Making A Bath Panel From Cladding

Many modern acrylic baths make using bathroom cladding a doddle as there is a slot that accepts the panels under the rim. We always recommend making the bath panel out of cladding as this will look great and offer several advantages over standard bath panels: acrylic bath panels can be liable to cracking if leant against as the vast majority have no reinforcing at all and therefore flex when pressed; MDF panels can get damaged if exposed to water which results in them swelling and blistering.

Bathroom cladding is pretty rigid so there is little or no flexing once it is in place and being made from PVC it is impervious to water. If you want a totally rigid panel then the cladding can be fitted to sheet of thin plywood and installed as a one-piece panel.

We do not recommend installing our wall panels down behind baths - we would always suggest that you fit the bath first, making sure it is rock-solid and totally sealed, and then run the wall panels down onto the top surface. This will mean you will have off-cuts of cladding that can be used to make the bath panel and give your bath that "built-in" look so it is an economic use of the cladding as well.