Shower walls - aqua panels or tiles?

[JoeJoe]

Time to do up the shower - heavily used (approx 5 times a day or so).

Corner rectangle enclosure and tray already ordered - just need to decide what to put on the walls.

Older shower had tiles, with 1.5-2mm of white grout in between, and it was far from satisfactory:

- grout was cracking every few years and had to be re-done (I am 100% sure that the wall behind was not the cause).

- The grout (white) was very hard to keep clean-looking.

- Silicone bead between the tiles and the tray failed on a couple of occasions over the 10 year life of the shower, and had to be replaced.

- Despite using very good quality silicone it was very hard to keep the mould away, so I had to give it the bleach-treatment a couple of times (very successful).

We are considering using aqua panel instead or tiles as a result - something similar to these

Any experience with these anyone? i.e.

- How easy to keep clean?

- Can you safely remove and re-do the silicone at the bottom if needed without damaging the boards?

- etc

TIA.

[newshound]

Very easy to keep the boards clean. I don't get mould at the corners but it does develop eventually at the tray and/or other awkward joins. The board surface is pretty tough so in principle should be easy enough to trim back silicone with scalpel, etc, and then re-do. I'd never tile a shower again in a normal domestic setting.

[spuorgelgoog]

Definately a sheet product although I have some reservations about the MDF backed varieties.

As for the shower base, you may be able to find one with an upstand that goes behind the panel, meaning that seal joint isn't critical.

Owain

[newshound]

Agreed, that is definitely the best sort.

[Iggy]

replying to JoeJoe, Iggy wrote: I'd only go with Acrylic. Splashwall and Vistelle have very good setups with seam, corner and end Caps, so the caulk is exposed very little to moisture and air for mold to occur at all. I've got Acrylic and it still looks new everywhere after 20-years. See and scroll down for the Caps. Splashwall -

Vistelle -

[tabbypurr]

Sounds like you had no problem removing the mould, but were for some reason reluctant to do it.

NT

[JoeJoe]

Thanks for the tip. Are they made from solid gold?

[Tim Lamb]

Yes. Mind I have only used the waterproof ply versions. (Grant Westfield?) No (reported:-) issues with cleaning.

Have a look at Rubber Duck bathroom offerings. 'kin expensive but price probably based on equivalent tiling cost.

[JoeJoe]

That is a really good idea - never seen or heard of them before.

Any pointers please? (online or otherwise).

I am after a 900 x 1000 tray BTW.

[Iggy]

replying to JoeJoe, Iggy wrote: Yep, compared to the tile garbage and its hack installation you've had. Or, you can buy more enclosure glass and put that on the walls, but the adhesive choice has to be visibly made for it. Quite incredibly, I couldn't find anyplace that sells entire Acrylic Kits. In other parts of the world you can get them real cheap and have a caulkless future.

[JoeJoe]

That was the first thing I was looking for when investigating a new setup - zero maintenance requirements. Like you, I was very surprised by the lack of availability considering how simple they are to make and how common they are in places such as North America.

[spuorgelgoog]

I can't find them right now -- possibly they went out of fashion about the same time as avocado bathrooms? but this site has some useful looking things eg

Owain

[Iggy]

replying to JoeJoe, Iggy wrote: I was gobsmacked and gutted, I thought the plastic crap had long ago taken over the world. I expected your B&Q (our Home Depot) and Wickes (our Lowe's) or Screwfix (our True Value & Ace) to be absolutely arse over tit with the stuff.

[Tim Lamb]

800 x 1200 allows you to stand out of the water while it warms up:-)

Found this while failing to find a tray with a built in upstand..