The shower glass is installed.  Ryan’s All Glass did an awesome job.  It took six visits over the course of almost three weeks.  Visit one was the measurement.  He was able to confirm, what I suspected, one piece of glass to cover the entire back wall was not going to fit up the stairs. 

I was going to need two pieces, but he measured so the break of the wall was in line with the top of the door leading into the shower.  He assured me it would look seamless and would give better eye appeal doing it that way.  It was also going to double the install time as he’d have to come and measure for the top piece and the triangle above the door after the door and bottom pane had been installed.  I had no argument with that rationale.   He told me it would take 7-10 days for the first round of glass to come in.  I got the call within 5 days.

Trip 2:  I was given a two hour window with a 30-minutes out call time.  They actually had to wait on me to arrive.  My main installer, that was there for every visit was Jerry.  He was accompanied with different younger crew members each time.  It was cool watching a senior tradesman impart his knowledge to the younger crew.  Goal for day one was set the large piece for the back wall and the stationary piece for the entrance.

One piece of tile, that stuck out slightly from the others near the top of the glass, caused them to not be able to set that piece.  It would need to be returned to the shop to be grind down.  With that piece safely back into the van they turned their attention to installing the large piece of the back wall.  Ryan states they are the only company in Cincinnati installing bracketless shower systems.  A bead of silicon is what holds the glass in place.

Trips 3 and 4:  The entry side was the focus, both the stationary piece and swinging door.  They can only silicon one side, so they returned the next day briefly to remove the bracing they had installed, silicon the inside, and take the measurements for the triangle above the door and top piece of wall.  In and out in under an hour.  I loved the efficiency in which they worked.  I was told I could use the shower officially the next day, Saturday Oct. 12.  I was still dealing with installing the body sprays, so that didn’t happen until the 13th.

Trip 5 and 6:  The remaining pieces of glass had arrived and the largest crew, four or five were involved to get it installed.  Jerry would not let me stay and watch this process for safety reasons (in case they dropped the glass), so I only got after pictures.  They returned on the 25th to caulk the inside and with that my shower enclosure was complete.  Definitely one of my best contractor experiences on the project.

It turned out beautiful, exactly as I imagined it would and the gentleman that did the original measurements was absolutely right about matching the break to top of the door.  The pieces of tile you see missing in some of the photos are a result of my decision to remove the Signature Hardware body sprays altogether.  They will never perform to a standard befitting the rest of the shower, so I didn’t even want to look at them.  I started the process while waiting on the remaining pieces of glass to come in.  I’ll go in detail on that decision in another post, but needless to say its a shame Ryan’s great work could not have been the culmination of the shower project.

This was the second time I used Ryan’s.  They installed the small piece of glass I needed to keep water from splashing to the floor when I installed the Grohe body sprays at my old house.  The force from those sprays is what I thought I was going to get, NOT even close.  Clearly not all body sprays are created equal.  The woman that bought my house also used them to install glass railings, removing the old wood spindles I grew up with.  I loved what she did and wish I had thought of it while I lived there.  It really brought a modern vibe to a 70s house.