If your bathroom has a traditional fiberglass tub, you might be wondering if you can simply spruce it up with glass rather than undertaking the time and expense of a full remodel. We’ll explore the factors that impact what type of glass enclosure might be doable for specific situations in bathrooms with fiberglass tubs. In doing so, we’ll be drawing on our team’s years of work with glass shower installations to provide you with experience-based data and recommendations that can help you safely and successfully upgrade your tub area.

1. Tub Only or Insert?

One of the most fundamental questions is whether you have a fiberglass tub with tiled walls or a fiberglass combination insert that includes both a tub and three shower walls.

If you have a fiberglass tub only, and shower walls are tiled there are very few limitations on the type of glass enclosure you can add. Frameless sliding shower doors can be appealing in this situation for a few reasons:

• They don’t need clearance around the shower entrance in order to operate, so they are space-efficienct.
• These systems are frameless, which is a popular look today.
• Frameless sliding shower doors are equally suited to shower-only stalls or tub-shower combos.

However, since they are frameless, these systems require thick 3/8” or 1/2" glass. Also, there are two panels – either a fixed panel and a sliding panel or two sliding panels – and a gap between these two panels which increases the footprint of the glass system. In order to use one of these enclosures, the top edge of the tub needs to be wide enough to accommodate the specific footprint of the frameless slider you want to use.

Other feasible options for a fiberglass tub with tiled shower walls include:

• Splash panel (one piece of fixed or hinged glass and an open entrance)
• French doors
• Semi-frameless bypass doors
• Framed shower door systems
• Frameless in-line door and panel enclosures

The last option on the list – frameless in-line door and panel enclosures – is a favorite, so we’ll take a closer look at possibilities and restrictions. The first point to note is that frameless glass showers can be header-free or can include a metal header bar that extends across the top of the enclosure. Using a header may reduce price; it can provide a solution for design difficulties; and it adds rigidity to the enclosure. On the other hand, though, some homeowners prefer a look with as little metal as possible and prefer to skip a header if this is feasible.

It is typically doable to hinge a frameless door to a glass panel in line with it under the following conditions:

• A fixed panel can only have a door panel hinged off it if the panel is 22 inches or less in width.
• A door panel hinged off glass must be no wider than 30 inches.

If these specifications do not work for your design, you could use wall-mount hinges instead and attach the door panel to the bathroom wall. Finally, the inclusion of a header would also allow for greater design flexibility.

In terms of the tub itself, the fact that it is fiberglass is not really an issue. Fiberglass is strong enough to support the weight of the glass, and there is no problem with attaching clamps or U-channel to it.

If you have a fiberglass tub and shower combo insert, it is important to recognize that most inserts are not made to support the weight of frameless glass being attached to them. This means that you will probably still be able to switch to shower glass, but you will need to choose a semi-frameless or framed design. On these systems, aluminum framing is present to provide the support that cannot be relied upon from fiberglass shower walls.

2. Hardware Help from the Pros

Ordering the right hinges for a DIY glass shower project can be tricky, but you don’t have to do it on your own. Our Glass Simple team has many decades of combined glass experience, and we’ll never send your call to an off-site center. Give us a ring at (571)707-7760 and let Jamie and Bobby answer your questions and help you find the right hinges, clamps, handles, etc. for your project.