Christmas Opening Hours

We will be closing for Christmas at midday on Tue 22nd Dec and will re-open on Mon 4th January.

Any orders placed via our website while we closed will be processed on our return. We would recommend Thursday 17th as the last order day.

Not all of our suppliers re-open on the 4th so some products might take an extra couple of days in the first week back - please check with the sales office for details.

Can The Wall Panels Be fitted Horizontally?

We have been asked if the panels can be fitted horizontally a few times so thought we'd provide our thoughts on the subject.

The panels can be run horizontally but the manufacturers do not recommend this method as both the tongue and groove sides of the joint design have recesses that could hold water. In living rooms or outside of the bathroom or shower room this is not so much of an issue but obviously is not ideal in wet areas.



Fitting the panels horizontally also makes installation a lot more difficult as you have to maintain a horizontal line around the room, even if the walls are out-of-true, and you don't have a variable grout gap as you would do with tiles to help compensate for any discrepancies.

Panel Range Changes

As has already been posted, the Tinto range is to be phased out and we have also been informed that Mosaic Rose and Mosaic Jade are to be discontinued.

The rest of the Mosaic range will remain, which is good news as this is one of our most popular panels! The great advantage of mosaic effect panels over ceramic tiles is that there is no grout - and mosaic tiles tend to use a lot of grout.

There is also news of a new tile-effect wall panel that will be available very soon - details will be posted as soon as we have them.

Tinto Range

The Tinto Range, which is currently on special offer, is to be phased out and a new range brought in to replace it. We do not have definite information on the exact dates but Tinto Sahara stock has been exhuasted and will not be run by the manufacturers again.

There is still stock available for the rest of the Tinto range at present.

As soon as we have details of the new range to replace Tinto we will post details here.

Panels Used With Shower Bath

The last number of years have seen a marked increase in popularity of the shower bath.

Many people find showers more convenient than a bath but tend to shower over the bath rather than removing the bath and installing a shower cubicle in its place. One of the drawbacks of showering over a bath is the limited amount of width available - standard baths are 700mm wide which is smaller than the majority of cubicles.

The shower bath attempts to overcome this problem by incorporating an enlarged shower area at one end of the bath - this limits the amount it cuts into available space compared with installing a much larger bath or even a corner bath.

The following image shows a typical shower bath installation (click to enlarge):



The customer has opted to panel around the bath/shower area with Mosaic Jade waterproof wall panelling. As the panels stop short of the bathroom ceiling they have finished off the edges with Decos Capping Trim.

The bath has a curved glass shower screen to contain the shower water when in use. This tends to work well with a low pressure showering system or an electric shower but can prove slightly less effective in use with a power shower (we have had quite a few customers who have fitted an Outasight in place of the glass screen as they found the screens were too small and didn't cover enough of the bath leading to water escaping onto the floor).

Wet Or Dry?

We quite often get asked if the curtain of the Outasight needs to be put away wet or dry.

The answer is that it can be stowed wet or dry.





The curtain material is impregnated with acrylic to stop mould growing in the curtain material but mold can still grow on the surface. After a number weeks or months you might start to see the odd small spot of mildew appearing. The curtain is designed to be used in conjunction with the recommended cleaner, Dettol Mould & Midlew Spray which will erradicate the spots and treat the curtain at the same time. The curtain needs a quick spray once or twice a month as shown in the video on the following page: http://www.bathroommarquee.co.uk/out-vid3.php

I have found that the dryer you put the shower curtain away the longer you go between sprays - the only downside is that it is marginally more difficult to stow when dry (this is not really an issue once you are used to the process).

Wall Panels For Shower Cubicles

We quite often get asked if our UPVC panels can be used in shower cubicles. The answer is an empatic yes. They are ideal for use in shower cubicle and unlike large sheet wall panels they can also be fitted inside an existing cubicle if required (their smaller size means they can be manouvered into position through the shower door).

