In a new flat it is tempting to buy a ready-made enclosure and have somebody fit it, and it is worth understanding what that actually gets you. Sometimes it is fine. In most of these bathrooms it is not, and the reason is simple enough to explain before you spend the money.
What a boxed enclosure assumes
A ready-made enclosure is manufactured to a fixed size and assumes the bathroom matches it: two straight walls, a square corner, and an opening of exactly that width.
Real bathrooms are within a centimetre or two of the drawing rather than exactly on it.
So a boxed unit either will not fit, or fits with a gap packed out and filled with silicone. In a small bathroom that packed gap is precisely where it will leak, which is why the cheaper option frequently is not.
What measuring actually costs
Glass cut to your opening costs somewhat more than a stock panel, and considerably less than people assume — the difference is usually a modest fraction of the total.
What it buys is a seal that works without packing, and a panel that sits flat against the wall.
So we quote both where a stock size genuinely would fit, and we say plainly when it would not. There are bathrooms here where a boxed unit is the sensible answer, and we will tell you when yours is one of them.
The hardware is the other half
The part of an enclosure that decides whether you are still happy in five years is the hinges, the seals and the fixings, not the glass.
A boxed unit comes with whatever hardware the maker chose, and it is usually chosen to hit a price.
So where a stock enclosure is being fitted, the hardware is what to ask about. We tell you what we are fitting rather than leaving it as an unnamed line, and we would rather put a limited budget into hinges than into glass thickness.
How the job works
- Tell us about the jobSend a few photos, rough sizes and what you need. Use WhatsApp or the form. For a repair, a short video of the door moving helps a lot.
- We call you back in about 2 minutesWe confirm what you need and a time to visit. Where we can, we give you a rough price on the call.
- We come and measureWe measure the opening and check the walls, floor and ceiling around it. Anything made to size is made to these measurements, so they must be right.
- You get a written priceIt lists each item, with GST as its own line. If anything about the job changes, we tell you before we go ahead.
- We fit itYou approve the price and pay the advance. Our own team fits the work, checks that every door and window opens and closes properly, and clears up. Most jobs are done in 3 to 4 days.
