Vinyl Flooring for Tub Surround?

[croy]

Is there a big reason why vinyl flooring isn't used more often for tub/shower surrounds?

[Ed Pawlowski]

Aside from ugly, there are better materials often seamless. Ceramic tiles are great, but more expensive than some of the plastic or fiberglass surrounds available. I used tiles, but there is something for most every budget.

[croy]

Actually, there are some pretty nice patterns in vinyl flooring--at least they look nice on-screen.

But what I'm noticing, the price really isn't much different from ceramic tile.

It does seem to me like the vinyl might have a little better sound absorbtion than ceramic tile (less reflected sound), while tile might have better attenuation of transmitted sound.

[redzap78]

Ceramic tile will last longer and is easer to maintain.

[Jon Danniken]

I think the main argument supporting "other than tile" for a surround is the amount of time saved during installation. Tiling takes awhile, and you must perform specific preparation of the underlying surface to do a good job.

Using a one-piece surround such as plastic laminate (Wilsonart, Formica, et al) requires you to glue it and stick it on the wall, without the myriad of prep steps that you have to do with tile.

Jon

[Ed Pawlowski]

The plastic surrounds are a good value, easy to install, durable, leakproof. But none of that matters to me.

I'd use them if I was fixing up a rental property but the best of them are rather blah in appearance compared to ceramic tile. My house when built had fiberglass shower and tub surrounds and I was happy to get rid of them in favor of a nice tile.

[trader_4]

Is it even used at all? I've never seen it. One problem would be how do you deal with corners? Edges? I guess you could use some kind of plastic molding in the corners, with some kind of glue to hold it on. But I've never seen it done. And having something odd, if resale is any consideration, usually isn't a good idea.

[croy]

Last longer, for sure. I'm not so convinced of easier to maintain.

[croy]

Neither have I. There must be good reasons why we haven't seen it--I'm just wondering what those reasons are.

Inside corners would be caulked, I suppose, just like tile.

I think there are edgings available, just like for floors.

I wouldn't argue that point for one second!

[clare]

I've seen solid vinyl flooring used for surrounds. Ages ago I even say genuine linoleum.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Both my showers have a squeegee in them. Takes about 20 seconds to get rid of the excess water. No chemicals needed. We have epoxy grout.