We have added some extra pages to our shower cubicle section with images of customers' installations showing the panels in-situ. Here are some examples:

We shall be adding some more images from our customers' installations in the near future.

Ceiling Panel Direction

When you are looking to install ceiling panels you will often be confronted by the choice of direction in which to run the panels.

If the room is square this is obviously not an issue but in a rectangular room there are a few issues that need to be addressed.

One customer had a room where the ceiling was 4m long but only 1m wide and wondered which way was correct - as the panels can be installed either way it's a personal taste issue rather than a right/wrong way.

If you are using a flush fitting panel, such as Labo or Blanca it is not going to make much difference as the joints are not that visible. If you are using the cladding with the infill strip or using a v-groove panel such as Topline then the direction will have more of an effect, but not a massive one.

Running the ceiling panels along the room will have the effect of making the room look longer and narrower. Running them across the room will have the effect of making the room look shorter and wider.

So it really depends which you prefer. If you do choose to opt for cutting the panels shorter you will find it is much easier to fit, cut and handle smaller lengths. Also it might well be that you will require less panelling to cover the bathroom ceiling in one direction than it will in the other.

Decos Panels

We are in the processing of updating our product pages to a new format that we hope our customers will find to their liking. We have simplified the layout and added a lot of extra information and additional photos to show the different colour options (where available).

Currently the Decos panels have been updated and we are in the processing of updating the rest of our cladding ranges.

Longer Labo Ceiling Panels Added

Labo ceiling panels are now available in a 6m length as well as 4.5m and 2.6m. This enable larger areas to be spanned without the need for joins (which are not the best looking option). They also offer another option when trying to work out the most economic way to cover a bathroom ceiling. One pack (4 panels) of the 6mt length is enough to cover a bathroom 3m x 2m or a room 1.5m x 4m.



The Labo panels can be fitted with the optional Infill Trims (extra) which helps break up the solid colour of the ceiling and provides visual interest. The panels can also be used on walls if required but the Infill Strips are not suitable for use in wet areas such as inside a shower cubicle or over a bath.

Tile Effect Wall Panels - Now Available In Grey

We have recently added a new panel to our range.

Mineral Beige Tile Marble has long been a popular panel with our customers that provides the best of both worlds, the look of tiles with the benefit of wall panels - no grout, no maintenance, wipe over surface, easy installation.

The manufacturers, Grosfillex, have now produced a grey version of this panel which we think will be a great addition to the range.



The panels appear to be 2 tiles wide and the finished effect gives a staggered pattern with each tile joining half way up the adjacent tile (click the above image to see in more detail). This means that horizontal lines do not have to be lined up perfectly, making installation a lot easier.

Visit the following page on our website for more information:
Mineral Grey Tile Marble

Bathroom Ceiling

One our customers recently refurbished his bathroom ceiling with Blanca Ultra White ceiling panels. He sent in some photos with the following note.

"Just to let you know, the delivery arrived as stated and all was in good condition. Finally got around to fitting the ceiling panels over the last couple of days and was amazed at how easy they were to work with and how smart they look. Went for a floating effect with remote controlled RGB LED backlighting, also added some speakers."


click the image to enlarge

I sked him how he achieved the effect and this is his description of the work he carried out.

"Hi Mark,It's pretty simple really; the ceiling was battened with 34mm timbers leaving an 8cm gap (5cm perspex around the edge, plus 3cm overhang for the trim to clip onto the panel edges) between the timbers and the walls. RGB LED tape such as this:

http://www.litewave.co.uk/rgb_led_tape_home.asp

was stuck around the perimeter of the battens. The tape is then wired back to my in-wall airing cupboard and connected to this controller (in an IP56 rated enclosure, just to be safe)

http://www.led-tech.de/en/LED-Controlling/LED-Controlling/MultiLine-RGB-Controller-V2.0-LT-1001_118_31.html

