DreamLine Essence 44-48 in. W x 76 in. H Frameless Bypass Shower Door in Satin Black

The reasons I chose to purchase these doors is because of their appearance and the fact that they are 76" high, which is higher than other shower doors. I also liked the fact that the doors fit shower openings ranging from 44" to 48" wide, but this feature is common in almost all sliding shower doors.These are definitely high end quality doors, but installation should be left to a professional or a courageous experienced DIYer. It is unfortunate that I don't need to renovate a second shower or replace another shower door, because I would love to use all the knowledge that I have learned from this installation. Details regarding my experience are described below.I removed my old prefab shower stall and constructed a new shower from scratch, installing tile on the walls and shower floor. Prior to working on my shower, I had never heard of frameless shower doors. When I did my research I learned that frameless means that the shower glass is not encased in a frame. I also learned that frameless sliding shower doors must still be mounted on a guide rail or track of some sort. The reason I say of some sort, is because my research revealed that some frameless sliding doors are supported by a top track, side and bottom tracks. Some are supported by complete top and bottom tracks, without side tracks, and others are supported by a full top track, with the bottom only being supported with a few guides at the bottom for the shower doors to slide through. This Dreamline sliding shower door is supported with a top rail and partial guides that the shower doors slide through, along with a bottom track that is position in front of the bottom guides.I consider myself to be an experienced DIYer, but I confess that installation of these doors was quite a challenge. The reason that I felt challenged was because this was the first time I had ever built a shower from scratch or installed a shower door, and the thought of drilling holes through my newly tiled shower walls and base of the shower step up made me feel a bit uncomfortable. So, I thoroughly read the installation instructions and wanted to be absolutely certain that I was drilling the holes in the right place.Although the detailed instructions that came with the doors gave me some comfort, the detailed instructions also caused me some anxiety. But being the die hard DIYer that I am, I forged ahead and proceeded with installing the shower doors.Once the hardware was installed, I contacted a friend to help me with mounting the shower doors on the top rail and bottom guides. I should point out that I had initially planned on mounting the doors without help, but I quickly realized that the weight of the doors was too heavy for me to lift on my own. When I say heavy doors, I mean HEAVY doors, as they are made of solid, thick, glass. I am sure that the added height of the shower doors added to the weight. Despite their weight, they glide very smoothly across the top rail.After I finished mounting the shower doors, I discovered that the way I had installed some of the hardware was creating a problem with the doors closing properly. For example, I discovered that the anti-water side strips were interfering with the shower closing tight, because I had placed the strips too close to the shower door opening. Because the strips were attached to a metal wall profile that was only attached to the shower wall with silicone, I could not remove the dried silicone from the two metal wall profiles, despite my efforts. I was able to at least removed the profiles from the shower wall and scrap the dried silicone off the wall. I ended up contacting DreamLine and described my dilemma. They were kind enough to send me the replacement parts I needed at no cost. Ironically, installing the anti-water side strips and metal wall profile after the shower doors were in place worked out much better.I also experienced a problem with the shower doors being mounted too high from the shower step up base. Although the height of the shower doors can be adjusted after they have been installed, the adjustment capability is only minor. Needless to say, even though I thought I had explicitly followed the detailed instructions when I installed the hardware, I discovered that the guide rail could have been installed about 1/4" lower. I think the problems stemmed from the fact, that my diamond drill bit shifted, somewhat, when I was trying to drill holes in the wall tile for the mounting bracket. Unfortunately, it wasn't something that I was able to correct, but I am lucky in that the 1/4' gap at the bottom of the shower door has not caused any leaking, because the full bottom rail that is installed next to the bottom guide blocks is high enough to prevent water from leaking on to the floor.Equipped with my expertise, when I am at the various home improvement stores, I look at the frameless shower doors I can immediately tell that my DreamLine shower doors are of better quality.

If your looking for a nice looking shower door this is the one for you. However, if you want to keep the water in the shower then run from this one. I waited to do a review to make sure I could give it a fair and honest review. The contractor said the install wasn't that bad, but took a while. Make sure the doors go on in the correct direction (doors have a coating on one side). When taking a shower the water does go outside on the floor every time. The lip on the bottom should have been a little higher. Hopefully they will modify the bottom track and over lap the doors a little more to keep the water inside and not allow it to go out on the floor. Granted it is not a lot of water, but the shower doors should keep the water inside. If I could I would ship them back for a full refund, but the holes have already been drilled. Maybe Amazon or Dreamline will give a partial refund as the product is defected. Why would they make a shower door that leaks water outside??

The product is really good looking and relatively easy to install as long as you measure the holes accurately, drill them fine, and the screws went in firmly. I had to cut the main top metal hanging guiderail 1/4 of inch, and after making the surface evening, the guiderail went into the brackets pretty even and firm, and should not move even without the top small cover and screw.I installed myself in about 5-6 hours, only needed some help when hanging the doors. The glass doors are so nice looking and much easier to move than my previous metal framed doors. I am so happy when looking at my shower which looks much shining and clean behind the glass doors.One small design flaw in my opinion is that the bottom three door holders are not firmed with screw to the metal piece below, and only glued by the silicones. With the months or years of use, they might came off. The other thing is the plastic water guard is not sticky enough, and I had to use the superglue to attach them. But over all, the glass doors are great, and well worth the money!

Like the appearance but wish the was more rubber used to reduce sliding sounds.

I have had problems with water splashing on outside of shower door threshold. Installer put an additional strip at bottom and it cut splashing to a small amount. I really like the look of the doors but am a little disappointed in the small amount of water droplets on the outside of the threshold.

It is nice when you get it all put together but the directions are not the best and some of the items marked in boxes to use according to diagram had no nothing on them.

This came strapped to two pallets screwed together pretty shabbily. Nothing was broken, but could have easily been so with a common carrier. While the instructions were great, it requires a lot of holes through porcelain tiles in my bath. Good drills are hard to find and variances in wall squareness are not easily overcome.

Looks good but very hard to install. Doesn’t keep water out

Packaging was horrible. Took months to deliver. Very difficult installation. Doors don't run smoothly on rail unless you're very careful with it. I would have choose something else