Shower

[Dr Bradley]

I am now ready to fit my shower, but have been advised that tiles do not stay in place with the knocks and jolts of a narrowboat life. Anyone any suggestions for shower walls? I have thought of heavily varnished t&g for the sauna look, will that work?

[Kristian]

No it wont work i dont think as a suna is steam, not long periods in water, stay well away.

Its funny i had posted a very similar question asking just this very thing about a year ago, and after much seaching found a product called

"Splashwall". Its water proof WDF with a waterproof plastic backing of about 1mm and the same on the front side but the front side

comes in any design you want, from marble to slate to metal or stone, anything you can think of, the sheets are 8'x4' and cost £120 each

expensive i know but if like me you hate tiling and tiles this is great just cut to size and glue it back with "No nails".

You cant buy this product direct but its sold via B&Q superstores the big ones, go check it out.

www.splashwall.co.uk

 

Kristian

ps it look the bollocks, plus no grouting ever again!

[dor]

I used "Aquapanel", which is a cement-based board and waterproof, fixed to the lining and 18mm bulkhead. This was then tiled, using flexible floor tile cement. This appears to have flecks of rubber in it and goes on a little thicker than normal tile cement. Then used a flexible grout.

 

Where cracks usually occur is in the corners. To avoid this I used silicone on all the corners.

 

I've had a few resounding knocks in the past couple of years with no sign of any cracking.

 

The bathroom of my previous boat was lined with flooring vinyl, which also seemed quite effective.

[Proper Job]

If you want to keep the wood look. Just use single panels of marine ply.

 

My shower cubicle is oak faced ply, well varnished with a non water based varnish. All joints etc are sealed with clear silicon.

 

It all moves and flexes well with the boat.

 

I think the t&g will give you problems with trying to seal everything up to stop water getting behind it.

[Jamboat]

We are currently stripping our tiles off as the grout failed resulting in very damp bulkhead ( see pic on blog as haven't figured out how to upload pics yet!) & are considering a couple of options. Have sent for some samples of panels from The Bathroom Marquee B&Q sell something similar though not sure how waterproof, we are going to B&Q this afternoon to check it out.

Another option that has been suggested to us is good quality vinyl flooring, the method recommended is to make a template to cut correct size, stick to bulkhead & silicone all seams/edges. Sounds simple!

[Marc Harris]

Planilaque

 

It's basically a laquered glass, which looks absolutely stunning, can be cut to any size, and is fixed to the wall with silicone (so takes about 30 seconds to do!).

 

If you want to get hold of any, send me a PM, and i'll sort you out a seriously good price for it! (Just don't tell my boss!)

 

Marc.

[ChrisPy]

My shower cubicle is oak faced ply, well varnished with a non water based varnish. All joints etc are sealed with clear silicon.

 

It all moves and flexes well with the boat.

similar for me, but in order to create the wetroom concept I have used Cushionfloor lino from waist height down the wall and across the floor. Floor section fixed first with 6inch upstands (cut darts at the corners) on all 4 walls. Then wall panels fixed with a generous overlap over the upstand. All fixed 100% evostik contact glue and any gaps in the joints filled with silicone.

[Nine of Hearts]

I used "Aquapanel", which is a cement-based board and waterproof, fixed to the lining and 18mm bulkhead. This was then tiled, using flexible floor tile cement. This appears to have flecks of rubber in it and goes on a little thicker than normal tile cement. Then used a flexible grout.

 

Relieved to hear this, as this is my plan also, although it isn't tiled yet. Rather than aquapanel, I used Hardibacker which is available from Travis Perkins and lots of tile shops. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it's cheaper than aquapanel. Downside, don't be fooled by its plasterboard like appearance, you need an angle grinder to cut it and masonry bits to put holes in it. I took all the teeth of a jigsaw blade before I realised this.

[Tim Lewis]

I am now ready to fit my shower, but have been advised that tiles do not stay in place with the knocks and jolts of a narrowboat life. Anyone any suggestions for shower walls? I have thought of heavily varnished t&g for the sauna look, will that work?

 

Nothing wrong with T & G. My ex's boat has had this kind of shower lining for 17 years with no sign of rot, I can't say that it is that heavily varnished either.

 

Tim

[Keeping Up]

I'll add another vote for vinyl flooring. That's what we've always had. Being flexible it is easy to cut and fit; it is totally waterproof, long-lasting, and easy to clean.

[steelaway]

I am now ready to fit my shower, but have been advised that tiles do not stay in place with the knocks and jolts of a narrowboat life. Anyone any suggestions for shower walls? I have thought of heavily varnished t&g for the sauna look, will that work?

 

 

 

Hi

 

Have a look at Plastivan - http://www.plastivan.co.uk/en/2/6/decorati...ls/classic.html

Can be installed vertical or horizontal, easily installed and perfectly water tight

Tongue and grooved planks and can be cut with a stanley knife

 

Alex

[johnthebridge]

David Harris lined our shower with brushed stainless steel sheet.

Edited January 14, 2009 by johnthebridge

[Gibbo]

We had that flexible vinyl stuff in the shower when we bought our present boat.

