Bathroom wall panelling and shower panels

Waterproof wall panels — no grout lines, quicker to fit than tiles, and nothing for mould to grow in.

Panels or tiles?

People usually arrive here having already decided they don't want to clean grout again. That's a fair reason. The honest comparison:

• Grout. Panels have almost none — joints are sealed instead. Grout in a shower discolours eventually no matter how well it's done.
• Time. A shower area in panels is typically a day; the same area tiled is two to three including grouting and drying.
• Cost. Similar on materials for mid-range, cheaper on labour.
• Look. Tiles still win if you want a specific tile. Panels have got much better, but a wood-effect panel is not wood.
• Substrate. Panels need a flat wall. Wavy walls need battening or boarding first — we'll tell you at the quote.

Where panelling makes most sense

Shower enclosures and over-bath showers, ceilings above showers, and rooms where the disruption of tiling isn't welcome — a rental between tenants, or a bathroom that needs to stay usable.

Fitting

Panels are bonded to a sound, flat substrate and joined with sealed trims or colour-matched sealant. Getting the internal corners and the tray junction right is the whole job — that's where a badly fitted panel leaks.