Bath panels vs bath tiles

[Twils]

Hey all.

As part of the seemingly endless house refurb i am having a new shower put in, i am getting on in age and due to a lot of radiotherapy and poor health find it hard getting in and out of the bath so i am replacing it with a shower tray. Not ideal as i had a new bath a couple of years ago, but life is like that!

I have got a few quotes, 3 of the plumbers said we should go with bath panels and i think they intend to install the panels straight over my existing tiles
One of them has insisted tiles are far better.

I am just curious which you think are the best? i have found patterns i like on both. My gut tells me panels as i do not want to deal with mucky grout any more, but i have no idea about the durability of panels.

Thanks.

 

[Madrab]

Durability of wet wall panels are really as simple as price. The hardbacked panels @ over £200 a panel are great and have excellent system for fitting/sealing etc. You need to find a really good installer, that knows what they are doing and using the right adhesives in the right way. Too many shysters out there throwing them up really badly.

The plastic honeycomb panels have their place as a budget install but I have seen them damaged as they aren't as resilient or robust and can be dented/cracked.

All wall panels can be damaged much easier than tiles but it depends on how hard a time they get from the users

Tiles are tiles, get a good tiler and there's no comparison IMO, pick the right colour schemes and grout colours and then it doesn't matter about mucky grout down the line as much.

 

[Burnerman]

Bath panels every time! Personally I like Multipanel including the corner trims that are available. Experience this product and you'll wonder why tiles are still used.
Squeegee them down after use and they'll look great for years.
Best wishes for your health issues
John

 

[Twils]

Durability of wet wall panels are really as simple as price. The hardbacked panels @ over £200 a panel are great and have excellent system for fitting/sealing etc. You need to find a really good installer, that knows what they are doing and using the right adhesives in the right way. Too many shysters out there throwing them up really badly.

The plastic honeycomb panels have their place as a budget install but I have seen them damaged as they aren't as resilient or robust and can be dented/cracked.

All wall panels can be damaged much easier than tiles but it depends on how hard a time they get from the users

Tiles are tiles, get a good tiler and there's no comparison IMO, pick the right colour schemes and grout colours and then it doesn't matter about mucky grout down the line as much.

So essentially with panels you get what you pay for. But tiles are more resilient over all.

The guy who specified tiles also asked me not to get the tiles i picked out as 'porcelain are much harder to work with' and asked me to get ceramic instead.

Thanks, i appreciate the advice.

 

[Twils]

Bath panels every time! Personally I like Multipanel including the corner trims that are available. Experience this product and you'll wonder why tiles are still used.
Squeegee them down after use and they'll look great for years.
Best wishes for your health issues
John

Thanks John, would you agree it is best to avoid the £50-100 pound panels and splash out more for a more resilient product?

 

[jj4091]

Like Burnerman ours was done with Multipanels and am very pleased with it. I also agree with Madrab that you need to find someone with plenty of experience of installing them as it is very easy to get things wrong. I also wondered how they would be in a hard water area especially for someone with mobility issues who would find squeegeeing them after every use difficult, because I feel they would look awful with a coating of limescale and it might be more difficult to remove than on tiles.

 

[kidgreen61]

Panels everytiome for me, did mine 4 yrs ago, and they look just as good today.
As Madrab says, worth paying more for hard backed ones, they're very robust.