 

It looked awful so I ripped it off and tiled it

 

Used flexible cement and flexible grout with silicon for the corners. Not had a single problem with it inspite of a direct hit to the side of the boat right next to the shower courtesy of a beginner.

 

Gibbo

[whammy]

If you want to stay with a conventional white tile look you may like to consider a plastic tile that is sold in Wilkinsons. When our boat was new it was tiled with a ceramic tile and after about a year started to shift, as I am not the worlds best tiler and have always found it difficult to cut ceramic tiles we went for these plastic tile, they are easy to cut with scissors and very light weight. W e stuck them on with ''no more nails'' and then grouted them with the ready made grout that Wilkinson sell with these tiles. They are very shiney and easy to wipe clean.

[tomsk]

You could clad it in cream cheese, but I would suggest something impervious.

[Dr Bradley]

You could clad it in cream cheese, but I would suggest something impervious.

 

But I'd have to shower with celery and salt. How would I keep the salt dry?

[Keeping Up]

But I'd have to shower with celery and salt. How would I keep the salt dry?

Everybody knows you keep the salt in your navel when eating celery in bed. If you put a waterproof plaster over it, you could then safely shower

[Andy Woods]

Give the walls a good coat of PVA to seal the surfaces (allow to dry)...Stick the tiles on using generous blobs of bog standard silicon sealant, and then use ordinary grout mixed with 70% water 30% PVA as a plasticiser. Bead of silicon on the wall joints and base joints...job done!

Only had to re-do mine as I ripped the old shower apart to update the tiling.

[Jus73]

On our hire boats we use the shower panels available from B & Q. The sheets are around £50 each and can be stuck in place with a good quality sealant. i managed to put them up on my own, but ideally you need two people as there fairly flimsy and quite tricky to get in place without covering yourself in adhesive! The sheets are mounted on Aquapanel and i always use Coram shower trays that have upstands as our showers get a fair amount of use. Check out the blog which has a section on installing the shower unit.

 

Justin.

[BlueStringPudding]

We've been tiling our bathroom with cheapo Homebase tiles (£3.99 a box) and stuck them on with No More Nails ULTRA POWER which is jolt resistant, flexible, waterproof and can even allegedly stick things to moist surfaces (oo-er missus). Then we've grouted it with Unibond flexible grout.

 

It looks perfect and hasn't fallen off yet (admittedly only been up a few weeks). Although I'll let you know on Sunday (which'll be our first cruise since doing the tiling) whether they hurl themselves to the ground if we bump a lock or a bridge! I doubt they will drop off as Kev clipped a bridge when winkling the boat out of the remaining ice t'other day, and there were no resultant tile suicides.

 

P.S. Forgot to mention we used the same technique but with a silicon sealant/adhesive type thing for the stove surround, and that's been up a year and a half with no movement or droppings-off!

 

I could find myself one day eating these words (if they plumet to their ceramicy doom), but at £3.99 for a big box of Homebase tiles, they work out cheaper than the plastic Neken tiles too.

Edited January 15, 2009 by BlueStringPudding

[sueb]

If you want to stay with a conventional white tile look you may like to consider a plastic tile that is sold in Wilkinsons. When our boat was new it was tiled with a ceramic tile and after about a year started to shift, as I am not the worlds best tiler and have always found it difficult to cut ceramic tiles we went for these plastic tile, they are easy to cut with scissors and very light weight. W e stuck them on with ''no more nails'' and then grouted them with the ready made grout that Wilkinson sell with these tiles. They are very shiney and easy to wipe clean.

We used these but stuck them on with whatever glue they recommended. They have a polystyrene backing so no condensation problems. They have been on 17yrs and still look like new. Very easy I 'tiled' the whole shower room. Just googled they are Necken tiles.

Sue

[NB Watersnail]

I used some white upvc sheeting from Wickes. It's a little like corrugated cardboard in construction, comes in sheets about 300mm wide and has T&G edges. FInished in a faint white marble effect. Stuck on with no nails and sealed on all the joints with silicone. Cost about £60 to do.

Seems good to me, except the corner I forgot to seal that leaks all over th Saloon floor - must fix that!

[Jamboat]

I used some white upvc sheeting from Wickes. It's a little like corrugated cardboard in construction, comes in sheets about 300mm wide and has T&G edges. FInished in a faint white marble effect. Stuck on with no nails and sealed on all the joints with silicone. Cost about £60 to do.

Seems good to me, except the corner I forgot to seal that leaks all over th Saloon floor - must fix that!

 

We've just done ours with something very similar from B&Q - they have a good range of designs, colours & different widths ( better choice at the bigger stores)

Couldn't have been easier to do, as above stuck on with no-nails & sealed with silicone. NOTE we did run a bead of silicone in each T & G joint as advised for wet areas.

Ours is a limestone effect & looks great - cost again about £60.

[mrsmelly]

Give the walls a good coat of PVA to seal the surfaces (allow to dry)...Stick the tiles on using generous blobs of bog standard silicon sealant, and then use ordinary grout mixed with 70% water 30% PVA as a plasticiser. Bead of silicon on the wall joints and base joints...job done!

Only had to re-do mine as I ripped the old shower apart to update the tiling.

 

Absolutely 100 percent right a doddle to do lasts for yonks ............its not hard now is it.............