Can HDPE panels replace tile for bath/shower enclosures?
I am a polymer materials engineering grad student in SoCal and have been doing my own repair/reno work on 2-3 rental properties I own. So be warned, I am not a real contractor or structural engineer.
I was thinking of ways to make optimized low-cost yet resilient housing using the KISS principle. Simple lines and details, resilient to installation error, yet strong on the building science fundamentals. While I greatly admire traditional craftsmanship, it just isn’t economically feasible in CA from the owner’s perspective to pay for tons of labor.
One of my pet-peeves is tile work, it is so work intensive with too many components and layers, and opportunities for install error. Not to mention the weight of tiles, grout, and other capital-intensive tools, tile saws, grout sealing, and dust, etc.
Therefore, I was wondering why HDPE panels aren’t used more often for finished wall or ceilings (especially in lieu of tile shower enclosures)? A 1/4 or 1/2 inch thick panel of HDPE is pretty solid , impervious to water, and used all the time for exterior marine applications. Combined with a one-piece pre-formed shower base or bathtub, I think it would save a ton of money in bathroom remodels without sacrificing durability.
Obviously we all can have an opinion on the aesthetics of plastic panels, but I
think it is at least practical, and could approach the contemporary look of the Dekton continuous panels, while looking better than the claustrophobic one piece home depot shower enclosures. At $3.50/sqft it is pricier than gypsum wallboard, but would be much cheaper than the installation-inclusive price of tile. The only downside I could see would be difficulty using traditional caulking for the joints, but that can be overcome with plastic-specific bonding or thermoforming. Also the temperature rating of HDPE is 180F, so the hot water would have to be temp-regulated.
Can anyone think of any other issues?
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The 180F temp rating isn’t an issue. Water anywhere near that hot is in the “instant third degree burns” category so it’s not safe for people. I think the max a typical hot water heater can be set to is around 140F, and it’s not recommended to set them even that high due to scalding issues.
You could weld HDPE tiles, but where is the labor savings over laying tile if you do that? You’ll also have the issue of adhering the tile to the surface since you can’t use regular adhesives with HDPE. You would probably end up with some kind of interlocking panel system that would look like shake siding.
Aside from the labor and aesthetic issues, I don’t see any reason you couldn’t use HDPE in a shower, I just don’t see it having any significant advantages over conventional tile.
Bill
HDPE's coefficient of thermal expansion is 3x that of PVC. It will likely move and make unpleasant noises when the hot water hits it. It'll sound and feel like plastic. Not very appealing.
I would say the value leader is a pre-fab shower stall or tub surround. A basic one is less than $100 at my local Home Depot. Hard to get simpler than that. A tub surround in particular is highly standardized which makes it pretty low labor.
Thank you all for the great replies. Yeah I guess at that level prefab shower kits are the way top go. The thermal expansion alone is not good.
Cultured marble sheets work very well without the problems of tile, but are prohibitively expensive for most projects.
...especially if it's just a rental.
We ended up with a MAAX fiberglass one-piece tub/shower unit in our tiny house that is our dwelling while remediating an abandoned small town lot and planning our PGH build. I've come to like the fiberglass unit so much that I'm thinking about including the same in our build. Simple to install, affordable, durable, easy to squeegee dry and keep clean. I'm not really sure why I had always looked down on these. We are still planning for lots of tile in the bathrooms (my wife works for a handmade artisan tile factory), but playing with the idea of transitioning from tile to fiberglass tub/shower.
Anyone else a fan of a good quality fiberglass unit? The MAAX website has some very nice looking units.
https://maax.com/en/products/category/tub-showers
Aaron,
I am, and I agree with your approach. You can get the aesthetic and practical benefits of tile in other areas of the bathroom, while still using a tub enclosure for the areas where moisture makes grout problematic.
Sorry I’m very late to this conversation, but they did use this at my work for showers. It’s not pretty, but very few durable. They even had a molded floor pan.