about 50 percent
Hinged door with a fixed panel
The default for most primary baths.
Shopping for a frameless shower enclosure is harder than it should be. Every glass company’s website shows the same photographs, every quote lists different hardware, and almost nobody publishes what a project actually costs. This guide takes the opposite approach. Inside you will find real Northern Colorado price ranges, the glass thickness thresholds a fabricator actually uses, named hardware series and finishes, a realistic timeline, and the mistakes buyers regret most after the glass is in. When you are ready to price your own project, start with custom frameless shower doors and enclosures.
A framed enclosure surrounds each panel with aluminum and runs thinner glass inside a track. A frameless enclosure uses thick tempered glass, either 3/8 inch or 1/2 inch, held by hinges, clamps, and channels with no perimeter metal at all. The glass carries itself.
The trade-offs run in both directions, and any shop that tells you otherwise is selling. Frameless enclosures look cleaner, make a small bathroom feel larger, and leave far fewer seams for soap scum and mildew to collect in. Framed enclosures cost less and are more forgiving about water, because the frame and track catch runoff that a frameless design manages a different way. Semi-frameless sits between them.
Most Northern Colorado homeowners remodeling a primary bath step straight to frameless, and this guide covers that choice. One point worth setting down early, because it drives more disappointment than any other: a frameless enclosure is engineered to manage water, not to seal it in. More on that further down, in plain terms.
The rest of this guide follows the order the decisions actually arrive in.
The most useful thing to know is which configurations people actually buy. Across the enclosures leaving our shop:
The default for most primary baths.
Wraps a corner shower.
The answer in tight bathrooms and tub-to-shower conversions.
A five-sided corner unit where a square enclosure will not fit.
Steam-tight enclosures, oversized panels, one-off geometry.
The hinged door with a fixed panel is our best seller by a wide margin. It suits the widest range of openings, uses the least hardware, and is the easiest configuration to get right in a bathroom that is not perfectly square.
Match the configuration to your opening, not to a photograph. A hinged door needs swing clearance past a vanity or towel bar. A slider wins where a door has nowhere to travel.
Some limits are worth publishing, because finding them out at the measurement is worse than reading them now:
If a bathroom cannot meet those conditions, a measurement visit will say so before a quote is written.
Older housing stock is where in-house cutting earns its keep. In Old Town Fort Collins, Old Town Loveland, and older Greeley neighborhoods, walls are rarely plumb and ceilings rarely level. A 3/8 inch frameless enclosure works there because the glass is cut to the opening that exists, angled tops and out-of-square returns included. In new construction the most common request is a steam shower with an operable transom. See how each configuration reads on the shower styles page.
Here is the short answer most guides talk around: 3/8 inch tempered glass is the residential standard and the right choice for the large majority of enclosures. Step up to 1/2 inch when a panel runs wider than 60 inches or taller than 96 inches, doors included. Those are the actual thresholds used to spec a job, not a rule of thumb.
Stay with 3/8 inch unless your panel actually crosses those dimensions. On a standard enclosure you will not gain enough structurally or visually from 1/2 inch to justify the added cost, and we would rather put that money toward glass or hardware you will notice every day.
Moffat supplies both thicknesses and nothing thinner. Quarter-inch glass has no business in a frameless enclosure; it cannot carry the load. Both are tempered, so the decision is structural rather than cosmetic. Thicker glass stiffens a large panel so the door does not flex in daily use, and heavier panels call for hinges rated for the extra weight.
Panel size has a physical ceiling too. The largest single piece that can be tempered in house measures 84 by 130 inches. Above that, a panel gets split, which is normal in oversized enclosures and something a quote should tell you before fabrication starts rather than after.
If you want the longer version of this comparison, there is a practical guide to 3/8 inch versus 1/2 inch shower glass that goes deeper on tempering and edge work.
Four glass choices cover essentially every residential enclosure:
Carries a faint green cast, most visible along the exposed edges and slightly more noticeable at 3/8 and 1/2 inch. In most bathrooms it looks excellent.
Removes that cast so tile, stone, and grout read in their true color through the panel. The product stocked here is Cardinal’s Purevision, and it is the upgrade taken most often between quote and install.
Rain, Acid Etch, and Baroque patterns, all in 3/8 inch, for bathrooms where privacy or diffusion matters more than a clear view.
Gray and bronze, also in 3/8 inch, for a deliberately moodier look.
Low-iron glass, added on roughly 80 percent of projects between quote and install. Worth it in a bright bathroom with feature tile or natural stone, and close to invisible in a dim one. Ask to see both side by side at the measurement.
