Framed and frameless showers are two types of glass shower doors that are widely used in current bathroom designs and modern shower enclosures.
In this article, we want to discuss the differences between framed and frameless shower doors and check some of their pros and cons with each other.
What are framed and frameless showers?
But before diving into that, let’s first start with a quick definition of both:
– Framed shower doors are glass doors that are enclosed with frames. The door frame can be metal enclosures or plastic, among the most famous frames in this category.
– Frameless glass shower doors, on the other hand, are a kind of glass shower that actually has no support like framed shower doors. They usually consist of tempered glass.
Note: If your glass is created through heating and cooling or some chemical processes to make it more challenging and, therefore, safer, then this type of glass is called tempered glass.
What are the commonalities?
Before talking about their differences, let’s delve into their commonalities and some of their similar features first, such as:
– Being made from tempered glass panels
– Having both multiple glass designs in the market
– Different ways to open their doors
– They both need to be caulked.
Pros and cons of framed and frameless enclosures?
Now, let’s take a look at the essential pros and cons of framed and frameless showers:
Pros of framed shower glass:
– Being more stable is one of the advantages of these glass shower doors.
– The shower installation is also easier in this type of glass shower.
– When it comes to money and how much they cost, framed shower doors are more economical. So, they’re much more cost-effective.
– The frameless shower enclosure has been created in a way to keep the water in the enclosure. In fact, frameless shower doors do not leak, and prevent the waste of water significantly, which is amazing in its own way.
– When it comes to design, they have many frame designs compared to frameless enclosures, which actually have no frames. So, we can name it as one of the advantages they have compared to their opponent!
Cons of framed shower doors:
– The clips and hinges of framed glass shower doors don’t allow them to open inwardly, but they can be only opened outwardly. It’s also helpful to know that we can have sliding shower doors that only come in framed showers, but it’s not available with frameless enclosures, and there are not many options in motion for them.
– Having difficulty in maintaining them due to filth in water after keeping it for a while inside the enclosure, trying to clean the water or even the gaps in their frame, especially at the top or bottom of the door, and the corrosion it causes over time and some other issues you’ll face with cleaning.
- Not going to lie! They have outdated designs, and they usually lose the competition against frameless showers.
Now, it’s time to talk about some of the good points of frameless shower doors and their drawbacks too.
Pros of frameless shower doors:
- As we discussed above, cleaning frameless shower doors is not as time-consuming as framed ones, and that’s easy to understand why. You don’t have any frame to protect the enclosure that keeps the water for you. No mold, mildew, or any other filth around the glass leads to a better lifespan. Let’s also not forget the role of Diamon-Fusion, a protective cover for the glass and a great tool for spending less time cleaning your glass. Diamon-Fusion just makes using your frameless shower doors experience double enjoyable.
- One of the cool things about frameless shower doors is opening and closing them inwardly and outwardly. This only reminds us of how easy they are regarding the motion options they leave for their customers, which is quite amazing. You don’t just have a sliding door option for opening and closing the door, nor the limitations we’ve discussed for framed shower doors.
Cons of frameless enclosures:
- Again, we discussed how costly they (frameless shower doors) could be. If you have a small budget for buying your desirable glass shower door, we recommend you go with frame ones that are more suitable for you and your intentions. Check out the frameless shower doors cost.
- You might say they’re frameless, and this should make you to the wrong conclusion that they’re easier to be installed, but no… it’s not true, and the reason behind that is being frameless! These frameless enclosures need support just like framed ones to keep them up, and that’s exactly what they lack; therefore, their installation is much more complex than framed shower glasses. If you really want to use frameless enclosures, we recommend you learn how to install shower glass doors correctly.
- We talked too much about the cons of Framed showers and their glass panels, but we haven’t discussed some of the real drawbacks of frameless enclosures. For example, one of their outstanding issues is controlling the water inside them. You want to ensure you don’t waste much water when it comes to your options, and if you ask me, frameless shower doors are not built for such a purpose! The gap at the bottom of their enclosure is a good excuse for customers to leave their custom designs behind the door and go with framed ones.
- Another severe issue is your safety and the risk of shattering. Yes! Of course, you’re working with glass, and they are breakable materials. So, you need to be very careful in your choice if it’s also a matter of fragility, which is more common in frameless showers vs. frame showers.
