Do you like to give your home interior a bit of personal flair? You’re not the only one! Fortunately, there are a lot of ways to customize your home so that every corner of it feels like you. Keystone Home Products wants to address one really great DIY technique that’s easy to do and extremely underutilized: glass etching. We’ll briefly cover how you can use glass etching to customize your glass shower enclosure.

What Is Glass Etching?

It may sound dangerous or difficult, but glass etching is actually very easy. What is it? Well, have you ever seen a piece of glass – a wine glass, a candle holder, an old glass lamp shade, etc. – with an opaque design on it? This design is usually white, but it’s not something applied to the surface, like paint. This is glass etching. The glass is transformed to be opaque in only select areas, allowing you to paint or stencil on any design you want.

How Is It Done?

Glass etching may sound like something you have to do with special tools or a laser, but it’s not. It’s much simpler than that. The opaque design added to any piece of glass is done by applying acid to it. The acid eats through the surface of the glass, creating such consistent damage to it that it simply loses its transparency.

Applying acid to something sounds dangerous, right? Well, not much more than most other DIY projects, or putting in a load of laundry with some bleach. The acid used for glass etching is sold in hardware or crafting stores. It comes in the form of a cream or paste. 

If you intend to do some glass etching, you’ll want to look up a detailed guide. However, the general process involves creating a template with a sheet of vinyl, temporarily adhering it to the surface of the glass, applying your glass etching solution to the exposed part of the glass, giving it some time to work its magic, then cleaning it all off. Left behind is a beautiful, opaque design on your glass.

Using Glass Etching to Customize Your Shower Enclosure

Glass etching is most commonly used to customize small pieces of kitchenware, such as champagne glasses. This is often done for printing dates or names on things to create memory pieces for things like wedding dates. However, glass etching is a versatile craft and can be used for many more things than people frequently use it for. For example, you could use it to add a custom design to your shower enclosure.

Some great ideas are to:

• Add a band of growing grass and blooming flowers to the bottom of the enclosure
• Outline the edges of the entire enclosure with blooming vines and leaves
• Create a simple, geometric pattern to give a lightweight framing effect to the enclosure
• Add some words that inspire you – a favorite poem, quote, or mantra

Revitalize or Start with Fresh Glass

When you customize your glass shower enclosure with glass etching, you have two ways to go about it. If you have an old shower enclosure, you can use glass etching to bring it back to life. Applying glass etching specifically to areas with topical impurities or damage might even erase the imperfections entirely. However, if you’d like a blank canvas to work from, you can also get a new, glass shower enclosure from Keystone Home Products in Toronto.

Some glass shower enclosures are prefabricated and can be bought and installed with standard dimensions. However, many homes have custom shower doors with no glass enclosure. These doors often block off a one-sided opening to an alcove shower and the dimensions may be customized to fit. The problem is, if one of these doors breaks, replacing it means more than a trip to the hardware store. If you need to replace a custom glass shower door in the Toronto area, Keystone Home Products is here to help.

Replace Broken Custom Glass Shower Door

If your custom glass shower door has broken and you’re looking to replace it, Keystone Home Products is the place to go. However, before worrying about a replacement, be sure to properly clean your bathroom and shower area. Shattered glass is incredibly dangerous and even the tiniest little pieces can cut deeply. Put on some protective shoes, sweep up the big pieces into a dustpan, then sweep the bathroom multiple times after. If you have a vacuum with a hose, use this to check corners and go over the floor once you’ve swept.

Once your bathroom is safe to traverse barefoot again, you can begin worrying about future showers and your need for a door. Give us a call if you need to replace a broken custom-sized shower door. We cut mirror and glass for our customers all the time in order to fit the dimensions of their homes. Let us know the dimensions your door should be and we can get you a new door to replace the one that broke.

Replace Outdated Custom Glass Shower Door

Broken doors aren’t the only ones that need to be replaced. Custom glass shower doors have been around for a long time. If you’ve got one that’s old and ugly, we’re here to help. Many old shower doors have unattractive patterns in them to prevent clear views into the shower. These textures have fallen out of style and no longer match modern interiors.

Not to mention, many old shower doors have metal frames. These are generally not in style anymore. With modern glass-cutting technology, it’s easy to mount a frameless glass door with strong, steel hinges – no frame needed. Replace your old, outdated custom glass shower door with one from this century.

