Why People Are Going Nuts Over Bathroom Shower Panels
It’s not often that something as simple as a bathroom fitting makes people lose their marbles. But shower panels are having a profound effect on interior design psychology - much bigger than anyone could have predicted.
It all comes down to their incredible benefits. Shower panels give homeowners the type of wall coverings they’ve always wanted. They’re affordable, beautiful and critically waterproof - a combination of characteristics that’s hard to find in other materials.
But, first, what are bathroom shower panels? In a nutshell, they’re pre-fabricated PVC panels designed to look like traditional materials. Manufacturers create them in large machines, using 3D print technology. The result is textured panels with a level of detailing that rivals the real thing. Often, it is hard to tell the difference.
So why are people going nuts over bathroom shower panels? Let’s take a look:
They’re Beautiful
What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of PVC wall panels? Usually, cheap artificial-looking cladding builders install in public toilets. However, the technology has moved on tremendously over the last few years. And now many PVC products are actually more beautiful and refined than the real thing.
It comes down to advances in plastics and printing. It’s now possible to create textured effects on wall panels with print designs showing the finest detail, allowing vendors to recreate the essence of virtually any material. The wall panels we offer, for instance, let you create a stone, tile, marble, wood or brick effect in your shower without having to use any of the original materials at all.
They’re Fire Retardant
Fires are still a risk, even in shower rooms - particularly electrical fires. It’s good to know, therefore, that PVC shower panels are fire retardant. This means that they can resist the spread of fire from your bathroom to the other rooms in your home.
They’re Easy To Maintain
Traditional tiled bathrooms are challenging to maintain. You continually have to keep an eye out for mould growing in the plasterwork. Otherwise you wind up with black streaks all over the place, especially in areas, like the shower, that are prone to moisture.
Wood-panelled bathrooms are equally difficult to maintain. Because bathrooms generate a lot of steam, you need to treat the wood regularly to prevent it from twisting, warping and, eventually, rotting.
But that’s not the case with tile or wood effect bathroom shower panels. They’re incredibly easy to clean and maintain. And, critically, they’ll never absorb any water, making them an ideal addition to your shower cubicle.
You Can Install Them Quickly
Here’s another reason why you’ll love shower wall panels: you can install them quickly.
Think about the amount of time that it takes to tile a bathroom. Usually, it requires many hours of painstaking work, carefully placing each tile next to the other, making sure that they all line up. It can take a professional several days to finish the job and amateurs well over a week.
But bathroom shower panels make the task incredibly easy. It’s just a case of quickly fitting them to the wall. Estimates suggest that fitting panels is up to six times faster than regular tiles.
Fitting panels is quite easy. First, you measure the interior walls of your shower enclosure to find out how large your panels need to be. You then choose the design of shower wall panels you want from our massive selection of options. If you’re stuck on which to choose, then check out our blogs that go into more detail about the styles on offer.
To fit shower panels, you’ll need the panel installation kit which should come with a guide, a roll of foam tape, tile spacers, silicone finishing tool, sanding pads and clear adhesive sealant. You can fit shower panels on multiple surfaces, both horizontally and vertically. Use an electric saw to cut the panel to the correct shape and the sand down the cut edges. Finish the panels by simply placing tile spacers behind the panel and applying the sealant - it’s that simple.
They’re Waterproof
When it comes to shower wall cladding, having something that’s waterproof helps a great deal. Not only does it lower your maintenance, but it keeps your shower smelling fresh year-round, even if you’ve had issues with your extractor fan in the past.
Our shower panels’ waterproofing come from their PVC construction. This plastic is a non-porous material which means that water can’t penetrate it and get into the wall behind. So long as your caulking is high-quality and you apply the sealant in the correct way, your bathroom shower area will remain 100 percent damp-free.
They’re Versatile
Shower panels also offer another important benefit: they allow you to install styles that would be impossible using natural materials. For instance, suppose you want your shower cubicle walls to look like grey slate. Installing the genuine article would be prohibitively expensive and ill-advised, given the amount of water, soap and shampoo that runs through the average shower cubicle. But getting the same effect from bathroom shower panels is virtually trouble-free.
The range of options available from us is quite spectacular. Our panels allow you to mimic materials such as concrete, granite, marble, anthracite, tiles, gloss white, patterned tiles, mosaics and even wood. This way, the physical properties of materials don’t have to constrain your choices. If you want a wood effect shower wall, you can have it.
Wrapping Up
There are other reasons why people are going nuts over shower wall panels at the moment - including their affordability - but hopefully you get the picture. These handy options allow you to transform your bathroom on a budget to a degree that was never possible in the past. Advances in fabrication technology means that vendors can make PVC cladding look like real materials. And it’s opening up new opportunities and revolutionising how we think about our bathrooms. With wall panels, you can cut down on maintenance, make your bathroom more waterproof and get something that lasts a lifetime.
