<p>Clear. We squeegee, it takes < 10 seconds, it’s a corner unit with floor to (almost) ceiling glass on three sides.</p>
<p>The glass steams up as soon as the water gets hot, essentially turning into something with a texture for the duration of the shower.</p>
<p>"What I would like is what a friend has—large shower with head positioned so that no door or curtain is needed. And yes, I am modest but I can shut the bathroom door! "</p>
<p>Wouldn’t that be awfully cold? I think I would take nothing but baths if I couldn’t trap the steam in with me to keep it warm.</p>
<p>Clear (we like to see the marble tiles). We squeegee, it takes <30 seconds for the laggard (usually me). It’s a corner unit with floor to (almost) ceiling glass on two sides, including the frameless door, no change after 10 years.</p>
<p>We have a new second home that we plan to relocate to when S2 graduates and current hosue sells. In the new house, we have the kind of shower mkm mentioned…a walk-in shower with no doors/curtains. It took some getting used to at first since it feels like you’re taking a shower in an open room but now we love it. We have a skylight over head so I see trees when I look up. </p>
<p>One of our main reasons for building that kind of shower is that we plan for this to be our last home and wanted it to be has handicapped /elderly friendly as possible. With a wide door opening and no ledge to step over (tile floor is slightly sloped toward drain in the middle), a wheel chair could easily be wheeled right in if ever needed.</p>
<p>We have clear, started with a squeegee and changed to keeping a hand towel in the door handle and using that to wipe down, works better, the squeegee leaves water lines vertically and the towel is fine.</p>
<p>We have the textured glass and are bad at maintaining. It looks cloudy all the time. My brother & SIL both have clear from their remodel & squeege it regularly. It looks immaculate! I stayed at my cousins who had clear from her recent remodel & must say it looks very nice (but she is an excellent housekeeper). My mom has shower curtains. If/when we remodel, am not sure what we’ll do–perhaps shower curtains. A remodel would be MAJOR because of the way our shower/bath unit is constructed. Not sure if we ever plan to bother with it.</p>
<p>Don’t like tile & would put in some solid material for stalls so don’t have to deal with grout and mold (HI is so humid).</p>
<p>Let us know what you finally decide.</p>
<p>When we remodeled I picked out some beautiful seeded glass, then realized I wouldn’t be able to see the limestone tile we were using. Went with clear glass and have not been sorry. I like that it gives the shower a feeling of spaciousness, almost like being in a big outdoor shower at a beach house. (The shower is 3’ x 4’ and has a small seat.) We squeegee, no biggie.</p>
<p>Another thing that’s nice to do, just in case you haven’t thought of it, is to build in a niche or two for shampoo and such. It will keep your beautiful shower looking uncluttered.</p>
<p>My shower door is part clear, part textured (alternated into an artsy pattern). Best of both worlds? :)</p>
<p>Both my baths have mildly textured, and I don’t find them hard to clean. Master shower is a walk-in. Maybe because it is large, but I rarely get soap build-up on the shower door. I didn’t do frameless, because friends have that, and it leaks. My frames are quite thin. I have extra tile, and keep meaning to have a a shelf & seat installed in the corner. Favorite accessories are the adustable spouts.</p>
<p>My half-bath, which guests use, has an onxy bowl over a mahogany cabinet, rather than a set-in sink. Not everyone’s taste, but I like it.</p>
<p>We have a walk in shower (not large at all mind you) that has the shower head simply pointed in a way that we have no door. When we remodeled it after 30 years (we had lived in it 24) we left it the same. It is easy to clean and keep clean. </p>
<p>The master suite is right off the living room through a door that if you go left you go to the bedroom and if you go right you go to the bathroom. So it is easily seen/used by guests, even though we have a small powder room off the living room. So it know what it is like to need to keep it clean and nice. </p>
<p>We had a dated 30 yo bath that was white. White tiles on the floor, white tiles up the entire walls, white tile in the show, and a horrible 70’s ugly marble tub. I love the new tile, the vessel sinks, and a new deep “soaker” tub with jets. Funny though, the open shower was ahead of its time, and still gets comments on how modern it looks.</p>
<p>
OP, here.</p>
<p>That sounds interesting…where did you get it? </p>
<p>Our shower will be on a diagonal and will have one door that will be trimmed in wood (will be like a regular doorway except it will have glass) and then there is glass between the shower and the tub that will also be framed with wood. Wish I could post pictures. So the frame-less vs. framed glass isn’t even an issue for us. The bathroom will be really nice. Everything will be laid out on the diagonal, giving the room an octagonal shape, including the trey ceiling. The center of the room will be large and open. There will also be a large chandelier.</p>
<p>The shower will have a bench, there is no edge in the doorway so we can eventually get a wheelchair in there and we will have one shower niche and two corner shelves (that was a compromise with the builder, I wanted two shower niches but they couldn’t do it with the framing). They are also reinforcing the walls so we can eventually put a grab bar or two in there.</p>
<p>I think I have a week or two to go before they install the door, so here’s my plan:</p>
<p>1) Got the squeegee yesterday, am going to try it out in our current shower.
2) They’re suppose to have the tile installed in the shower in the next few days. If it<br>
looks great (I’m expecting it to), then I will strongly consider the clear glass.
