Wall panels in bathrooms instead of tiles

[Railwayroad]

About to do our bathroom. Really fed up of cleaning grout and put plumber suggested panels for the shower area instead of tiles. I think they look ok but not sure….anyone had these and liked them? Idea below.

I had glass panels fitted 15 years ago. Still look as good as the day they were installed. I'd never have tiles again.

Watching with interest

@oviraptor21 what are glass panels in relation to the wall panels I’ve seen? How do they age after 15 years?

I want these! We stayed in a campsite tgst had really nice shower rooms with wall panels last summer. We plan to update the bathroom with these sometime, it impossible to keep out grout clean ace moukd free.

Following as we are just about to start on our bathroom renovation. I think we’ll have tiles for our main bathroom but panels in our small shower room, mainly because of the convenience and cleaning.

Have panels in our bathroom previous owner had them fitted and to be fair really like them so much nicer and cleaner than tiles easy to clean as well.

Still as good as the day they were fitted.
I bought from Opticolor who are now Optidek
www.optidek.com/

Our are about 15 yrs old now and just about on last legs
mainly around the bottom where the shower base meets the panels where you put the the sealant

what I’d say you HAVE to do every time is when finished showering make sure the panel & sealant is dried after(especially the white sealant, as it deteriorates) we’ve resealed round shower tray quite a few times that’s through leaving water on it. Used different sealants and they all do the same

I did quite a lot of research on the boards before redoing our ensuite last year. I was originally going to go for boards but having visited a number of bathroom showrooms and chatting to various people there, I concluded that unless you buy the really expensive boards then you're better off with tiles as the tiles last longer. The cheap ones just aren't hard wearing enough.

My friends had them installed about 10 years ago. They look pretty dated and shabby now. I think because they're basically plastic they don't age gracefully.

OP, don't go by pictures online, go to a showroom and see them IRL.

We were given the 'sell' by our bathroom fitter, when we went to see them I just couldn't do it. Even the £££ panels feel and look like plastic when you get close - and you DO get close in the shower!

We got XXL white ceramic tiles, 30cm high by 90cm wide, and used a lovely pale grey grout. Feel and look the business and hardly any grout per square M, cleaning is a doddle.

And they'll still look good when the plastic boards have long given up the ghost!

I used Recotile in my kitchen refurb last year:

www.recosurfaces.com

Kitchen fitter fitted them in under an hour, they can be pulled down and changed if I want a different look in a couple of years and can be sent back to Reco for recycling.

We're planning on doing the main bathroom next year and I'll be using them in there, much easier than tile.

Thank you all.

Yup - had them in my old house and they were great. So easy to clean.

Re-did the bathroom in our new house and didn't even think of them. Wish I had as we live in a hard water area and put in some textured tiles in the shower... FML!

There is a tremendous difference in prices isn’t there between the different panels? Can anyone recommend any specific brands they have used and are pleased with please?

We used bushboard nuance in our en-suite. Looks great, cost a fortune!

We have panels in our upstairs bathroom as we have uneven floors and we're having problems with grout cracking and leaking with the floor movement.
We used bb bushboard nuance I think it's called and they have been brilliant. No leaks and no grout to clean.