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Ocean Avenue, Brooklyn — Frameless Starphire Shower Enclosures and a Steam Room
Scope of Work
A residence on Ocean Avenue with several bathrooms renovated at once, including a steam room. Alex GC fabricated and installed frameless shower enclosures in ½″ tempered Starphire low-iron glass, and a frameless glass door to the steam room.
Why Starphire Here and Not Everywhere
We say elsewhere on this site that low-iron glass is not worth paying for on ordinary window glazing, where the edge is hidden in a frame and the green tint of standard glass is invisible. A frameless shower enclosure is the opposite case. The glass is ½″ thick, the edges are polished and on show, and the panel stands next to white marble and cream tile. Standard glass at that thickness shows a distinct green edge and a green cast across the panel; Starphire does not. This is exactly the application where low-iron earns its premium, which is why we specified it here and would not on a window.
Frameless, Half-Inch, Tempered
Frameless enclosures rely on the glass for their stiffness, which is why ½″ is the working minimum: thinner glass flexes on its hinges and the door never quite closes true. The glass is tempered for safety, as required in a bathing enclosure, and the hinges, clamps and pulls are stainless and chrome so they survive daily water. See shower doors for the enclosure types.
The Steam Room
A steam room door has to seal, which an ordinary shower door does not: the edges are gasketed so the steam stays in, and the door still has to open easily from inside. The enclosure also needs a way to breathe when it is not in use. We cover both under steam room ventilation.
Photographs
Similar Work and Related Specifications
Shower doors · Starphire low-iron glass · Steam room ventilation · Frameless glass systems · Tempered glass
Planning Something Similar?
For a shower enclosure, send us a photograph of the tiled opening and the rough dimensions. We will tell you whether frameless works for the layout, whether low-iron is worth it for the finishes you have chosen, and what it costs.