The green cast in standard glass is easiest to judge at the edge of a panel rather than through the face of it, which is why a sample held against your actual tile tells you more than any photograph will. Lighting decides this one: a bathroom with a window or good overhead light shows the difference clearly, and a windowless guest bath usually does not.
Textured glass earns its place where a shower faces a doorway or a shared sightline, and tinted glass is almost always an aesthetic call rather than a privacy one. Custom etching, sandblasting, and sandcarved designs are not offered, so if a monogram or decorative panel is part of the plan, that work belongs with a specialty studio.
Whatever glass you choose, every panel should be tempered safety glass tested to ANSI Z97.1 and 16 CFR 1201. Moffat tests to both standards and is currently working through Safety Glazing Certification Council certification. Ask any shop to state those standards on the quote.
A protective coating seals the microscopic pores in glass so hard-water minerals and soap scum rinse away instead of bonding to the surface. Coated glass stays clear longer, wipes down faster, and resists the permanent clouding that makes a ten-year-old shower look tired.
The distinction worth understanding is where the coating gets applied. Ours goes on in the shop, to both sides of every panel, in a FuseCube Express unit as part of fabrication, immediately after tempering. A factory-applied coating bonds at a level that nothing sprayed on later can match.
It is also standard rather than an upsell. Every Moffat shower enclosure includes it, and it accounts for roughly 5 percent of the total price. That matters more in Northern Colorado than it would in a soft-water market. Front Range water is hard, and untreated shower glass here shows it within a couple of years. Full detail lives on the Diamon-Fusion glass coating page.
Hardware decides how the enclosure feels every day: the weight of the swing, the action of the hinge, whether the door still sits true in year eight. Most guides stop at "premium hardware," which tells you nothing. Here are the specifics.
Residential enclosures are built primarily with CRL (C.R. Laurence) hardware, with FHC (Frameless Hardware Company) as the secondary source. Two CRL series cover the majority of installs: the Cardiff line, and the Vienna line, which is the heavier-duty hinge specified for wider and heavier doors.
Finishes split into two groups, and knowing which is which saves a conversation:
polished chrome, brushed nickel, matte black, oil-rubbed bronze, brushed bronze.
everything else, including satin brass, champagne bronze, and the stainless finishes.
Matte black, brushed nickel, and brushed bronze are what Northern Colorado bathrooms are asking for right now. All three are stocked, and the brushed and matte finishes hide hard-water spotting noticeably better than polished chrome does.
A special-order finish usually does not push the timeline, because CRL typically has it in stock or it can ship in from the secondary supplier. Usually is the honest word there; a genuinely unusual finish can add a few days, and a quote should say so rather than assume.
Match the hardware finish to your faucets and fixtures, or mix metals deliberately rather than accidentally. Either works. Ask to see finish samples at the measurement visit before locking the choice, and browse the full range on the hardware options page.
National cost guides put frameless shower doors anywhere between $600 and $11,000. That range is technically accurate and completely useless. Here are real numbers from a Northern Colorado shop.
Where does the money go? On a typical enclosure, roughly 50 percent is glass, 25 percent is labor, and 25 percent is hardware. Glass is the largest line, which is why glass decisions move a quote more than anything else.
Two categories carry a real premium beyond that list: oversized enclosures with extra-large panels, and steam-tight builds, which require sealed detailing and vented transoms that a standard enclosure does not. Two practical points. The on-site measurement and consultation are free, so getting a real number costs nothing. And terms are straightforward: 50 percent down to start fabrication, 50 percent on completion.
There is no standard price because there is no standard shower. Every enclosure is cut to one opening in one bathroom, which is why honest ranges beat a single teaser figure that no real project ever matches. For a deeper breakdown, see how much custom shower doors cost in Northern Colorado.
Most glass companies quote two to three weeks from approved measurement to installation, because the glass gets ordered from an out-of-state fabricator and everyone waits on a truck. A shop that cuts and tempers its own glass runs one to two weeks. Here is the whole sequence with real numbers.
One to two days from your call. Before anyone can measure, your wall tile and seal caps need to be installed and complete, because the glass is cut to finished surfaces. Measuring against unfinished walls guarantees a refit.
One to two business days later, you receive your quote: pricing, the hardware selection, and a 3D rendering of the enclosure, so you can see the finished shower before a single panel is cut.
Three to five working days, and the step that makes the whole timeline possible. Your glass moves through the shop in sequence:
Nothing leaves the building and nothing waits on a shipment.
