What's best way to get rid of old shower doors?
Sources
How to Remove Glass Shower Doors (DIY) - Caitlin Marie Design
caitlinmariedesign
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How to Remove Shower Doors and Frame - YouTube
youtube
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Can Glass Shower Doors Be Recycled?
info.glass
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Answer
Here are the key points on how to properly dispose of old glass shower doors:
Remove the Doors Carefully
- Lift the glass shower doors off the tracks and remove them from the shower enclosure. They can be heavy, so have a helper if needed.1
- Unscrew the metal door frame from the walls and use a utility knife to cut through the silicone caulk holding it in place. Be careful not to scratch the walls.1
Repurpose or Recycle the Glass
- Clean the glass thoroughly to remove any grime, soap scum, or hard water stains.3
- If any parts are chipped or damaged, you may need to have the glass professionally cut to remove those sections.3
- Contact local companies like Habitat for Humanity ReStores or building material reuse centers to see if they can repurpose the glass.3
- Some municipal recycling programs may accept tempered glass shower doors for recycling, but policies vary. Check with your local program.3
Proper Disposal
- If repurposing or recycling is not an option, you can carefully break the tempered glass into smaller pieces and dispose of it in your regular trash.4
- Lay down drop cloths or cardboard, cover the glass with a blanket, and strike a corner with a hammer to shatter it safely. Wear eye protection.4
- For large, intact glass panels, you may need to schedule a bulk pickup with your municipal sanitation department.4
References
1. How to Remove Glass Shower Doors (DIY) - Caitlin Marie Design2. How to Remove Shower Doors and Frame - YouTube3. Can Glass Shower Doors Be Recycled?4. How to dispose of large shower glass - Atlanta - Reddit5. How to dispose of old doors with care - 1-800-Got-Junk
Author: The DIY Grunt
Key insights
- Removing shower doors and frames can be a necessary step in bathroom renovations to access walls and ceilings for painting and maintenance.
- Clearing the top of the track is the next step in removing shower doors and frame.
- Removing the side tracks involves dealing with screws and silicone, which may require cutting or breaking the seal.
- 🪚 The right tools, like a screwdriver, are essential for removing shower doors and frames effectively.
- Take your time and work the plastic putty knife over the silicone to avoid damaging the shower walls or tub.
- ️ Plastic putty knives and laminate chips are useful tools for scraping off silicone residue without scratching or damaging the shower walls.
- The screws holding the frame in place do not go through the frame itself, they are just held in by silicone.
- 🧼 Cleaning up silicone residue and patching screw holes is essential whether you're reinstalling the doors or switching to a shower curtain.
Video Full Text
- Hey everyone welcome back I'm about to start the updating of my guest bathroom upstairs and this is going to include painting the walls in the ceiling to be able to access the walls and ceiling over here. In the shower area I need to remove the shower doors and the frame so I can get ladders in here and stuff. So today I'm going to do a quick video on how to remove your shower door and frame from your bathroom tub okay to start with for my particular shower doors. What I'm going to do is with the inside door I'm going to lift up on it and the bottom is going to swim loose from the bottom and now I can tilt the door and get it off of get the wheels off the track and we got one more in. Here. There we go and now the door is free all right next I'm going to do the outside door and same process.Read More
- Now I had to watch out for it. With the first store was I had to clear this and now I'm going to do the same thing. I'm going to lift it up and swing it out get the wheels off of the track and doors free okay. My next step here is just to take the top of the track off and I'm just going to lift up good and it's clear now.Read More
- There's no screws holding this in but it was probably a lot more free than it should have been. The silicone caulk here on the tub and the track itself is completely worn and broken free. So if you have a maybe a newer shower door that you're doing mine's pretty old um yours might still be binding to the wall so you might have to cut that or break that seal somehow okay. My next step is to remove the Side Tracks so I have three screws in each of them that'll have to take out and then I'm also gonna have to deal with the silicone which is probably also helping hold it onto the wall.Read More
- Now my screwdriver and then two different options. I'm going to be using is alignment shape. I find alignment chips are really great when you need to scrape a surface without damaging it and then I also got like a putty knife. Here.Read More
- We're going to try that as well plastic one now you could use a safety knife if you want to try to cut that seal but you're probably going to end up cutting into your tub or your shower walls and possibly a scratch marking damage. So I wouldn't recommend that personally okay so a safety knife you might be tempted to use because it is going to cut through the silicone a lot quicker. But I still highly suggest using um just your plastic putty knife basically or the laminate chip and just work it over time and eventually you'll get it free enough that you can get that blade in there and just get all the way down and you're just going to work it free a little at a time not trying to rush here because you don't want to damage your shower walls or your toilet or the tub itself.Read More
- There we go and I'm still kind of stuck here at the bottom but I'm almost there all right. Now we're free okay after you get some of the side rails off you. Might still have some of the silicone on and some of it will just peel right off like that and chunks and if you got some smaller pieces where you can't really grab. It then go back and this is where the plastic putty knives and your laminate chips will really be useful because you can just scrape it and get it off as you work it a little bit over time and you don't have to worry about scratching or damaging your shower walls in the process.Read More
- Foreign both side rails off now so the only thing left is the bottom part of the frame. The two screws here if I hold this white clip on they do not go through uh the frame itself. So they're not in the tub just silicone. So this is just going to be whatever tool you're using you're gonna have to get it underneath and through the sides as much as you can what I have found so far to be the best thing to do is work one area until you can get your preferably for me. The putty knife all the way through. So I can get it underneath and then I can force its way through the other side and then from there.Read More
- Almost there I can now slide it on the length of it cutting that seal between the tub and the frame all right so that whole side is now cut and free and now I can bend it back and you can either try to work it and rip it off like this or now that you've got. Some movement come back again and get your blade to cut through and repeat the process okay guys that is it that covers process to remove your frame and shower doors. So at this point I still need to clean up all the silicone that remains and then I can move on with my project now if you intend to reinstall your shower doors after doing a project that you are working on your bathroom. You will of course need to clean up silicone here on the tub and the walls and then clean all the silicone that is left on the frame itself and then you can reinstall those doors and apply for a silicone if you do not want to reinstall your doors after you're done because you want to switch to maybe a shower curtain. Rod then check out my video on how to install that but you still want to clean up that silicone that remains here in the tub and then you want to patch these screw holes here in your shower walls. So if you like this video then go ahead and give me a thumbs up click that subscribe button and we'll see you next time on the DIY grunt.Read More