After years of dithering we're finally having our bathroom (drastically) overhauled. It's time to decide on our bath panel. Ideally I would like the bath to be built in with a 'ledge' along the sides of the bath, but every centimeter counts, so we'll probably have to resort to a panel along the long side. This will probably be made of plywood and I would like to have this tiled. My builders say this would make it heavy so they suggest painting it. There is also the issue of access. Any suggestions and advice really welcome. Cheers
FFS dont buy ANYTHING that is built of MDF. Whether designed to be used by a bath or not, MDF bath panels are just not suiteable. However, there should be no reason why you cant tile onto a sheet of MDF. I suppose it depends on your bath type: is it semi-flush 'normal' bath which has two or three sides against walls and one or two out-facing sides, or is it the flush type which sits in a frame which is then tiled over? If its a 'normal' bath then there may not be room for a thick piece of board and then the tiles, but a flush bath will present no problems at all.
So far as access goes, this is more to do with the taps than the drainage (after all a shower tray is completly inaccessable once installed), but with good quality taps it may not be neccesary to gain access for a number of years. You could play-safe and ensure that the bath panel is tiled whilst still unattached from the bath and then screwed up to the bath with screws that have caps to semi-disguise them.
But as far as ready-made panels go, i am very wary. The plastic ones wont suffer water damage but they will split and crack. MDF panels with blister when wet. Plastic-wrap MDF panels seem to be about the best as they combine the strength of MDF with the durability of a plastic surface...the fun starts when the panel is cut because that's the first place where water will enter.
If it were me i would have no qualms about having a thick piece of MDF along side the bath and having it sealed and tiled in situ. You shouldnt need to get under the bath very often.
Thanks bertie_boo. This is the bath (let's test C4's tolerancy on links) Probably 'semi - flush', but normal...? It has space enough for a thick panel. Is plywood not different from MDF?
Thats a flush bath, as the description says " A fitted modern bathtub", that is to say it is inset into some sort of surround. I am not sure you a can put a side-panel up to that.
If you search Wikipedia for Medium-density fiberboard and then Plywood you'll see the difference. However, for my ignorance, when i think of 'plywood' i think of the thin sheets that you can buy in DIY shops, i forget that thicker is avaliable. But i think your builders must be thinking of the thin stuff too if they consider it that tiles will be too heavy.
The panel will have to be bespoke, but will hopefully work. The builders are using plywood, it's at least 15 mm thick. They have used it already to box in the frame for the hanging toilet and some pipe boxing. This was then tiled, which worked well (actually it looks rather nice!). I think their concern about weight related to the access under the bath issue.
I know there is a weight of opinion against mdf in the bathroom, but when I designed our previous bathroom I wasn't aware of it. So we have an mdf bath panel which is painted white. It has been there for five years and looks the same as the day it was put in. But having said that, there are only two of us and we don't splash water everywhere.
Are the builders concerned that the ply can't take the weight of the tiles, or that it will simply be very awkward to manoeuvre if you need to take it off (or both)? You want to make sure it can be removed neatly, and won't look manky if it needs to be taken off a couple of times. We needed our taps changed on the bath a few years ago and the T&G panel was badly constructed and never looked the same afterwards.
Originally posted by Tetricus: It's never a good idea to fit a bath panel which gives no means of access.
That's what the guys here too are saying.
Velvet, they're not really worried about the weight of the tiles but more about being able to access under the bath.
On a related issue, these guys seem to be struggling a little with their tiling. It's tumbled marble mosaic on mesh sheets. I'm having to make sure they do a proper job and had to point out some 'wonky' tiling here and there.
Isn't it crucial to have an almost perfect foundation?
On a related issue, these guys seem to be struggling a little with their tiling. It's tumbled marble mosaic on mesh sheets. I'm having to make sure they do a proper job and had to point out some 'wonky' tiling here and there.
they are a bit of a pain in the @rse there will always be the one that got away!
I really wouldn't want a bath panel that doesn't allow access. When your tap goes bang you want to be able to access the doings quickly without dismantling the entire room. We once had a housesitter looking after the cats for five days, when we got back she had sheared the top off the hot tap (the turn-off-and-on bit to use the technical term ) obviously didn't know her own strength
Yes, access is definitely an issue. I think we will have a fairly thick plywood panel and just use screws, perhaps with chrome 'tops' like sometimes used on mirrors and paint it. My builder suggested painting it in the colour of the floor tiles, which is a very dark grey (almost anthracite). Thought that was a good idea.
On the continent most bath panels are tiled. A square of about 25x25cm is cut into the panel, tiled and attached to the panel with some clips (you can google for them).
