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What Kind of Panels Do You Use Around a Bathtub?

Installing a shower or bathtub requires the use of numerous layers of material around the tub. These layers protect your bathroom walls from exposure to excessive moisture or water leakage. Panels constitute an important protective layer between your tub surface and your bathroom walls. The type of panel you use ultimately depends on the type of surface you want for the walls around your tub.

  1. Panel Basics

    • Panels in bathrooms consist of large, rectangular pieces of material that attach to the wooden frame of your bathroom wall. This frame constitutes one small part of the overall frame of your home. Panels serve two purposes: they protect the frame of your house from moisture damage and provide a base for applying a finished surface around your bathtub, such as ceramic tile. Panels extend all the way around a tub or shower, from the ceiling of a bathroom to the floor.

    Types of Panels

    • Various types of panels exist for use around bathtubs. Materials used for panelling include concrete, gypsum, acrylic, fiberglass reinforced plastic and trademarked polymer brands like Zenolite. Polymers are plastics defined by their molecular structure. Gypsum board, meanwhile, cosists of a cement-like mixture with the mineral gypsum, which hardens when it dries, much like concrete. The type of panel you use depends upon your needs and preferences.

    Panel vs. Surface

    • Some types of bathroom panels serves as both a panel and a wall surface, while other types of panels provide an area on which to hang a surface. For instance, concrete and gypsum board panels provide an ideal surface for hanging ceramic tiles and other surface materials, but make drab, if not ugly, surfaces themselves. Plastics, on the other hand, provide protection from moisture while also creating a smooth, even surface for the walls around your bathroom. Concrete and gypsum take longer to install, but add an extra layer of protection and allow more diversity when it comes to applying surface materials.

    Panel Installation

    • Always take a few things into account when installing panels and shower fittings. Cracks invariably appear between panels around bathtubs. During installation, always seal these cracks with sealant. Add caulk in corners and where the wall joins the bathtub for extra protection. When purchasing panels, always make sure they contain the right holes for your shower fittings. You can drill materials like concrete and gypsum to create holes, but plastics must already contain holes.

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