Plastic panels can be a good alternative to tiles. Excellent aesthetic and technical characteristics, short installation time. The color palette is so rich that you can choose the panels to your taste, besides they are durable and unpretentious.
How to sheathe a bathroom with plastic panels
You can sheathe the walls with plastic yourself, without the presence of certain skills. It is enough to know in general terms the rules for working with plastic panels.
Materials for work
Plastic panels. Their standard length is 3 meters, and the width is 25 centimeters, but by agreement you may be delivered to panels up to 6 meters long. The problem will be only in their delivery.
Dock profile (Molding). It is necessary for a more smooth transition between panels and to fix the angles.
Types of molding:
Starting. It is placed in the lower and upper part of the wall.
Ceiling. It is necessary for joining panels on walls with ceiling.
For the inner angle, so that it is possible to make joints in the inner corners.
Guides (whether metal wooden), with a thickness of up to 2 centimeters, and up to 5-6 centimeters wide.
Self -tapping screws, metal holders, dowels.
It is better to take the material with a margin so that you do not have to run around the city later, in search of the missing details, suitable in color and size.
Work tool
For lining the bathroom with plastic panels, you will need: roulette, level for mounting the frame, perforator, screwdriver, square and pencil, for creating marking, construction knife and knife -habits with small teeth.
How to sheathe a bathroom with plastic panels
Plastic panel frame. Making it is quite simple:
We mark the working surface with a pencil, in places of possible fastening of the guides, then guides are installed with a perforator or drill. The distance between the guides should be no more than 70, and not less than 50 centimeters.
We fasten horizontal strips to vertical guides. Their number is directly related to the thickness of the panels. It is necessary to fix so much so that the plastic does not sag, as a rule, three are enough: at the level of the skirting board, in the middle and under the ceiling. It is better to align horizontal rails in level to avoid distortions.
We proceed to cutting plastic panels, this process is quite complicated, requiring attention and accuracy. We measure the necessary length with a roulette and with the help of a square and a pencil we draw a line in the place where it is necessary to make a section. Cut the plastic on the back of a hacksaw with small teeth (building knife) to avoid the appearance.
Start finishing the bathroom from the ceiling, and plastic is laid on the wall from the corner. First, special metal holders are attached with nails to the butt edge of the panel, and then screwed with self -tapping screws to the horizontal guide of the frame.
The second and the next panels are inserted into the groove of the previous one and fixed in the same way.
You can fix the panels directly to the wall without a frame, then know that this process will resemble the laying of the tile, since the principles of work are the same. At the level of the plinth, we fasten the guide to the wall, which will serve as the basis. Replace the adhesive solution with liquid nails. They are applied to the back of the panel, moving over the entire base, it remains to press the wall and wait for gluing.
How to sheathe a bathroom with plastic panels
It’s okay if a small gap is formed in the frame installation or frameless between the panels, it will be useful if the material is expanded under the influence of warm air. Do not forget to smear the joints with a sealant at the end of work so that the moisture does not get inside.