bathroom cladding 

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Bathroom Wall Covering

If you are thinking of refurbishing or remodelling your bathroom your choice of bathroom wall covering is critical to the overall design. The colour, style and material will all play a part in how the finished job will look - both at the time of completion and for years to come.

The usual materials considered are:

• ceramic bathroom tiles
• pine tongue and groove
• wallpaper
• painted plaster walls
• bathroom cladding

All of these products have their down sides - even bathroom cladding.

There is no denying that ceramic tiles can look fabulous when first installed - providing they were fitted correctly - and have the advantage of being suitable for use on every wall, even in shower cubicles. Uneven walls or poor preparation can make installation difficult and badly fitted tiles can detract from the overall finish. Ceramic bathroom tiles can also be let down over time by the grout used to fill the gaps between the tiles. Although "waterproof" this material can harbour moisture and wherever a surface stays moist there is a danger of mould taking root. Once this happens you have to be very quick to erradicate it penetrates through the grout it is very difficult to erradicate.

Of course you could avoid both of these problems by swapping from ceramic tiles to a more modern bathroom wall covering such as cladding. Bathroom cladding is a clean, easy to install, maintenance free wall covering system that will look as good as the day it was installed years later.

Bathroom Cladding

The condistion of the underlying wall is less critical when installing bathroom cladding as it is slightly flexible along its length and will find its own level over slightly undulating surfaces. Even if the walls are very uneven cladding can still be installed onto battens - see our installation page for more details. Another bonus is that you do not necessarily have to remove any existing tiles or covering before the cladding's installation. This is because, unlike tiles, each panel hold the next panel in place - and each panel will have several "blobs" of adhesive holding it in place, so even if one of these looses adhesion the others will hold it in place. The cladding is usually installed touching the floor or bath rim so the weight of the panel is usually supported meaning there is virtuall no force acting on the panel that would make it de-bond from the wall. Saying that, there is no point scrimping on adhesive and preparation: walls should be clean, dry and free of grease and soap residue before the cladding is installed. If the bathroom walls are uneven and the panels need to flexed slightly make sure there is plenty of adhesive used to ensure the cladding does not pull away from the wall (use the contact method for best results - fit the panel using blobs of adhesive then remove it and allow the adhesive to go tacky. Replace the panel while still tacky and you will get an instant bond.)

Our web site has masses of information and plenty of detailed images and diagrams on every aspect of bathroom cladding, its installation and its applications.

You can see all of the questions that we get asked frequently about bathroom cladding on our F.A.Q. page or if you require any further information please do not hesitate to get in touch via our contact page.