A hinged single door takes two to three hours. A full enclosure runs four to six. A multi-piece custom build is a full day. Two-person crews arrive in a labeled van, in Moffat-logo shirts, and every installer is a Moffat employee. No subcontractors touch the work.
Beforehand, clear the bathroom so the crew has a working area, and keep pets and children out of the space while glass is moving. If an old enclosure needs to come out, that can be handled for an added charge, or you or your contractor can remove it. Either way, hauling the old door away after the new one is in costs nothing.
Before the crew leaves, someone walks you through operating the door, reviews the care instructions and the cleaning products to use, and explains the coating warranty. Then wait 24 hours before using the shower so the silicone can cure fully. The full sequence is laid out on the our process page.
Workmanship on residential installations is covered for one year, scoped to adjustments and operational issues. Glass and hardware carry the manufacturer’s standard warranty, passed through to you. If something needs attention, expect a response within two business days.
These are the same industry standards most reputable shops follow, and there is no claim being made here that the coverage is better than anyone else’s. What matters more is who is standing behind it and whether they will still be in business to answer the call.
The exclusions are worth reading as care guidance rather than legal cover. Colorado weather, including freeze-thaw cycling and hail, sits outside coverage. So does hard-water buildup, damage from improper cleaning, pet damage, third-party modifications, and normal wear on hardware finishes.
One exclusion is worth stating directly: harsh chemical cleaners, abrasives, and steel brushes will void coverage, and they will do visible damage to the glass and the finish long before anyone files a claim. Full terms live on the warranty page.
Specifications can be copied. A hundred years of watching people buy showers cannot. These four come up more than everything else combined.
This is the single most common wrong expectation in the category. Depending on where the shower head sits and where the door opens, a few droplets on the floor outside the enclosure are normal, and under National Glass Association (NGA) shower door installation guidelines that is not a defect.
A frameless enclosure manages water through layout, an inward-sloping curb, and clean silicone work. It is not a sealed box, and a shop that promises one is setting you up to be unhappy. Good design puts the gaps outside the spray zone, which is a conversation worth having at the measurement.
About three-quarters of the people who install a fixed splash panel come back and ask for a door to be added, usually inside the first year, because the shower runs cold without one.
If you are weighing a splash panel against a door and the room allows a door, take the door. We have watched this one reverse itself too many times to recommend otherwise, and doing it once costs less than doing it twice.
Low-iron is the upgrade added most often between quote and install, roughly 80 percent of the time. In a bright bathroom with stone or feature tile it earns every dollar. In a dim bathroom with a plain surround it does not, and nobody benefits from selling it there.
Two coordination problems show up over and over. On smaller openings, the sill often overhangs the actual door opening, which fouls the swing. And decorative tile that lands exactly where the hinge needs to mount usually has to be cut or redone.
Both are inexpensive to solve before tile goes up and expensive afterward. If a designer or contractor is involved, loop the glass shop in before the tile is set.
Bottom-line numbers only mean something when the quotes describe the same build. Before comparing price, confirm that every quote states:
One warning from the shop floor. When a bid on a custom product lands well under everyone else’s, something has been left out of it. Usually it is fabrication quality, insurance, or the accountability of a company that will still be reachable in five years. A shower enclosure is glass hanging over a hard floor in a room where people stand barefoot. It is not the right place to take the low bid on faith.
Front Range water is hard, and it is the main thing standing between a new enclosure and a clear one in five years. The routine that prevents it is small.
squeegee the glass. That single habit does most of the work. Then spray the panels with cold water, wipe with a microfiber towel, and clear off any remaining droplets.
a deeper clean with the microfiber towel.
Sprayway ammonia-free glass cleaner, white household vinegar diluted with water, or Seventh Generation glass and surface cleaner.
harsh chemical cleaners, abrasive pads, and steel brushes. They scratch glass, dull hardware finishes, and void coverage.
How long should the enclosure last? Moffat has been installing heavy glass shower doors for over 100 years, and nearly all of them are still in service today. That is a track record rather than a warranty term, but it is the honest answer to the question. The factory coating does most of the maintenance work; the routine above keeps the coating performing.
A properly designed and installed frameless enclosure does not leak, but it is not a sealed box either. A few droplets on the floor near the door are normal depending on shower head placement and door position, and under NGA installation guidelines that is not considered a defect. Water is managed through panel layout, an inward-sloping curb, and clean silicone work that keeps the gaps outside the spray zone.
