Instead of tiles. Please share your thoughts and experience.

Thanks.

They look ok in our NHS shower cubicle in NHS blue

Depends what look your after I guess…

😆 Wondering whether it would cost less than tiling and the labour that entails.

We had them in the outdoor centre – in all sorts of colours.
They are not as stylish as tiles, but some are not that *bad*
Yes they are cheaper, yes there is less to go wrong.

Wondering whether it would cost less than tiling and the labour that entails.

A frustrating answer but….it depends.

Cheap wetwall is way more expensive than cheap tiling.
The more expensive your tiles get the narrower that gap gets until it flips and goes the other way.
Expensive tiling can be ridiculous money.

Need to replace the bathroom and have had one quote where the guy said they would tile on top of the existing tiles. I don’t feel comfortable with that, spoke to some chaps in a large tiling retailer and they said they should be removed because of the weight and flimsy plaster board.

If I’m having to replace plaster board, which is likely, would it be cheaper to use panels rather than tiles.

Thanks perchy, it’s a tricky one. I have a large shower cubicle, it’s getting very expensive.

I got as far as some samples and looking around in showrooms, came to conclusion, for a whole bathroom, it would probably look like it is, plastic and cheap. However, there may be better stuff out there than I looked at.
I think a stand alone shower cubicle with panels looks ok tho if that’s what you’re suggesting, but a whole bathroom in panelling, not for me.
This is what I’ve recently had done

I’ve done a couple of bathrooms with Aqua board or Mermaid board. It’s great inside the shower/ above the bath. I think it looks good and it is soooo much easier to keep clean than tiles.

Cost wise depends on the tiles. I’m not a big fan of cheap tiles and certainly not of tiling on top of old tiles, no problem with strength, but you end up with a big ledge and it ends up looking like a cheap job no matter how much you spend on tiles. IMHO obviously.

Need to replace the bathroom and have had one quote where the guy said they would tile on top of the existing tiles.

Avoid. You can do it but it’s not good practice.

When I next do a bathroom in my house, i’ll be using wetwall .

Just choose the colour / pattern carefully as it can look dated quite quickly as fashions change.

That looks nice B.A.Nana, the distressed look certainly gives it character.

timraven – interesting, did the walls need any special preparation beforehand?

I panelled one end of the small bathroom in my previous flat, in order to fit a walk-in shower – end result was nice, but there were a couple of issues… the main one of which is you need to pre-cut holes for the shower fittings themselves, and if you get any of that wrong, or need to get at the pipe fittings for any reason after the board is mounted to the wall, it’s a much bigger problem than needing to take out a tile or two.
Also they need to be glued very securely as they are pretty heavy – and one of mine wanted to bend away from the wall at the bottom and needed bracing to hold it in place while the adhesive cured.
I’d probably do it again for the walls that don’t have the shower fittings.

Wouldn’t have tiles over tiles. I’d avoid the tiler who suggested that.

We had our en-suite replaced last year, we decided to go for panels. The tiles and the plasterboard they were on all came off (note I did the rubbish disposal myself rather than pay for a skip, all good apart from I had to take the plasterboard to a specific tip as only one location in our area will take it)

[url=https://flic.kr/p/Nk6ppX]IMG_20161122_211159[/url] by Notoriously Bad Typist, on Flickr

Love the boards, much easier to look after than the tiles. However he did replace the plasterboard before fitting the showerboards. He also had to add some battens to space out the wall as it wasn’t deep enough to fit the thermostatic shower valve

maccyb – ah, that’s a good point concerning access to pipes and didn’t realise they’re very heavy.

nbt – that looks lovely. Quite a mega operation by the sound of it especially with disposing of rubbish as well. Was there much damage to the plasterboard after removing the tiles?

I did something somewhat like nbt’s, just in the shower area. Removed all the tiles and the plasterboard they were on. Made sure the remaining studwork was very square/vertical etc. and replaced the old plasterboard with nomoreply (thinner, flatter and more waterproof than plasterboard). There is minimal pipework behind the boards so no real concerns about access afterwards. I did pre-drill the panels before fitting them. The actual panels are pretty light – however staggering about the bathroom with a 8′ by 4′ floppy board covered in glue, and needing to align it to within a mm or two, was entertaining.

