Shower panel for shower baths

[norb]

I am sold on the notion of using shower panels to replace the tiles of my shower bath but I am a bit surprised (shocked) at the prices for solid core panels. What erks me is no manufacturers I have found offer less than 2.4m lengths, whilst a range of widths are available for different shower tray dimensions. If I use 2.4m lengths I will be sending more than a quarter of my investment to landfill!
Many people have shower baths and a 1.8m length panel would do nicely for many of these. I will berate a supplier or two tomorrow to get it off my chest but then I may just plan to tile instead.
Has anyone here found any products suitable for shower baths without the waste ?

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Manufacturer's would need to double up their tooling in order to produce 1.8m sheets which would be quite costly to them. If they did want to sell 1.8m sheets it'd be considerably cheaper for them if they just sliced 0.6m off a standard sheet .....

 

[norb]

Manufacturer's would need to double up their tooling in order to produce 1.8m sheets which would be quite costly to them. If they did want to sell 1.8m sheets it'd be considerably cheaper for them if they just sliced 0.6m off a standard sheet .....

From where they appear to be now I would agree Freddie, however by not catering to the shower-bath market so well they are changing the equation for a whole chunk of the potential market. I guess I had hoped someone had noticed this and carved out this niche for themselves - maybe I should. As it stands they have to manufacture sheets to various widths - they don't ask everyone to buy 1200 width and cut down to their requirements; doing so would reduce their manufacture costs and stocking. I'll see what their excuses are today and summarize some here....

 

[norb]

Yup, to paraphrase I was told to take it or tile it. One option offered was to buy 2 x 1m wide panels for the long side and join the the T&G horizontally. This saves a bit of waste and slightly less of cost and seems to be inviting trouble with water running perpendicular to the join. So it seems shower bath wall panels is another (of quite a few) business opportunities I have to pursue in my retirement years.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

It's not a viable business opportunity for reasons already explained. The demand is not great enough to demand alternative sized panels.

 

[foxhole]

Use 900mm sheets horizontally .?

 

[foxhole]

I am sold on the notion of using shower panels to replace the tiles of my shower bath but I am a bit surprised (shocked) at the prices for solid core panels. What erks me is no manufacturers I have found offer less than 2.4m lengths, whilst a range of widths are available for different shower tray dimensions. If I use 2.4m lengths I will be sending more than a quarter of my investment to landfill!
Many people have shower baths and a 1.8m length panel would do nicely for many of these. I will berate a supplier or two tomorrow to get it off my chest but then I may just plan to tile instead.
Has anyone here found any products suitable for shower baths without the waste ?

There is still waste if you use tiles .

 

[norb]

Foxhole, yes, but even I don't trash 1 in every 4 tiles!

Freddie, Judging by the numbers of shower-baths I've seen in showrooms they must make up a significant proportion of sales vs showers. Any idea what the ratio is? This would be key info to understand the potential market.

 

[foxhole]

Foxhole, yes, but even I don't trash 1 in every 4 tiles!

Freddie, Judging by the numbers of shower-baths I've seen in showrooms they must make up a significant proportion of sales vs showers. Any idea what the ratio is? This would be key info to understand the potential market.

Shower panels are purchased for showers, for above baths only is rare so not accomodated.

 

[norb]

Shower panels are purchased for showers, for above baths only is rare so not accomodated.

But a shower-bath is a shower and a bath. They are perhaps not purchased for shower-baths because nobody manufactures them in a suitable length and the economics of paying a third more (or wasting a quarter of the material if you prefer) tilts the shower-bath owner towards tiling rather than paying so much for the solution. This is now a chicken and egg debate. I will see if I can import some panels to my spec from, err, I know China, and see if they sell.....

 

[norb]

PS Foxhole, I note your tagline. Mine might be "necessity is the mother of invention" (Ευχαριστώ Plato)

 

[foxhole]

But a shower-bath is a shower and a bath. They are perhaps not purchased for shower-baths because nobody manufactures them in a suitable length and the economics of paying a third more (or wasting a quarter of the material if you prefer) tilts the shower-bath owner towards tiling rather than paying so much for the solution. This is now a chicken and egg debate. I will see if I can import some panels to my spec from, err, I know China, and see if they sell.....

Like saying why do they not sell short skirting lengths for people with small rooms .

 

[norb]

Like saying why do they not sell short skirting lengths for people with small rooms .

They do. I have bought lengths between 2m and 4m . Also, skirting is far far cheaper than shower boards so wastage doesn't hit the pocket in anything like the same way. In a nutshell, if there is demand, and I say there is, then the market is likely to fulfil that demand; it may be left to me to do that.