fact: Jefferson sits where Route 15 meets Route 340, so it's a pretty short drive from most of Loudoun County. As an example, Leesburg residents can drive 19.4 miles to Chantilly for shower doors, fighting traffic and marveling at an endless vista of stripmalls. Or they can drive 19.2 miles to Jefferson, MD, passing farmland on scenic Route 15 North. If Leesburg residents can get past the mental hurdle of crossing the Potomac River (c'mon people... it's not like you have to ford it on horseback), a paradise of shower doors awaits them.

Our showroom is the only one in the area with 10 full-size shower displays, so you can actually put your hands on the materials and systems to make sure you're getting what you want. We have glass samples, shower door handles, towel bars, and robe hooks - every component you need to design your dream shower enclosure. Although we specialize in frameless shower enclosures, including modern frameless sliding shower systems, we also fabricate semi-frameless and framed showers. In any case, we aren't part-time shower door guys, or tile guys that sell shower doors sometimes. We're Shower Door Experts, and when you come to our showroom, you'll get one-on-one attention and consultation. We don't just want to sell you a shower door. Rather, we want to educate customers on best practices and collaborate on a shower enclosure that'll be a once-in-a-generation project, not something that falls apart in a year, or 5 years, or even 10 years. This attention to detail and insistence on quality has allowed us to create our shower door showroom. We've been in business for over 20 years, and we're blessed with loyal customers. Come see why! If you're in Loudoun County, VA, we're a short drive away. Remember: there are plenty of part-time shower door companies in Chantilly and Herndon, but there's only one Shower Door Experts showroom, and it's in Jefferson, MD - less than 20 miles from Leesburg, VA.

Visit our shower door showroom: 3712 Jefferson Pike, Jefferson, MD 21755 (map)

Visit our website: showerdoorexperts.com

Get an online quote: showerdoorexperts.com/html/quote_form.html