If you would like to reduce cost you can usually find door systems that come in a box. The issue is that your shower needs to be plumb and square. You will also need to pay someone to install a door system in a box. Custom glass doors (like you see in bathroom photos) are measured onsite to fit most openings (even if they are not plumb and square).

As far as Lexan or poly carbonate I don't know if it would save money but my guess is that since it is out of the ordinary you would pay a premium. This material does scratch and I have only seen it in clear. I know it is often used as a see through bullet resistant barrier (bank teller windows).

Have you considered a quality shower curtain?

Several years ago I had looked at Lexan or acrylic for shower walls, not doors, but I hesitated because it seemed like harder maintenance instead of easier. (Then we ended up moving anyway.) Acrylic is cheaper but scratches much more easily than Lexan. The problem with scratches in a shower is that those little crevices is where mold and mildew will take hold and be extremely difficult to removed without further scratching.

Since you want obscured anyway, I wonder if a cultured onyx (kinda like cultured marble) would be translucent enough?? It's likely that you'd have to have a frame then to give the door rigidity.

I think Classic Structures Inc has the right answer for you: shower curtain! FAR cheaper, obscure as you want, easy to clean (or also get a liner that's easy to clean), and not dangerous at all.

HTH

Thanks for the replies but I definitely won't be resorting to curtains. I saw a semi-frameless on line where the top and bottom of the door didn't have the frame but the sides did which seemed to help it seal better. It also had some kind of obscure pattern. I thought it looked nice. I will have to repeat my online steps and try to relocate it.

missenigma, thanks for your reassurance. It is just the very few I've used that were heavy frameless glass doors, I recalled thinking they were a bit overkill and even a little cumbersome that was BEFORE I read the stories on this site where folks have reported them shattering and causing injury. To answer your question, I reviewed my quest for shower doors. It should be simple, right? I have 6 showers and I want doors on 5 of them. I've learned to get prices for items without any company knowing the size of the home or visiting if it is possible. (We firmly believe the price takes a 25% price hike if the subcontractor visits first.) We have gotten astoundingly different bids for the same products. That being said, I planned to request the price of one door and indicate I may need more than one. My husband mentioned that he likes the obscured glass and I agreed. We measured all the shower openings needing doors. I called several glass/mirror companies to get quotes. Not happening without a visit to site, etc. In other words, at least in our minds, prepare for being over charged. I am not a person who follows trends, I don't care what is in or out if I like it, I like function over form (a shower curtain does not work on many levels), I am tired of being told what will help to "resale" my forever home, and I frequently will consider materials not actually meant for a job, if I think they may perform better. I must be difficult to please because there are times I think all products on the market could simply be better. (I'm raising teens who want to be engineers--I have hope for the future of products!)

We were surprised about the cost of a single glass shower door especially when we requested obscurity. We did not think we were asking for anything out of the ordinary. However, since the trend gods have spoken and heavy clear glass frameless doors are all the rage, the tongues start clicking at you when you want to select something else. I do think the frameless doors look nice but I was interested in perhaps a slightly lighter door, with obscurity, that would both perform better--whether this costs less or more is irrelevant if I liked the product better.

I've only gotten 1 quote back so perhaps the other companies won't have such a higher mark up for obscurity (again, I account this to a trend thing).

There is a lot of things that keep me awake at night but glass shower doors is not one them. ...now searching for just the right product, item, color, ….that keeps me awake. My latest quest is to find pivot or fold away mirror for the cabinet behind my vanity so I can see the back of my head when I pin my hair up, curl it, or cut it. It is like solving puzzles--it is great when you accomplish what you set out to do.

I can certainly understand that someone see a home with 6 showers and the unscrupulous price gouging happens. I wonder if a visit to the glass shop with measurements AND photos in hand might help at least get a rough estimate.

Every location has a different cost of doing business. I just had some custom shower glass installed in Beaverton Oregon and for 1 -30" fixed panel and 1- 29" door it was $1875 (frameless 3/8" clear glass). 20 years ago the same job was $1200.

Just a comment about Lexan. i worked in a State Psychiatric facility decades ago and we used aircraft canopy quality Lexan observation half domes on our isolation room doors so you could lean your head in and see the closest corners to check on patient’s welfare (and to prepare for potential ambush prior to entry). These were supposed to be ”unbreakable”, but a patient spent the better part of a day pounding on the bubble from the inside until it cracked! eventually he was able to break it into shards and start peeling out the fragmants. Once he pulled all of the shards out, he grabbed a large, very sharp piece in his hand for a weapon and began to crawl out! The piece he had for a weapon was about 18” long and came to a scimitar-like point. Fortunately I disarmed him and we moved on to plan ”B”. The moral: This Lexan was NOT unbreakable and when it did break, it broke into large, very sharp shards.