Shower Wall Panels

[canalsiderenovation]

We visited TG builders today and looked at quite a few showerwall alternative to tiles after having had quite a few samples from www.showerwall.co.uk

 

We were quite taken with a few different designs from a manufacturer called Fibo. Has anyone heard of these? Opinions?

[Conor]

Not them in particular, but we used panels in our last house renovation for the ensuite. They wee great, and the builder had them fitted in an hour. Were not cheap, think we paid £180 or so for enough for a 800mm shower. They were the laminate on marine ply type, not the PVC panel type. After seeing both, the solid type panels are a lot nicer than the hollow PVC type stuff.

[canalsiderenovation]

21 minutes ago, Conor said:

Not them in particular, but we used panels in our last house renovation for the ensuite. They wee great, and the builder had them fitted in an hour. Were not cheap, think we paid £180 or so for enough for a 800mm shower. They were the laminate on marine ply type, not the PVC panel type. After seeing both, the solid type panels are a lot nicer than the hollow PVC type stuff.

 

Agree, we didn't like any of the hollow pvc stuff and it's the ply type. We have three showers so it isn't going to be cheap and one of them fits into an alcove with three walls ? hoping though it will be far easier for cleaning though 

[Roys]

I have just fitted10 Fibo panels.

The quality of the panels is very good but I did find it super awkward to fit as none of the walls are plumb or square in the renovation project I am doing. There was a lot of panel scribing involved into the corners.

We also used the tile effect panels which gives you the added complication of having to line up the “grout” lines. I used Styxall for sticking the panel to the walls and a hybrid sealant for joining the t&g. Think I ended up with more on me than on the panels.

Looks fab but I wouldn’t be in a hurry to do it myself again, think I would pay someone to do it the next time.

Panels are only 600mm wide so can be quite expensive when you price it up.

Make sure you store flat as they can distort ever so slightly in storage then they become a huge pain to interlock, I had one odd panel not in a pack and not stored flat and although it looked fine it wasn’t funny.

[Onoff]

Have a look at what @ProDave did in "Main Bathroom Complete":

 

http://www.willowburn.net/

 

Imo 600 wide panels are a bit daft and introduce an unnecessary joint. Wider panels the way to go with as few joints as possible. 

[ProDave]

Yes I used Multipanel in 1200 wide by 2400 tall sheets.  They were about £100 each from Jewson to order, WAY cheaper than the same thing in any of the bathroom shops.

 

If you need to cut any, as I did with a "room in roof" bathroom, I templated first with large sheets of cardboard, get that right then use that to mark the real panels for cutting.

[Ferdinand]

10 hours ago, Roys said:

I have just fitted10 Fibo panels.

The quality of the panels is very good but I did find it super awkward to fit as none of the walls are plumb or square in the renovation project I am doing. There was a lot of panel scribing involved into the corners.

We also used the tile effect panels which gives you the added complication of having to line up the “grout” lines. I used Styxall for sticking the panel to the walls and a hybrid sealant for joining the t&g. Think I ended up with more on me than on the panels.

Looks fab but I wouldn’t be in a hurry to do it myself again, think I would pay someone to do it the next time.

Panels are only 600mm wide so can be quite expensive when you price it up.

Make sure you store flat as they can distort ever so slightly in storage then they become a huge pain to interlock, I had one odd panel not in a pack and not stored flat and although it looked fine it wasn’t funny.

 

In that case I would try and frame out first if space allowed.

[Roys]

1 hour ago, Ferdinand said:

 

In that case I would try and frame out first if space allowed.

Bit tight, en-suite bathroom.

[Ferdinand]

1 hour ago, Roys said:

Bit tight, en-suite bathroom.

 

You could frame out with eg 20x10mm rather than normal size timber.

[Roys]

55 minutes ago, Ferdinand said:

 

You could frame out with eg 20x10mm rather than normal size timber.

I could have in hind sight, but it ain’t happening now, as I spent two horrible days fitting it, so it’s not coming out now?

[Onoff]

9 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

 

In that case I would try and frame out first if space allowed.

 

I "framed out" for a number of reasons:

 

1) Primarily to square the room off and add insulation (down to a minimum of 50mm).

 

2) To plumb the walls, I only found out how "out they were once I started.

 

3) To hide the concealed WC & other pipework.

 

4) To create feature recesses.

[canalsiderenovation]

23 hours ago, ProDave said:

Yes I used Multipanel in 1200 wide by 2400 tall sheets.  They were about £100 each from Jewson to order

 

@ProDaveWe're these the PVC ones or ply ones? They seem to be cheaper than Fibo but we haven't yet found a colour of multipanel that we like.

 

23 hours ago, Onoff said:

Imo 600 wide panels are a bit daft and introduce an unnecessary joint. Wider panels the way to go with as few joints as possible. 

 

@Onoff I thought that too and we want to avoid joins. We have one tray 1200*800 surrounded by three walls so will need three large panels and two others 1400*800 with two walls so will need four panels I think so that's 7 panels in total ? I'm sure tiles woukd be cheaper.

 

13 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

We also used the tile effect panels which gives you the added complication of having to line up the “grout” lines.

 

@Ferdinand interesting point. Some of the ones we have seen come in either tile format or not and given your issues it makes me more likely to go for those without and that come in large panels instead. 

[Ferdinand]

11 minutes ago, canalsiderenovation said:

 

@ProDaveWe're these the PVC ones or ply ones? They seem to be cheaper than Fibo but we haven't yet found a colour of multipanel that we like.

 

 

@Onoff I thought that too and we want to avoid joins. We have one tray 1200*800 surrounded by three walls so will need three large panels and two others 1400*800 with two walls so will need four panels I think so that's 7 panels in total ? I'm sure tiles woukd be cheaper.

 

 

@Ferdinand interesting point. Some of the ones we have seen come in either tile format or not and given your issues it makes me more likely to go for those without and that come in large panels instead. 

 

That wasn't me - I would douse my leg in nitric acid, cut it off with a rusty hacksaw, and feed it to a rabid labradoodle before doing that.

 

I use something with a texture selected specifically to hide any potential lines, and especially any marks or scratches.

 

Rather like the sensible default colour for any car being the same as the colour of the local dust.

 

I am not one of the "lets create as much aggro as humanly possible for ourselves by buying the most awkward patterns possible" set ? . Give me a construction cocktail instead, any day.

,

 

Edited July 20, 2020 by Ferdinand

[canalsiderenovation]

6 minutes ago, Ferdinand said:

That wasn't me - I would douse my leg in nitric acid, cut it off with a rusty hacksaw and feed it to a labradoodle before doing that.

 

Sorry it was @Roys oops.

 

The issue I'm finding with Fibo is anything we like comes in 600mm wide so we will have to have joins in the panels on the 1200 and 1400 tray walls as they just don't do large panels so there is going to be some wastage and a lot of panels. I'm going to get some more samples from them 

Edited July 20, 2020 by canalsiderenovation

[ProDave]

12 minutes ago, canalsiderenovation said:

 

@ProDaveWe're these the PVC ones or ply ones? They seem to be cheaper than Fibo but we haven't yet found a colour of multipanel that we like.

 

Mine are the Ply ones.  Jewson have all the samples for all the different finishes and get them to order.