Between everyday knocks and water exposure, a bath panel has a lot to put up with.
What is a bath panel?
A bath panel is what stops you looking at the framework and waste sitting under the bath. Nobody wants to look at exposed pipework while they’re brushing their teeth.
It has a protective role too, keeping the wood frame holding your bath covered and stopping anything getting in there that could cause problems.
Acrylic panels are made from a single sheet of plastic. They’re smooth and cool to the touch and light enough to lift with one hand. Their surface is completely non-porous, so water has nothing it can soak into to cause you any water damage headaches down the line.
Run your hand over a wood panel and it feels very different. They often use MDF which is wood fibres compressed and bonded into a solid board. Some more premium brands are solid timber.
To stop moisture getting in, they have a protective layer over the top, usually a painted finish, a wrapped laminate, or a waterproof seal coating. Take care of that layer and the panel underneath stays completely dry.
Pros and cons at a glance
Coping with knocks
Run the mop or a hoover over the bathroom floor and the panel’s usually the first thing they accidentally hit. Drop a bottle of cleaning spray while you’re in there and it’s usually the panel that breaks its fall before it hits the floor.
Bathrooms are busy places. Between our daily lives, family life and keeping it clean and tidy. And that means how well your bath panel can cope with everyday knocks is useful to know when weighing up one type against another.
Give the wood panel a knock and it’s dense enough to absorb the hit, so you’re more likely to end up with a dent than a crack.
Push hard enough on an acrylic panel and you’ll feel it give a little instead of denting. These panels flex on impact rather than absorbing it, and it takes more than the odd stray kick or dropped bottle before it marks. But that’ll only go so far.
A heavy hit can still crack this type of panel and that can matter more than just the mark it leaves.
Bath panel water resistance and maintenance
As an acrylic bath panel features a smooth, continuous surface, water is rarely a threat, it simply glides right off. That complete seal against water absorption means it won’t rot or grow mould either.
Give an acrylic panel a wipe down after a bath, or during your regular clean, and that’s all that’s needed.
But chip or crack that surface and water can begin to get behind the panel and into the wood frame underneath, which over time could cause some damage.
Keeping an eye out for any small cracks means you’ll be able to catch any issues early on. It’s a small price to pay for the easy life acrylic panels give you.
Wood panels do ask a little bit more of you, but not much. These panels are waterproof because of that coating layer on top. So if that gets damaged through chipping or peeling, water can find its way through and the wood underneath could begin to swell.
Keep that paint or laminate layer in good condition, and your wood panel stays waterproof. A wipe down with an absorbent cloth after a bath, plus a quick check during your cleaning routine, and you’ll easily keep on top of it.
Look and finish
Go for a sleek, modern look and acrylic bath panels fit right in. Often finished to a high gloss, they can give a shine and a bit of reflection in the bathroom that catches the light.
Today’s acrylic bath panels are a step up from older versions too. They are more durable and are available in a much wider range now than ever before.
The Imex cast reinforced side and end panels for example come in multiple sizes with 7 layers of heat retention and a 25 year guarantee.
Want some texture in the room instead? That’s where wood panels come into their own. They often have some detailing on the front, raised sections or grooved lines which can give a look that is closer to furniture than a flat fitting.
The Burlington Arundel front and end panels have traditional wood panelling treated with 5 coats of primer to prevent fading if exposed to the sunlight. These panels come with a 10 year manufacturer’s guarantee.
If your bathroom already has fittings with a bit of joinery to them, a wood panel can sit alongside them bringing the room together rather than looking like an add on.
Wood panels open up the option of repainting them yourself. They can be sanded and primed and will take on any colour you choose. You can also repaint an acrylic panel, though it takes a bit more prep, a coarser sandpaper and some specialist paint, if you’re happy to put in the extra time.
Sizing, cutting and guarantees
If you’ve ever measured a bath panel twice and still ended up between two standard sizes, you’ll know the frustration it causes! The fix is the same for both, buy the larger size and trim the panel down to fit your space.
What is different is what happens at that cut edge. A wood panel needs a protective layer added wherever it has been cut or that exposed edge is going to have no waterproofing at all.
For acrylic this isn’t needed as there’s no board underneath a cut edge to protect, so it’s ready to fit as soon as it’s trimmed.
Guarantees depend on the brand and the product you choose and can be from around 5 years all the way up to 25 years or more. The product description will tell you what guarantee you get with each bath panel which is worth double checking before you make any firm decisions.
Acrylic bath panels will ask the least of you day to day. There’s no coating to keep an eye on and less to think about if the bathroom sees a lot of use.
Wood pays you back in a different way. It gives you warmth and texture that can work with existing fittings in exchange for that little bit of extra upkeep.
Both options can be trimmed down and repainted, so you can adapt the panel to your bathroom rather than the other way around.
Have a browse through our range whenever you’re ready. We have side panels and end panels, in acrylic and wood, whatever shape your bath happens to be. There's a lot more colour on offer than just the usual white too, so take your time and see what catches your eye.
