Different Types Of Shower Enclosures

By Manuel Vintagoli

Sure, many of us are still happy with our old fashioned shower curtains. They fit, they are easy to buy, you don't need to worry about sizes, and if you redecorate all you need to do is find another shower curtain to match. Simple. Cheap. And best of all, shower curtains can be put into the washing machine! No scrubbing, no special cleansers, no special nothing! Of course, many of us have also grown tired of shower curtains and are now venturing into the new shower enclosures.

Showers now need their own accents, their own style, and their own personality. Usually at a pretty hefty price tag. How on earth do we even begin to decide which one to buy? What might look best? Should we decide based on the price, or do we try to buy something that others might like because we want to sell our home?

All these questions can start flooding by as we head to the local home improvement store for something that our parents and grandparents probably never had to worry about. Chances are if they have anything besides the standard shower curtain, it's probably a cheap builder quality, rimmed with aluminum, and it does the job.

If we are staring at the original shower that came with the house, chances are we are looking at what's considered builder quality and a standard size. And if we haven't made any upgrades since we bought the house, it's probably in tough shape, needing replacement. Wouldn't it be easier just to buy the same thing again? Sure!

Budgets are important and what we spend will have an impact on how the bathroom ultimately looks after we install the new shower enclosure. A small average bathroom won't matter much one way or the other as long as long as it looks better than what you had before.

Custom sizes might needed in many cases. There are only a certain number of "standard" sizes, but nowadays it seems every builder has his own signature bathroom, thereby requiring custom showers and just about everything else. These can be quite expensive - even in the low end product lines. Everything that is rimmed or outlined in aluminum tends to be less expensive, but for high end brass, nickel or rimless, custom enclosures can become so expensive as to make buyers rethink the old fashioned shower curtain strategy!

Builders used to have standard sizes for everything - windows, doors, vanities, kitchen counters, and of course, showers. No more! Everything is custom. Need a new enclosure? You'll probably need to order a custom size which means more money and a long wait for it to come in. If you're lucky enough to have a standard size, you might be able to get away with something pretty inexpensive, rimmed in aluminum, and easy to install.

However, if you are trying to upgrade your upgrade your bathroom because you want to sell your home, you'll need to take into consideration what home buyers are looking for nowadays, and it's not Plexiglas with aluminum. You may need to spend much more than you planned in order to get your bathroom into the 21st century! - 30198

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