Neither is better; they solve different problems. Use 3/8 inch tempered glass for most residential enclosures. Step up to 1/2 inch when a panel runs wider than 60 inches or taller than 96 inches, doors included. Those are the thresholds we spec against. The thicker glass stiffens large panels so the door feels solid and does not flex, and it generally calls for heavier-rated hinges.
Most custom frameless enclosures run $2,000 to $3,500 installed. A 3/8 inch hinged door with a return panel, which is the most common configuration, runs $2,500 to $3,000. A premium build with 1/2 inch low-iron glass in a steam shower with a large side panel runs closer to $5,000. Roughly 50 percent of a quote is glass, 25 percent labor, and 25 percent hardware.
One to two weeks from approved measurement, compared with two to three weeks at shops that order glass from out-of-state fabricators. The measurement happens one to two days after your call, your quote arrives one to two business days later, fabrication and tempering take three to five working days, and installation runs two to three hours for a hinged door or four to six for a full enclosure. Wait 24 hours after install for the silicone to cure.
It depends entirely on your lighting. Low-iron glass removes the faint green cast in standard clear glass so tile and stone read in true color, and in a bright bathroom with feature tile or natural stone it is clearly worth it. In a dim bathroom with a plain surround the difference is barely visible. Ask to compare the two samples side by side at the measurement before deciding.
The factory coating is standard on every Moffat shower enclosure, not an add-on, and it accounts for about 5 percent of the total price. It is applied in the shop to both sides of every panel during fabrication, right after tempering. Factory application bonds far better than anything applied later on site, which is why the decision is made for you rather than sold to you.
With reasonable care, decades. Moffat has been installing heavy glass shower doors for over 25 years and nearly all of them are still in daily use. The variables are hard-water maintenance and how the hardware is treated. Squeegee after each use, avoid abrasives and harsh chemicals, and do not force or slam the door, and the enclosure will outlast most of the bathroom around it.
Wall tile and seal caps must be installed and complete. Glass is cut to finished surfaces, so measuring against bare or partially tiled walls produces panels that will not fit. Plumbing fixtures do not need to be in yet, but the tile does. On install day, clear the bathroom so the crew has a working area and keep pets and children out of the space.
You now know what the glass, hardware, and labor should cost, how long a custom enclosure actually takes, which upgrades earn their price and which do not, and exactly what a fair quote has to list. The next step is a free on-site measurement, followed one to two business days later by a quote with your hardware selection and a 3D rendering of the finished shower.
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We've used Moffat Glass in the past and will continue our loyalty to them based on their high quality service and products.
"JR and Anthony installed our shower doors and they look AWESOME!! They were timely, friendly, thorough, clean and took time to explain how to care for shower doors. We are very pleased with the service from Moffat Glass. It was exactly 3 weeks from the time we called in to have someone come measure to having the doors installed. We've used Moffat Glass in the past and will continue our loyalty to them based on their high quality service and products."
Thank you guys for your nice work!
"Anthony and Jr did an awesome job! They are very professional and get the work done quick while leaving it looking nice. We are very happy with the glass they put in our shower. It definitely was the missing piece and now it is complete! Thank you guys for your nice work!"
We are very happy with Moffat Glass
"We wanted to let everyone know that Anthony & Junior did an Amazing job on installing our shower door. The workmanship was great. Very professional. We love our shower door. They took the time to tell us how to clean the door. We are very happy with Moffat Glass. Thank you Amber for all your help with our shower door. David & Linda"
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"We needed our patio screen door replaced. Moffat answered the phone (something that 3 other businesses did not do), scheduled someone to come measure the same day, manufactured our non-standard sized door and installed it within a week. We have yet to hear from the other businesses we contacted who told us they would 'get right back' to us. The quality of customer service was very good. Everyone was friendly, professional, and expressed appreciation for our business. I do not hesitate to recommend Moffat Glass. They have been in Greeley for a long time and I can see why they have lasted."
I will absolutely be using Moffat again and I highly recommend them!
"I'm very thankful to have worked with Moffat glass. I needed a large piece of glass for my hotel with special cuts and Moffat nailed it perfectly! The installers are very careful and did an amazing job. Amber was the one always taking my phone calls and she is a pleasure to work with. Very knowledgeable and patient. I will absolutely be using Moffat again and I highly recommend them!"
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"Anthony and John did a great job installing our shower frame and glass! They answered my questions before starting their work. We thoroughly enjoyed working with Moffat Glass. Amber was a great help on the phone and took the time to answer my questions and concerns. I highly recommend Moffat Glass!"
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