What are best shower panels to buy?
What are ‘Acrylic Shower panels’?
‘Acrylic panels’ are often used as a general term to describe printed shower panels, but often shower panels are not made of Acrylic at all. Some are printed onto the back surface of clear acrylic, glass or polycarbonate. Some brands’ panels are printed to the surface of a thin surface laminate material and bonded onto MDF, plywood, or other materials to give them their required rigidity. Many of these materials and construction methods have pros and cons – some of which we will try to address here.
We have developed our Showerscape shower panels as a solution to the downsides of using not just traditional tiles and grout – but many of the other acrylic, MDF or ply core shower panels which are currently on the market too.
Why use a composite shower panel?
Showerscape panels are a completely, 100%, waterproof alternative to using other products available. Our panels are slimline 3mm thin, but still super strong. Constructed from an aluminium/polyethelene ‘sandwich’ we can guarantee our product is robust and waterproof for its lifetime.
Waterproof: Our shower panels are made of 100% waterproof materials. No corner or tray trims are required to protect the panels from swelling/rust/de-lamination from water getting into the material itself. Waterproofing of other panels on the market is awkward, and only effective if fitted correctly to protect the material beneath the surface using trims all around the panels and at any joints to protect the fabric of the panels. We have found this is a particular issue with plywood (even marine ply) and particularly MDF-backed systems, as the materials are not inherently waterproof and can swell or rot over time if any moisture gets into the panels over time.
Surface protection: Our Showerscape panels are coated with a high-tech, anti-microbial, UV cured hardcoating which protects the surface of the print from scuffs and chemicals, and won’t degrade or peel over time. General household spray cleaners can be used on the panels, no problem, giving you confidence and peace of mind they will last the test of time. Most MDF/ply core panels are surface laminated to create a water resistant surface, but this can degrade over time causing peeling, looking unsightly and also allowing water under the surface – eventually this can cause swelling and de-lamination. Acrylic is a relatively soft material and can be easily scratched over time, particularly with regular cleaning leaving swirling micro-scoring of the surface causing them to look cloudy. We have eliminated this issue with our research and material specification.
Trimming and fitting: Our panels are extremely quick and easy to fit. They are easy to trim if necessary with general DIY tools such as circular saw, jigsaw or power planer. Our composite material cuts cleanly and will not shatter or crack when doing so, giving both you or your fitter peace of mind. Problems can occur with acrylic panels when trimming or drilling, or screwing fixings over the material as it is prone to cracking or splintering.
Expensive toughened glass panels are not possible to trim or cut on-site, and must be perfectly pre-measured when ordering.
Our slim 3mm panels are also a lot lighter than heavy 10mm plywood-backed, acrylic or glass panels, which makes lifting and manoeuvring, cutting and fitting our panels a lot easier than competitor panels. They are also far quicker to fit than traditional tiling! One panel can cover a whole wall in minutes, not hours or days.
Print clarity: Showerscape panels are printed to the front surface of the panel, onto a specially pre-coated smooth white finish to offer a perfect printing surface and enhanced ink adhesion. The print is UV cured on and then protected by our semi-gloss clear hardcoat finish. This means the image is not seen through the thickness of a clear material like acrylic – which can be very reflective and cause issues with the image clarity at angles or with bright lights or nearby windows.
Another benefit of front printing is that the composite material is solid, not transparent as with acrylic. When the panels are bonded to the wall there is no show-through, which can become apparent with acrylic back-printed panels. With back-printed panels such as acrylic panels, the print is in contact with the adhesive/wall, which can discolour or show and any movement over time can try to pull the print from the material.
So, what are the best shower panels?
Our Showerscape panels are smooth, totally waterproof, and hygienic as there are no grout lines or joins to gather grime and discolour. Offering cost and speed of installation benefits over tiles and other shower panel systems avoiding the use of unsightly trims to make them waterproof. Our material is designed to be outdoors, giving you the extra peace of mind that it will not degrade over time within your home. We surface print and UV cure any image on to the front face of the material ensuring no discolouration or marking of the image due to adhesive ageing. The raw material sheet sizes can be as large as 2000x3000mm as a single piece - it’s unlikely you would need this in your home (or be able to get it in and up the stairs to fit!) but it gives you an idea of how versatile our sizes can be. It enables us to offer you single panels at any size you require to often avoid joints within the shower or wet space that you are installing them in. Our material won’t shatter or crack when cut, drilled or trimmed, giving you (or your fitter) peace of mind when fitting the panels. You’ll love how easy to clean our panels are too - especially compared to the grout and scrubbing of tiles!
We guarantee our panels for 20 years (domestic). So all in, we genuinely believe our Showerscape panels are the best shower panel solution on the market.
Have a look around our website to find out more about our product, look at our designs, our fitting instructions or even order a sample to compare to other manufacturers on the market - we are confident you will be impressed with the quality of our panels.