Shower doors & custom glass in Mountain Brook

Renovations in Crestline, English Village and Mountain Brook Village homes routinely rework the primary suite entirely — walls move, the shower grows, sometimes a tub leaves and a steam shower arrives. In projects like these, shower glass is a designed element, not an afterthought: the enclosure's lines are drawn on the plans, the hardware finish is chosen with the plumbing fixtures, and the glass specification is settled while tile is still a sample board.

What gets specified at this level

• Frameless construction as the default — heavy 3/8" or 1/2" glass, minimal hardware, nothing interrupting the tile or stone. Full detail on the frameless page.
• Low-iron glass over white and light stone — standard glass's green edge tint is invisible on dark tile and obvious on Carrara-look whites; low-iron removes it.
• Steam showers — full-height glass with an operable transom, sealed seams, planned at the design stage because the ceiling line and sealing detail depend on it.
• Hardware as jewelry — substantial handles and hinges in finishes matched to the room, including unlacquered-look brass tones that patina with the house rather than against it.
• Whole-house scope — primary enclosure, hall-bath doors and vanity mirrors fabricated in one order, so finishes match across rooms and the project gets one measurement cycle.

Sequencing with your contractor

On a GC-run remodel, glass lives or dies by scheduling. The sequence that works: the glass installer is selected during design, provides the budgeting numbers for the plans, and is booked for measurement the week tile completes. Fabrication — commonly one to three weeks — runs while the contractor finishes paint, fixtures and punch items, and installation lands near the end. The failure mode to avoid is a contractor promising a completion date that ignores the fabrication window; our process page lays the whole timeline out in a form you can hand to a project manager.

The older-house caveats still apply

Behind the new tile, these are still 1960s houses. Walls get reframed in a gut remodel, which solves most plumb problems — but additions and partial remodels inherit the old geometry, and primary baths carved out of former bedrooms come with their own surprises. Templating handles all of it; it just has to be in the plan, which is why the glass conversation belongs at the start of the project, not the end.