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Living hereShower doors in Boca Raton: frameless, framed or sliding — and when to repair instead
The three kinds of glass enclosure, what the glass thickness actually changes, which faults are a repair and which are a replacement — with New Shower Doors Unlimited, a family-run installer that works in Boca.
Replacing a shower door looks like a small job and is mostly a decision: which of three kinds of enclosure, how thick the glass, and — before any of that — whether the one you have needs replacing at all. This guide walks through those three questions, then introduces an installer that works in Boca Raton.
Three kinds of enclosure
| Frameless | Semi-frameless | Framed | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Metal around the glass | Only hinges and clamps | Framed fixed panel, unframed door | A finished frame on every side |
| Typical glass | 3/8″ or 1/2″ tempered | 3/16″ to 3/8″ tempered | 3/16″ to 1/4″ tempered |
| Good for | Making a smaller bathroom feel open | Most of the frameless look for less | Tub enclosures, rentals, tight budgets |
The table is not a ranking. A framed door is the right answer for a lot of bathrooms, including most tub-and-shower combinations, and a good installer will tell you so.
Sliding and bypass doors sit across all three: panels that run on a track so nothing swings into the room. In a narrow room where a swinging door would clip the toilet or the vanity, they are often the only door that works.
What glass thickness actually changes
With no frame to stiffen it, frameless glass has to hold its own shape — so it is thicker.
- 3/8″ is the usual choice for a home bathroom. It is stiff enough for ordinary door sizes and lighter on the hinges and on the wall behind them.
- 1/2″ is heavier and feels more solid in the hand. It earns its place on unusually tall or wide doors and on long fixed panels — and it needs hinges and wall fixings rated for the weight.
Thicker is not automatically better. On a narrow opening, 1/2″ glass costs more and loads the wall harder for no difference you would notice.
Glass color is the other choice people do not expect. Ordinary clear glass carries a slight green tint, strongest at the edges and across large panels, and it shows beside white tile or pale stone. Low-iron glass removes most of that tint.
Repair or replace?
The glass in an enclosure rarely fails. The parts that move, get wet and carry weight every day — rollers, hinges, seals — are what wear out, and most of them can be replaced on their own.
| What you see | Usually |
|---|---|
| The door drags, jumps its track or runs roughly | Repair: new rollers or guides |
| It droops, or no longer closes squarely | Repair: hinges and fixings, then re-align |
| Water escaping at the bottom | Repair: new seals and sweeps, or clear the track |
| A cracked or chipped panel, rest sound | Replace that panel only |
| Hardware so old no parts exist | Replace the enclosure |
| The frame has corroded through | Replace the enclosure |
| You are re-tiling anyway | Replace — it has to come off regardless |
South Florida water is hard and the humidity never lets up, so the cheapest maintenance there is is a squeegee after every shower. It is the difference between glass that still looks new after a decade and glass that looks tired in four years.
Before you book anyone
- In a condominium? Ask your association first. Many require a contractor's paperwork on file before any work happens in a unit.
- Get the opening measured in person. Walls are rarely perfectly plumb, and a frameless panel has no frame to hide the difference.
- Ask who installs. Some companies sell the job and subcontract the fitting; ask whether the person who measures is the person who fits.
New Shower Doors Unlimited
New Shower Doors Unlimited is a family-owned glass shop based in West Palm Beach that works across Palm Beach, Broward and Martin counties — which takes in Boca Raton. It has no showroom in Boca. The owner, Alberto Alvarez, says the shop has more than fifteen years in the trade and does its own installations rather than subcontracting them.
It fits all three kinds of enclosure, repairs doors it did not install, and also does custom mirrors, glass railings and partitions, and wine-cellar glass.
| Phone | (561) 547-0702 |
| Hours | Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm |
| Website | newshowerdoorsunlimited.com |
| Listing here | New Shower Doors Unlimited |
As with any contractor, ask for the license and insurance documents before work starts and check them yourself. We have not verified either for this business, and this guide does not claim them.
Where this comes from
Checked against these on 2026-10-03. Fees, deadlines and portals change — if one of these pages disagrees with this one, the official page is right and we would like to know.
- New Shower Doors Unlimited
- New Shower Doors Unlimited — Frameless shower doors
- New Shower Doors Unlimited — Repair & maintenance
- New Shower Doors Unlimited — About
October 2026 — First published.
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