Replace Enclosure with Custom Glass Shower Door

Another situation that calls for custom glass shower door shopping is when going from an enclosure to just a door. This is often the case during renovations or if you need a bigger shower door. Many people replace old, narrow shower doors with wider ones. Not only are these easier to step through, they’re also more accessible for people with mobility difficulties, with or without mobility aids.

If you’re looking to get rid of an old enclosure and invest in a wider, custom shower door, we can help you. Give us a call and let us know what you need and we’ll let you know what we can do.

Whether you’ve just got poor quality glass or you bought a home with intentionally fogged or frosted glass shower enclosures, we believe you can do better. Foggy shower enclosures might offer some privacy, but how much privacy do you really need when you have a bathroom door you can lock? Let’s take a look at some of the reasons to replace foggy shower enclosures with clear glass.

Replace Old Shower Enclosures

Sometimes, when your shower enclosure is really old, the glass starts to get foggy. This can happen for a number of reasons. If you clean the enclosure with a brush and chemical cleaner, it can be abrasive enough to scratch cheap glass. Years of little hairline scratches can leave glass looking less than crisp. 

Additionally, if you have hard water, you can get a buildup on your shower enclosure. If your water has something like calcium in it, this buildup will be white and leave your glass looking slightly opaque. While this kind of buildup can usually be removed with special cleaner, those cleaners can be abrasive as well and may have a hard time getting into corners.

If you think it’s time to ditch the old shower enclosure that’s been in your house for the last 20 years, you’re in the right place. Keystone Home Products considers glass shower enclosures one of our specialties.

Replace Frosted Glass Shower Enclosures

Back in the 90s and early 2000s, frosted glass shower enclosures were a big thing. Nowadays, high quality, clear glass is preferable. This is for a number of reasons.

• Clearer glass allows more light flow.
• Completely transparent glass allows you to see into the shower which makes the bathroom look and feel bigger.
• Frosted glass is often frosted because the opaque nature of it hides imperfections that make the glass weak. That means it’s more likely to break.

If you want beautiful, crystal clear glass that will last longer, look better, and feel nicer to shower in, replace foggy shower enclosures with clear glass shower enclosures from Keystone Home Products.

High Quality Glass Shower Enclosures

When buying a shower enclosure, you don’t want to buy from a disreputable store, but you don’t want to pay an arm and a leg either. Big name home products stores will charge way more than their products are worth, just so you can say you bought it from them. If you want quality at a reasonable price, rely on Keystone Home Products. We’ve been serving Toronto homeowners for years and haven’t left them disappointed.

If you need more information about what kind of shower enclosures we have available, give us a call. Or, visit our store in person and take a look at what we have in stock. You can also custom order shower enclosures from us if you need something with unusual dimensions.

Taking a shower really loses its sense of refreshment and relaxation when you have a moldy shower door frame. The problem is, cleaning a shower door frame can be difficult. The cracks and crevices between the glass and frame are great at harboring mold. Therefore, even when you’ve cleaned away the visible mold, the small amount left behind can quickly spread again. How do you beat a moldy shower door frame? Let’s find out!

Remove Mold from the Rest of the Shower

To start the mold removal process, give your shower a good scrub. If there’s a part of the shower you usually ignore, clean it. Mold spreads through spores, which float through the air. If there’s any part of your shower that isn’t being cleaned and may be harboring mold, the other parts of your shower will grow mold more quickly.

Clean the Moldy Shower Door Frame

The next step will take some elbow grease and a bit of time. Start by mixing 1 part bleach to 4 parts water in a spray bottle. It’s recommended you wear something over your mouth and nose while doing this, as the fumes aren’t good to inhale and neither are mold spores. 

Lay a towel on the floor beneath your open shower door. Or, if your shower door is attached in a way that’s easy to remove, you can also remove it and lay it flat on the floor. This method will be easier on your arms.

You’ll want to work in small areas at a time to do this. Don’t focus on the big picture; really focus your attention on a few inches of your shower door frame until that space is done, then move on to the next.

Spray some of the bleach solution on part of the shower door frame where it meets the glass. If your shower door is removed, you can take advantage of gravity but leaning the door against a nearby wall and working on the part of the frame at the bottom. By doing this, the bleach solution will have an easier time traveling down into the frame. Use a small brush, such as an old toothbrush, and scrub at the mold until it’s completely gone. Try to get the bristles as far into the frame as you can to remove any hidden mold.

