Shower screens in Hobart.

The screen makes or breaks how a bathroom feels, and the right choice depends a lot on the walls. Hobart has a lot of older housing in Battery Point, North Hobart, New Town and West Hobart where bathrooms have shifted over the decades and almost nothing is perfectly square or plumb. A glazier who templates the actual opening, rather than ordering a standard size, is the difference between a screen that seals and one that leaks onto the floor from day one.

Every screen we fit is toughened Grade A safety glass, because AS 1288 requires it and because nobody wants annealed glass shattering into shards in a wet, bare- foot space. Toughened glass is four to five times stronger than ordinary float and breaks into small blunt granules in the rare event it fails.

The three styles.

• Framed: aluminium frame around the glass. Most economical, and the frame absorbs small wall variations, which suits older Hobart bathrooms. ~$700-$1,400.
• Semi-frameless: framing only on some edges, clear look with less hardware. A good middle ground. ~$900-$1,900.
• Frameless: thick 10mm toughened glass with minimal brackets and a premium, open feel. Popular in new Kingston, Sandy Bay and Bellerive builds. ~$1,200-$2,800.

A worked example.

A Kingston renovation, standard 900 x 900 corner shower, owner wants the frameless look. We template the recess, fit 10mm toughened frameless panels with brushed fittings and a clear sealed base. Around $2,100 supplied and fitted, fixed and written after the measure. A like-for-like framed replacement in the same recess would be closer to $1,000.