The panels are certainly more expensive than tiles but that might even out when factoring in labour. Those I used were on a 6 week delivery so it would have been a double disaster if I’d damaged them while fitting.

Overall IMO they look great and need no looking after. I’d post pictures but don’t have any to hand – the overall look is similar to nbt’s

Yes, it was a lot of work overall, but that’s why we got a chap in to do it :). All the plasterboard came off as part of the strip down, and was replaced – frankly easier to do that than try and chip off tiles, I expect

Thanks and interesting re your use of a different type of plasterboard. Good to hear that folk who’ve used these are pleased with the result.

My parents had their shower cubicle done with some nice panels and find it much much easier to look after. The rest is tile though, too much of the stuff gets expensive and looks dire. They did have a matching section of work top installed to make it all match up.

nbt – oh I see, well your chap has certainly done a good job! Yes, suspect it’s easier to replace plasterboard and I shall check on whether there’s any restrictions when disposing.

B.A.Nana – Member

This is what I’ve recently had done

Do you have the same stuff on the floor as the wall?

Showerboards are easy to install unless your house is crooked and they don’t go mouldy like tiles do. They are much easier to keep clean too. I will never have tiles again.This was what I did; don’t laugh at my odd shower connection please.

km79 – Member
B.A.Nana – Member
This is what I’ve recently had done

Do you have the same stuff on the floor as the wall?
Yes, the tiler recommended going up one wall with the wood effect tiles. Shower area isn’t finished yet, but tray and one wall will be wood effect tiles according to him.

Watching with interest as I need to do something with our currently leaky tiled ensuite shower cubicle.

glass splashbacks here – easy to install and maintain

Tiles are crap, the wetwall is much better. However, as above, just slapping wetwall over tiles is bodge merchant area.

We had the whole wall behind our bath done as we wanted a big block of colour there, choice a little limited as wanted a boarding a hidden water tight join. More choice for shower walls though or where hydrolock joints aren’t required.

Quite happy to use it again, doesn’t look cheap or like camp site toilets.

allthepies – Member
Tiles are crap, the wetwall is much better.

Re tiling, I was advised to use a quality tiler who also fits bathroom suites, rather than a plumber who can also do tiling. Like most stuff in life, you get what/who you pay for as well, but probably can’t argue against a panel will be easier to clean than tiles.

Re tiling, I was advised to use a quality tiler who also fits bathroom suites, rather than a plumber who can also do tiling. Like most stuff in life, you get what/who you pay for as well, but probably can’t argue against a panel will be easier to clean than tiles.

It’s how I got into Bathroom and Kitchen fitting. I am a tiler of 20 years experience, I fancied a bit of a change after 10 years of just tiling. I got fed up of seeing jobs where the plumber had done the tiling, made a hash of it IMO and still got paid top dollar.

The tiling IS the finish and needs to be 100%.

I now do top end Bathrooms and Kitchens on contract to a local design company. 10-20k territory, they hire me because of the finish I achieve compared to others who they’ve had over the years. Tilers will set everything up in the 1st instance to make the tiling look good at the end (usually).

Back on topic, yes shower panels can look good if fitted well, they can work out quite expensive though as they save the labour from the tiling but material bill is generally higher. I charge £35m/2 for tiling inc adhesive and grout, there’s 6-8m in a normal shower enclosure. I’d charge £100 to panel it instead, so very little difference in the total bill.

The big winner is time saved, 1/2 day to panel a shower Vs a day to tile it, elimination of wet trades, and I suppose also, if you like shower panels or tiles. I’d only have panels in an enclosure, I think they look a little tacky anywhere else.

Not sure what happened there! Anyway, my 2p worth.

I can’t comment on price or easy of fitting as the house was a new build but we have Selkie board that may be worth a look.

Watch out for gaps between the bottom of the board and the shower tray.

Ours looked fine at first, but for whatever reason, over time water leaked in. It seems fine now that I’ve taken all the old silicone sealant out and put new in (much deeper) but still somewhat…. frustrating.