When you’ve done this to the whole door frame, you may need to repeat the process. It depends on how bad the mold is. To do this, put the door into the shower and run hot water over it, washing away loose mold and dirt. Then repeat the process.

Prevent Future Frame Mold

If you want to keep the crevices of your shower door frame from getting moldy in the future, we have a solution. Once your shower door is completely clean, apply a clear caulk or sealant along the entire seam of the door frame. This will keep any future grime or mold growth limited to the surface of the glass or frame, making it easier to remove.

Buy a Frameless Shower Enclosure

Is this kind of deep cleaning something you’re just not up to? Don’t feel like applying an unattractive sealant to your shower door? Avoid the issue of door frame mold completely by buying a frameless shower enclosure. Frameless shower enclosures are sleek and provide fewer places for mold and bacteria to hide. You can get a complete enclosure or just a door, depending on how big your shower is. Check out our shower enclosure options at Keystone Home Products in Toronto.

Glass shower enclosure replacement is a pain to get started on. After all, who wants to spend all day combing the internet for the easiest method to buy one? Make the process easy by ordering your glass shower enclosure replacement from Keystone Home Products. Here’s how we can help.

Different Sizes for Different Homes

Keystone Home Products knows that every home has a different bathroom design. Thats why we offer glass shower enclosure replacements of all sizes. No need to worry about if our enclosures will be the right size for you. Simply contact us and we can work together to get you exactly the enclosure you need.

If you have the measurements of your previous glass shower enclosure, we can use those to get you a replacement. Or, if you’re not sure what the measurements were or how to get them, our team of installation experts can pay you a visit and get those measurements ourselves.

Quality Glass

Every company offers different quality in glass products. You’re almost certainly familiar with the variations in quality if you’re shopping for a glass shower enclosure replacement. Let us provide you with a replacement that will last longer than the one you’re replacing.

Keystone Home Products specializes, primarily, in glass and mirror products. We know how important quality is in glass. Low quality glass not only looks worse, but is also a safety hazard. A glass fixture or appliance shattering is far from the best case scenario in how it goes into retirement. We would prefer a glass fixture get removed because it’s become outdated or won’t fit a new shower. Keystone Home Products offers the kind of quality shower enclosures that you can expect to last until you no longer want them.

Framed or Frameless

Glass shower enclosures come in two main styles: framed and frameless. People are quite divided on which one is the best style. Many prefer the timeless look of a framed shower enclosure, while others prefer the contemporary, sleek appearance of frameless. No matter which you prefer, we have multiple options for you to choose from. We want to help you find the perfect design for your bathroom. When you shower, you should feel like you’re stepping into luxury.

Installation

Many companies offer glass shower enclosure replacements but expect homeowners to install them themselves. However, there are a lot of ways to mess up a shower enclosure installation, not the least of which is the enclosure shattering. When dealing with large, glass fixtures, it’s best for a professional to be involved. That’s why Keystone Home Products assists with all glass shower enclosure installations. When we’re through with your installation, your bathroom will have the life breathed back into it.

If you have questions about our glass shower enclosure replacements, the ordering process, or the installation process, call us. We love hearing from our customers and look forward to helping answer your questions.

Shower curtains are a huge pain, regardless of where they’re installed. However, when it comes to tub/shower combos, they’re an even bigger nightmare. While a standup shower with a curtain feels reminiscent of summer camp showers, at least you’ll only need to stand beside it. Tubs have their own set of needs that curtains just can’t meet. Let’s take a look at some of the reasons why sliding tub doors are superior to shower curtains. We promise you won’t regret it.

Less Prone to Mold

The first benefit to sliding tub doors is that they’re a lot less prone to mold than shower curtains are. Shower curtains, if not spread out after each shower, will quickly grow mold along the bottom. This is because the curtain rests against the inside of the tub, as well as folds over itself, and traps moisture. That moist, dark area is the perfect environment for mold.

Sliding tub doors have a space between them, don’t overlap with the side of the tub, and can’t fold over themselves like curtains do. Plus, because they’re transparent and glass, plenty of light shines through them, making a less hospitable environment for mold growth.

