When it comes to renovating washrooms, bathroom wall panels are emerging to be popular among customers. However, owing to the shortage of awareness regarding wall panels, most people still choose to go for bathroom tiles. Albeit bathroom tiles are available in a variety of designs, their maintenance is difficult.
What are bathroom wall panels?
Bathroom wall panels or shower wall panels or wet wall panels are a durable and waterproof alternative to tiles for your shower space or washroom. They are usually made up of acrylic, Polyvinylchloride, or laminated pressure Vinyl on an MDF core. The cheapest of these is the PVC variety of panels. PVC is also lighter than its counterparts.
Bathroom tiles have been around for a long time; it is a product with which most of us are incredibly familiar. Therefore, the decision to move on to a new option needs to be a well-informed one.
Benefits of bathroom wall panels
- Ease of installation: Shower wall panels are extremely easy to install, unlike bathroom tiles whose installation is a cumbersome job. Besides, the cost of labor incurred is way higher with tiles. Alignment and cutting of tiles again require a level of expertise. In addition to this, we need to wait for several days for the adhesive to dry.
On the other hand, installing Wall Panels can be done on your own. The installation process does not result in a mess because shower wall panels are dry.
- Low maintenance: Cleaning bathroom tiles is a tedious task. We have to worry about a lot of things- discolored grout, which makes tiles look dirty and toilet wall molds that could develop between tiles. Proper cleaning of tiles requires a variety of products. Therefore cleaning bathroom tiles need both extra effort and money.
With bathroom wall panels, there is no question of discolored grout or wall molds. The wall panels could be easily cleaned with any standard domestic cleansing agent. Even cleaning them with a piece of cloth works. Hence, shower wall panels save us both the effort and the money.
- Bathroom wall panel materials are both scalable and versatile. The time required to install shower wall panels for a bathroom wall is significantly less compared to the time needed to install tiles for the same wall.
- Long-lasting: Shower wall panels last much longer than wallpaper, paint, and tiles. They do not develop any wear or tear even after years of usage.
- Installation over existing tiles, wallpapers, or imperfect wall surfaces is possible.
- Environmental friendly: Bathroom wall panels are recyclable, and their disposal can also be done in an eco-friendly manner.
- Versatile: A wide variety of designs are available. Marble, minimalistic, imitating tiles, sparkle, elemental, wood effect, or rustic- you can take your pick.
- Changing existing bathroom wall panels is easy and hassle-free.
The different wall panels
- Solid Core Boards
Advantages– Can be installed directly over existing tiles or walls. There are also more durable than uPVC panels.
Disadvantages– They are more expensive than uPVC panels. Choosing cleaning products should be done wisely because some products tend to erode solid core boards’ surface.
- uPVC boards
Advantages- They aredurable and require minimum cleaning.
Disadvantages- Some uPVC boards are thin and, therefore, more prone to damage.
- Acrylic boards
Advantages- Offer a glass splashback appearance at a much cheaper cost.
Disadvantages- They aremore expensive than solid core boards and uPVC boards.
Now that we have listed the benefits of shower wall panels, it is only fair that we consider the benefits of tiles to make a sound decision.
Benefits of tiled washroom walls
- Availability of a plethora of choices.
- It offers great flexibility when it comes to design.
- Wall tiles can be repaired in case they suffer some sort of damage.
- Most tradespeople have more sound knowledge about tiles as compared to bathroom wall panels. This is primarily because tiles have been around for much longer.
The benefits of bathroom wall panels outweigh those of bathroom tiles. There are many shower wall panels suppliers, both online and offline, offering a wide variety of designs to suit your taste. You can take your pick depending on your style and your budget.