PVC bathroom cladding

Swasterix

Evening all. 

Following on from my last post, I’m looking to re-do my bathroom at some point in the near future. I’m fairly decent at tiling, but it’s a job I despise and am loathe to paying somebody to do it. Has anybody out there ever used PVC cladding on their bathroom walls in lieu of tiles? 

I’ve browsed a few websites and it looks quite impressive in the pictures, however I’m a little sceptical... Have had a look about and can’t find anywhere local that stocks it to go have a look. 

A few questions;
Does it look “cheap”?
How noticeable are the joins?
Is it really waterproof?
It it that much easier than tiles to apply?

Any other points of view, advantages or disadvantages would be welcome!

Thanks for reading!

Jeepers_Creepers

Do you mean the large panels, around say 8' high x 2' or more wide?

I've seen plenty of photos of these, and now realise I must have seen them in reality too as I went round looking at houses for sis-in-law a few months back.

I also, for a moment, considered them for my own bathroom and sent off for a sample of the finish.

All I can say from this is, if it's a 'nice' finish - ideally with a texture - then it can look perfectly fine. If it's a cheap print on a very smooth panel, then it can look carp.

How waterproof they are comes down to how well they are installed :-)  If you are going to use them in a shower cubicle, then try and get panels large enough to not require joins at all except the unavoidable one in the corner. 

Swasterix

Jeepers_Creepers said:

Do you mean the large panels, around say 8' high x 2' or more wide?

I've seen plenty of photos of these, and now realise I must have seen them in reality too as I went round looking at houses for sis-in-law a few months back.

I also, for a moment, considered them for my own bathroom and sent off for a sample of the finish.

All I can say from this is, if it's a 'nice' finish - ideally with a texture - then it can look perfectly fine. If it's a cheap print on a very smooth panel, then it can look carp.

How waterproof they are comes down to how well they are installed :-)  If you are going to use them in a shower cubicle, then try and get panels large enough to not require joins at all except the unavoidable one in the corner. 

Yes, those will be the ones. The ones I’ve found so far are around 2400 x 300 or 600 in new money. I’ve also seen them as wide as 1200, and will be installing a 1200 shower tray so that should cover that issue. 

That’s a good point about the texture!  suppose you could draw the same parallel with cheap vs quality ceramic tiles. 

Don’t suppose you remember where you got the samples from? Do you mind me asking why you opted against them?

Cheers!

stuart45

I installed some PVC black glitter ones in our shower 3 years ago as my wife was fed up with cleaning the tiles. Got them from 
National Plastics. Think they worked out a bit cheaper than the MDF ones, but look as good.

ka7e

I've got them in a wet room and in the main bathroom and they look fine. Easy to wipe down and no grout to clean. Big panels, so no joins and self-coloured corner seals.

Swasterix

stuart45 said:

I installed some PVC black glitter ones in our shower 3 years ago as my wife was fed up with cleaning the tiles. Got them from 
National Plastics. Think they worked out a bit cheaper than the MDF ones, but look as good.

That’s part of the allure for me too, no grout to clean!! Are you happy you got rid of the tiles?

Swasterix

ka7e said:

I've got them in a wet room and in the main bathroom and they look fine. Easy to wipe down and no grout to clean. Big panels, so no joins and self-coloured corner seals.

Great, sounding positive so far. Think I’m going to have to hunt down somewhere local so I can go take a look! Thanks for the input!

stuart45

Swasterix said:

stuart45 said:

I installed some PVC black glitter ones in our shower 3 years ago as my wife was fed up with cleaning the tiles. Got them from 
National Plastics. Think they worked out a bit cheaper than the MDF ones, but look as good.

That’s part of the allure for me too, no grout to clean!! Are you happy you got rid of the tiles?

My wife is, she finds them easy to clean. I just had to pay for them and install them.

p00

I wouldn't change mine in the bathroom. Especially the ceiling.  No more painting, easy to clean and doesn't 'drip' or anything even directly over the shower. My shower is all cladding as is around the bath and sink, leaving one wall to paint.  My small ex bathroom downstairs is completely done as its now a cloakroom come dog feeding room.
I recommended it to my daughter as their bathroom ceiling was awful both looking and painting. Now their ceiling is immaculate.
One against though is that they can be punctured and cracked so I have a couple of 'positioned' hooks where necessary.
The major diy shops sell it cheap enough.
p00 xx

Swasterix

p00 said:

I wouldn't change mine in the bathroom. Especially the ceiling.  No more painting, easy to clean and doesn't 'drip' or anything even directly over the shower. My shower is all cladding as is around the bath and sink, leaving one wall to paint.  My small ex bathroom downstairs is completely done as its now a cloakroom come dog feeding room.
I recommended it to my daughter as their bathroom ceiling was awful both looking and painting. Now their ceiling is immaculate.
One against though is that they can be punctured and cracked so I have a couple of 'positioned' hooks where necessary.
The major diy shops sell it cheap enough.
p00 xx

Thanks you the reply. Do you mind me asking where you got them from? Found a few places online which I’m going to check out and have ordered some free samples to have a look at but always prefer a recommendation where possible! 

Jeepers_Creepers

Swasterix said:

Jeepers_Creepers said:

Do you mean the large panels, around say 8' high x 2' or more wide?

I've seen plenty of photos of these, and now realise I must have seen them in reality too as I went round looking at houses for sis-in-law a few months back.

I also, for a moment, considered them for my own bathroom and sent off for a sample of the finish.

All I can say from this is, if it's a 'nice' finish - ideally with a texture - then it can look perfectly fine. If it's a cheap print on a very smooth panel, then it can look carp.

How waterproof they are comes down to how well they are installed :-)  If you are going to use them in a shower cubicle, then try and get panels large enough to not require joins at all except the unavoidable one in the corner. 

Yes, those will be the ones. The ones I’ve found so far are around 2400 x 300 or 600 in new money. I’ve also seen them as wide as 1200, and will be installing a 1200 shower tray so that should cover that issue. 

That’s a good point about the texture!  suppose you could draw the same parallel with cheap vs quality ceramic tiles. 

Don’t suppose you remember where you got the samples from? Do you mind me asking why you opted against them?

Cheers!

It was an eBay site - I might be able to find it.

To be fair, they were 'cheap', so I was just curious what they'd look like in reality. Quite possibly it would look better in a large sheet, but the sample didn't give confidence - a weak print which wouldn't cope with too much scouring. It was mainly the flatness of the panel that gave me pause. 

I haven't done the job yet, but am now looking at completely the opposite approach - exterior cladding tiles to replicate stone... :-(