Easier to Clean

There’s no easy way to clean plastic shower curtains. If they begin to mold, it’s easiest to just throw them out and buy new ones. It is possible to wash a plastic shower curtain in the washing machine, but they don’t usually come out without a bunch of little holes from the intensity of the wash. These curtains are not very hardy.

Sliding tub doors, on the other hand, are easy to clean. With some spray-on tub cleaner and a sponge, you can quickly wash off any grime that’s built up on them.

Eco Friendly

Because sliding tub doors are easy to clean and less disposable, they’re much more eco friendly than plastic shower curtains. Plastic shower curtains ending up in a landfill is less than ideal and completely unnecessary. Instead, invest in something that will actually last.

Childproof

One of the best features of sliding tub doors is their ability to keep bathtime, well, in the bath. Kids love to splash and play when they take their baths. Every parent with a tub and curtain knows the struggle of trying to keep their child from splashing water out of the tub every ten seconds. 

A shower curtain can be put inside the tub, but if it has any mold or bacterial growth on it, that’s extremely bad for the child bathing. The best solution you can use with a curtain is to spread it open on the outside of the tub and lay down some towels under it. Then, any splashed water will drip down the curtain and get absorbed by the towels. This just makes more laundry and then your child is harder to supervise.

With glass doors, your child is easy to keep an eye on and water will quickly run back down into the tub where it belongs.

Better Lighting

And, finally, sliding tub doors offer a lot better lighting. Their complete transparency means your bathroom light will shine on in while you shower. Opaque curtains or curtains with outer fabric counterparts make for a rather dim showering experience.

When shopping for new fixtures for your bathroom renovation, you may wonder about shower enclosures. There are two standard varieties: framed and frameless. The question is, what differences do those come with, aside from the obvious? Which one is better? Let’s take a moment to compare and contrast the two, starting with framed shower enclosures.

Benefits of Framed Shower Enclosures

Framed shower enclosures come with few benefits over frameless. However, the benefits they do have can be really important. The primary difference is cost. Framed shower enclosures rely on the frames to bear most of the weight and the frame is where hinges and handles are connected. This does two things: It requires less glass craftsmanship to be done, as the glass only needs to be cut and fit to the frame, and it allows thinner glass to be used.

The lower cost to produce framed shower enclosures means they also cost less to the person buying them. Therefore, if you’re on a tight budget for your bathroom renovation, a framed shower enclosure might be a better choice for you.

What Makes Frameless Great

Frameless shower enclosures cost a bit more than their framed counterparts, but they also have more benefits. Because there’s no metal frame, the glass used for these enclosures is thicker. This allows the glass to hold its own weight and take on the holes required for attaching hinges and a handle. The thicker glass, having to be higher quality as well, is much less likely to shatter than that of a framed shower enclosure. 

Enclosures most frequently break when a door is shut too hard and shatters, forcing you to replace your shower door. For a framed enclosure, this is more prevalent, as the frame often overlaps, sealing the door with a magnet. Frameless enclosures typically don’t have a jam for the door. It comes to a stop in the right place with special hinges that direct it to the right spot. This also lowers the likelihood of a frameless shower enclosure shattering.

We can’t cover the perks of a frameless shower enclosure without including the ease of cleaning. Framed shower enclosures, having a seam where the frame meets the glass, can collect grime. Frameless shower enclosures don’t have this ridge. Therefore, they don’t collect grime in a hard-to-clean place. Without the need to scrub along the edge of a frame, wiping down your enclosure is much easier.

Shop Keystone Home Products

No matter which type of shower enclosure is right for you, we have the right option here at Keystone Home Products. We offer high quality framed and frameless enclosures. Therefore, make your bathroom remodel a successful one by stopping by our store. Or, if you have questions, call us today. We’re happy to help you make your decision.

Tired of hurting your joints scrubbing at a stubborn shower? Keystone Home Products knows all about the struggle. We have some pointers for those of you who can’t seem to find any painless methods for shower cleaning.

Frequency

One of the biggest mistakes people make when cleaning their shower is waiting too long. Many people only scrub their shower every month or two. Because dirt buildup in showers goes fairly unnoticed until it’s really bad, it may seem unnecessary to clean it more often. Plus, as the place we go to get clean, it’s easy for the illusion of it always being clean to take hold of us.