3) I’m going to stand in the shower as if I’m taking one (I might even take my clothes off 
) and see if it feels weird to be that exposed.</p>
<p>To answer the question about why I’m concerned about privacy:</p>
<p>The bathroom it will have a double pocket door that will be kept open much of this time - partly for aesthetics - the tub with a marble surround will be the focal point when you look in the room. There’s no way to lock double pocket doors (according to my builder, I haven’t researched that yet) and our master bedroom is right off the foyer and the only windows in the bedroom face the street. So yes, I can close the doors and probably will if there are people in the house other than my spouse but it won’t be locked. And I don’t know… I just feel exposed standing there stark naked with my body facing the bathroom door (hard to explain but that’s the way the shower is set up). I’ve never, in 48 years, showered without a curtain or frosted glass (except at a hotel). Yes, my spouse sees me undressed but I’m not one to parade around naked (too many jiggly parts ). However, it did occur to me yesterday that the door will fog up once the steam hits it, so that might alleviate the privacy concerns.</p>
<p>So…at the moment am leaning toward clear…my builder must think I’m a nutcase…I change my mind regularly. I keep telling him, for me, decision making is a long process where I have to think through everything and weight it. The pressure is doubly heavy with this renovation because whatever decisions I make, I’ll have to live with for the rest of my life (for the most part). So I’ve spent a lot of time making sure I’m not just doing the trendy thing because it feels new and fresh. The whole look of the bathroom will be classic and timeless (done in cream colors, marble, polished porcelain, heavy crown molding).</p>
<p>I have a shower door with an old-fashioned textured glass in thick-thin stripes. You can sort of see through it, but hazily. It doesn’t show soap scum (and I also have the showerhead positioned so it doesn’t spatter much). I love the look of the glass. I didn’t want clear because the bathroom doubles as a powder room.</p>
<p>We have clear and squeegee/wipe after each use. No big deal and still looks great after 11 years. Although it may seem strange at first, after the first few showers you won’t give the privacy issue a thought.</p>
<p>Bookworm, google “better bench”. It’s a shower seat (using your tile) that is way less expensive than buidling a shower seat the traditional way. Your tile installer can order it and install for you. We wanted a corner seat in our shower but didn’t want to spend the large sum, the tile guy was going to charge. I found Better Bench online. He had never used it before but was a fan after putting it in our shower. It looks great at much less cost.</p>
<p>Glass door framed in wood
We had this in our master bath in a second home - a fixed panel of glass framed in wood (no door needed on this shower). Wood rotted (surprise!) at the bottom where it met the tile sill in a very very short time. I imagine there are woods where this will not happen (eg, I have a teak free-standing bench in said shower that has not rotted). But please be careful. Also, the teak is supposed to grey over time (hasn’t happened to mine yet, but I can see where the finish is changing). Don’t know if I would like that look in a door.</p>
<p>No door? would be cold?
In our second home we have three wonderful showers designed this way, tile and glass block walls, no door needed. I LOVE them! They are beautiful and simple. With the bathroom door closed, I feel just as steamy-toasty warm as if the shower itself were “closed.” Of course, I don’t stand out in the section that stays dry-ish… that area is a little colder, just like when you first step out of the shower onto the bath mat.</p>
<p>PS MomLive, your new bath sounds wonderful and I think you are already enjoying it even though it doesn’t exist yet!</p>
<p>MomLive, Your new bathroom sounds supreme. Are you sure you can leave it to live the rest of your life?</p>
<p>I’m with you thumper. Of course, if it’s a walkin shower, you do need a door. I’d opt for not clear because of the upkeep issues, and in our family, others come in to use the bathroom while someone might be showering. Couldn’t do that if it was clear. Well, H could but not Ss. </p>
<p>However, we have a tub with a glass door. I HATE IT! Not only is there the question of the glass (ours is textured), but having to use a toothbrush to clean the track is a real nuisance. I would have it removed and install a shower curtain if it weren’t for the holes that would leave where the track is attached.</p>
<p>Our house is 13 yrs old. Clear shower doors. They still look good and we don’t do anything to them after use. The one thing I would do differently would be to use the thicker glass with no frame. The only part of our shower that doesn’t look great is the tile where the shower door frame sits on the bottom. Also if I did it again I would make the opening larger to accommodate a wheelchair at a later date. Our shower is huge but the opening is standard size. Shower is a stand alone.
I sometimes think we should have done curtains in the kids bath. We have had trouble with the doors coming off the track. H doesn’t like shower curtains since it is harder for the kids to somehow keep the water in the tub and not on the floor!</p>
<p>We remodeled our bath a few years ago and went with frameless door and clear glass. It’s really lovely. We do squeegee after each shower and wipe the faucets with our towel when we get out, but then we used to do that when we had textured glass (and the kids still do it in their bath with textured glass) because it prevents soap build-up and mildew, so the maintenance isn’t much different, imo.
The privacy thing is more personal and might be an issue, and the glass does fog up a bit, although we have an exhaust fan, so it doesn’t steam up too much. Are you sure you can’t lock that door? It doesn’t have to be super secure- just enough that someone wouldn’t accidentally walk in on you.</p>
<p>
No tracks! That is the beauty of the new frameless and semi-frameless doors. </p>
<p>The tracks are disgusting because of how they get dirty and, although most of us are past this phase, a real pain to lean against if you are bathing little ones.</p>