This is powered by an old 12v laptop power supply capable of providing 5amp (as required by the 8m of LED strip I used) To go with the controller I also use an IR extender which is mounted in the hollow edge of a ceiling panel with an aligning hole drilled in the edging trim to receive commands from the remote which allows mixing of around 16 million colours, all of which can be dimmed in 100 step increments.:

http://www.led-tech.de/en/LED-Controlling/LED-Controlling/MultiLine-IR-sensor-LT-1003_118_31.htmlhttp://www.led-tech.de/en/LED-Controlling/LED-Controlling/MultiLine-IR-Remote-Control-LT-1002_118_31.html

I left a 5cm gap around the edge of the ceiling panels to allow the light from the LED's to show, to diffuse the light and give a soft glow I used strips of 050 white opal perspex (this just looks like an extension of the edging strip when the LED's are off), this all had a bead of silicon sealant added to the edge during fitting to ensure the LED's were sealed away from any steam.The in-ceiling speakers are just bog-standard QED systemline 0.5's (suitable for bathroom use!) which are powered by a sonic impact t-amp with the audio source being a logitech squeezebox (outside the bathroom using an RF remote to control) to stream music from my music server. I use these all over the house (lounge, bedrooms, kitchen, study) and can listen to independent music in each room, or synchronise every player or specific players around the house. All-in-all it took me about 2 and a half days by myself to complete and turned out better than I planned (half a day of this was testing by a qualified electrician as any new electrical work in a bathroom falls under part P of the building regs).

Video of one of the many colour change sequences here: http://tehjunk.com/bathroom.MPG"


The following image shows how the bathroom ceiling looked before the work was carried out:

Outasight Replacement Curtains

Outasight are currently out of stock of replacement shower curtains. New material is due in but it is estimated that curtains will not be available until 2nd or 3rd week of April.



There has been a slight increase in the cost of the shower curtain material which has resulted in a price change - curtains are now £47.50

Spabord Panels - Colour Deletions

Some of the Spabord range of shower wall panels have been earmarked for deletion

The colours to be deleted are:

• Beige Mosaic


• Cappuccino


• Luxor


• Warm Coral


• Oasis Blue

Some of these colours have been slow moving so stocks of these are being run down and will not be replaced by the manufacturers of Spabord, Wilsonart. Stocks of Oasis Blue have already been exhausted. Please check with us before ordering any of these colours to ensure there is sufficent stock to fulfill your order.

There will be new colours added to the range soon but we do not have any definite details as yet.

Grosfillex Panels - Easter Availability

The importer's warehouse for Grosfillex panels will be closed for Easter for a week. As the panels are despatched directly from this warehouse this will affect any orders placed with us during this period.

The warehouse will be closed on Friday 10th April 09 and will re-open on Monday 20th April.

Order for all other products sold by The Bathroom Marquee will be unaffected.

Bathroom Marquee Closed 25.05.09 for 1 Week

The Bathroom Marquee will be closing on Monday 25 May 09 for 1 week and will re-open on Tuesday 2nd June at 9.00am

You will be able to place orders via our website while we are shut - orders will be processed on our return on the 2nd June.

Sealing Wall Panels In The Corner of a Shower Cubicle

We very often get asked about the best method for fitting the panels into the corner of shower cubicles.

There are three methods for fitting panels into the corner of shower cubicles:

1. Use a corner trim supplied by the manufacturers of the panel


2. Butt-joint the panels in the corner and seal with a good quality silicone
   
3. Score the back of the panel and bend the panel 90 deg to form the corner

Most fitters tend to use option 2 as it is the quickest, easiest and neatest method - providing you cut reasonably accurately.

If you are concerned about water ingress you can dry fit the panels first, then run a thick bead of silicone into the corner and then push the first panel into the wet silicone, embedding the corner of the panel in sealant. Run another bead of silicone down the corner and push the second panel into the wet silicone to form the corner. Wipe off any excess on the front of the panel and run thin bead of silicone down the newly formed corner to completely seal it off.

This method is ideal for patterned panels such as mosaic or tile effect panels as corner trims tend to break up the pattern.

This method can be used where there is a shower over the bath or in shower cubicles.