Buildup and Minerals

The fact is, every time you shower, the dirt, oils, and dead skin from your body are slowly dirtying the shower base. Not only are bodily components a factor, the water is also contributing. Any minerals in your water will build up on the shower enclosure or base. This can manifest in a different way for every different mineral. For some, it may be iron, leaving a rusty, orange buildup. For others, it may be a white coating from lime. There are even minerals that leave behind a pink residue where water has settled.

Don’t Wait

Because these things take a little while to become very visible, it’s hard to think your shower needs a scrub every week. However, if you put in a little effort every week to scrub down your shower, you will keep the buildup from happening at all. Removing dirt and minerals when it’s barely had time to settle is the most effective of methods for shower cleaning. 

Cleaning Process

How frequently you clean your shower is one thing, but the steps in your cleaning process also matter.

Foaming Sprays

To cut down on the effort it takes to clean your shower, start by buying foaming sprays. There are a litany of foaming sprays available on the market. Find one that is rated to help with any minerals you have in your water. Then, coat the entire shower enclosure and showe base with it.

Letting these sprays sit for the time allotted on the bottle will give them time to break down minerals and dirt. Then, when you finally pull out the brush or sponge, you won’t have to do all that breakdown with your elbows alone.

Mineral Remover

If you have a pretty notable buildup of minerals in your shower, you’ll want to buy a mineral remover as well. Cleaners made for showers with hard water are one thing, but something especially for removing large amounts of these minerals can cut through even years of mineral buildup.

Too Far Gone

If your shower enclosure is too far gone you can always replace it. Many framed shower enclosures build up mold and minerals incredibly badly. Trying to get the mold to stop growing once it’s gotten into the cracks of the frame can be nearly impossible. While minerals won’t spread like mold, getting an orange buildup from out of the enclosure frame can be, likewise, impossible.

Keystone Home Products has beautiful framed and frameless shower enclosures alike. If your shower enclosure is beyond the help of the best methods for shower cleaning, it can, at least, be replaced with a new one. Give us a call if you have any questions about our shower enclosures and shower doors. We look forward to hearing from you.

People frequently underestimate the negative impact outdated fixtures in their homes cause. One of the most overlooked it the outdated shower enclosure. Keystone Home Products is here to tell you why you need a new shower enclosure. There’s a lot to cover, so let’s get started.

Quality of Life Effects

If you’re familiar with quality of life, as a concept, you know that it’s always the little things that affect it. Your quality of life is how comfortable your day to day life is. For most people, quality of life has a lot of room to improve. It’s just that people don’t know what things to look for to improve. The little things go unnoticed and the big things are too hard or too expensive to fix. This exact problem is why we want to address shower enclosures and how they affect your quality of life.

Living in the Past

One of the most obvious ways an outdated shower enclosure is impacting your quality of life is by its appearance. Most old shower enclosures come with a metal frame, thin glass, and a somewhat flimsy feeling to it. Plus, because the shower takes up a large portion of most bathrooms, it is a large part of what dictates the bathroom’s overall appearance. When you step into your bathroom, do you feel like it’s stuck in 2000? Changing the shower enclosure can be a single-step way to change that.

In the last 15 years or so, bathroom design has changed and improved immensely. One of the best improvements has been moving to frameless shower enclosures. Frameless shower enclosures are made with high quality glass – not the thin glass or plastic panes in cheap enclosure frames. These updated enclosures look and feel more modern, sleek, and luxurious. They will change the entire feeling of your bathroom’s design.

Work Smarter, Not Harder

The next reason you should get a new shower enclosure is because outdated ones are hard to work with. Over the years, shower enclosures tend to build up a grime on the surfaces of their glass. Not to mention, old enclosures with metal frames grow mold and build up grime along the seams. This mold and grime is incredibly difficult to remove because it’s along the line between glass and frame. 

Maybe you’ve kept on top of your shower enclosure cleanliness and don’t have years of built up grime. Even if this is the case, with every time you clean your shower, you have to maintain that level of cleanliness by scrubbing at frame seams and exerting a lot of arm strength.

With frameless shower enclosures, there’s no seam to deal with between the glass and the frame. You have one, solid, glass surface to clean and then you’re done. Using some spray cleaner with anti-mineral properties, you can wipe down your shower and call it a day in just minutes.

Shop Keystone

When you’re ready to buy a new shower enclosure, remember to shop Keystone. Keystone Home Products is the home goods store you can count on. Just visit our store in Toronto or give us a call with your questions. We’re happy to help!