Bath panel - to tile or not to tile....

[BlardyBlaaaaa]

Hi there

I'm in need of some good Mumsnet advice.

Just in the process of having my bathroom done. So far we have a white modern suite with shower over bath and shower screen (which doesn't appear to be long enough, but that's another matter). We're having underfloor heating and metro tiling in pale blue tiles on the walls.

My plumber is pushing us to have a tongue/groove bath panel, and seems very anti a tiled panel, saying it would be v heavy, and difficult to access pipes if there was ever a leak. I though the tiles could be fixed to a board which could be attached to the bath frame with screws, and be removed if need be in the future. Also, in our previous house, our shower screen leaked and over time the bath panel (t&g) went very manky and had to be replaced.

So, what do you reckon? What would look nice and in keeping, but be easy to maintain?

Thanks, in advance.

Tiling. Keep a section as a removable panel as you suggest. Tongue and groove sounds a bit "agricultural" for your scheme in my view!

Ours was plain white MDF but we painted it a slightly matt silver (to match accent tiles). Would something like that suit, it would be plainer bit less heavy?

We had tiles and no-one (we're rented) thought to leave an access panel.... in a recent leak the whole thing had to be removed which has caused damage to surrounding wall and the landlord has just lobbed a plastic panel that doesnt fit in its place

If you do go for tiled, make sure you have sufficient access in the event you need to get under the bath otherwise it might cause more (cosmetic) damage than you realise.

Ours is tiled and it's a pain in the arse. The bathroom is small already and Dh is tall. Trying to fix a leak under the bath is hard enough, add that he only has a short area under which to reach due to the tiles instead of a bath panel it's near impossible.
We'll be re doing that bathroom soon and top of the list is no tiled front we want a plain old bath panel.
I like the idea of a painted one to match the tiles. I'd like some pale grey ones.

Ours is tongue and groove, I'd have liked tiled but hubby was doing it and he had same argument as your plumber. Plus bought ones made to fit were more expensive. I think hubby did a pretty good job!

Ours is tiled.

Dh did it and left an access panel. You can't see the panel - he hid the screws in the grouting so if it needs to be removed he will just need to dig out some grouting around the access panel which isn't too difficult.

also in our case, we have a shower pump underneath the bath which so far has needed replacing every 5 years hence requiring the removal of the bath panel.
We have also had a leak which involved the pipe from the bath coming detached from the plug hole which needed repairing. Possibly on this occasion the bath panel didnt need to be removed for the repair but the clearing up job did.

We do have a wooden side panel, I agree it is not the most practical. You can get plastic ones but I am not sure how good they look. Perhaps someone else can advise.