What are acrylic and fiberglass tubs and showers made of?

Acrylic and fiberglass are not the same material. Acrylic is a solid plastic sheet that is heated and formed into the surface you sit on, while fiberglass is glass fiber set in resin that gives a shell its shape and strength and is then finished with either a sprayed gel coat or an applied acrylic layer. An Ella walk-in tub is acrylic on the bather side with fiberglass reinforcement bonded underneath, and Ella's made in the USA shower stalls are fiberglass shells finished in AcrylX acrylic, as What Are the Shell, Frame, Door and Towel Bar of an Ella Walk-In Tub Made Of? explains. This page sorts the layers out, so you know what is meant when a tub or shower is described as acrylic, fiberglass, gel coat or simply plastic.

Acrylic: The Surface You See and Touch

On an acrylic tub the bathing surface is one continuous sheet of acrylic. Each Ella walk-in tub shell is thermoformed from an acrylic sheet, which means the sheet is heated until it softens and is drawn over a mold into the shape of the seat, footwell and deck. Fiberglass is then applied to the underside to stiffen the shell, and no fiberglass is used on the bather side, so the surface you sit on and touch is acrylic throughout. The shell rides on a stainless steel frame chosen because it does not rust in a wet room, and Ella's team states that a correctly installed tub does not off-gas volatile organic compounds.

The dealer in the video on this page explains why that construction matters to him. He describes the acrylic as one solid piece of material over the entire bathtub, with no separate finish layer to chip or crack, and says a dull spot can be buffed back out. His account of gel coat fiberglass tubs is the opposite experience: a gel coat sprayed into the mold and built up behind with fiberglass resin, a finish he calls brittle, and repeated service calls for fiberglass repair, refinishing and polishing after the shell expanded and contracted with hot and cold water.

Ella's acrylic shower pans use acrylic a second way. The standard and custom bases are vacuum molded from an acrylic capped ABS sheet, so a thin acrylic layer is the glossy surface you stand on and the ABS backing gives the sheet its body, with high density foam bonded underneath as the reinforcement. Are Ella acrylic shower pans reinforced, and how much weight do they hold? explains how that foam lets a pan sit directly on a level subfloor or concrete floor without a mortar bed.

Fiberglass: The Structural Shell, and the Two Finishes That Go over It

Fiberglass on its own is not a bathing surface. It is the glass fiber and resin layer that gives a one-piece shower stall or a roll-in base its shape and strength, and what you see is always a finish applied over it. Ella's shower documents draw the line between two finishes, and the difference shows up in the printed warranty.

• Gel coat over fiberglass. The legacy ESM series one-piece stalls and the low-threshold gel coat multi-piece showers use a gel coat finish over a fiberglass shell. Their published documents print a 3 year limited warranty.
• AcrylX over fiberglass. Ella's current one-piece E-series stalls, three-piece low-threshold kits and barrier-free roll-in bases are fiberglass reinforced with AcrylX, which Ella's product pages describe as a long lasting applied acrylic finish. The 48 by 37 by 80 inch E-3648 stall and the 42 by 42 by 80 inch Millennial stall print a Lifetime Limited Residential Warranty and a 30-Year Commercial Warranty.

So whether a fiberglass shower is a good or a poor choice depends on what is on top of the fiberglass. What is AcrylX and how does it compare to acrylic? makes the point that AcrylX is acrylic, applied over a fiberglass-reinforced shell rather than supplied as a stand-alone sheet, and Ella's care instructions treat it exactly like any other acrylic fixture. Behind the AcrylX surface these stalls also carry Armorcore reinforced walls on all sides, which is what lets grab bars and seats anchor into the wall itself, as What Is Armorcore Reinforcement on Ella Shower Stall Walls and Why Does It Matter? explains. Ella does not publish a material recipe or a thickness for the core, so neither does this page.

What Plastic Showers and Tub Parts Are Actually Made of

When someone calls a shower or a tub part plastic, they are usually looking at one of these four things, and each has a specific answer in Ella's documents.

• Shower pans: acrylic capped ABS sheet with high density foam bonded underneath, in 30 by 60, 32 by 60 and 36 by 60 inch standard sizes with a left or right drain, and custom made-to-order sizes reinforced from the bottom the same way.
• Shower stalls and roll-in bases: fiberglass shells with a gel coat or AcrylX finish. The roll-in bases are listed as pre-sloped, reinforced, self-supporting and pre-leveled, with a textured slip-resistant floor and a beveled entry. Self-supporting means the fiberglass shell carries its own shape and load.
• Molded seats: the seat on a one-piece or three-piece stall is a shape in the same fiberglass and AcrylX shell, not a separate part. It is hollow underneath and has no published weight rating, so contractors add framing under it for heavier bathers. Is the Ella Shower Stall Molded Seat Hollow, and What Is It Made Of? covers that decision.
• Outward-swing tub doors: on the Capri, Monaco, Front Entry, Mobile, Lounger, Shak, Big4One and Tub4Two, the door frame is a plastic composite with tempered glass, closed by a 3-latch gear and shaft mechanism. Ella's team describes the composite as a strong plastic with high impact resistance. Inward-swing doors and their frames are stainless steel, and the towel bar is brushed stainless steel to match.

Acrylic, AcrylX and Gel Coat Side by Side

The table uses only the constructions and warranty terms printed in Ella's current documents. Where a figure is not published, the cell says so.

What the differences mean: the word that matters is the finish, not fiberglass. Every Ella product with an acrylic or AcrylX surface carries the longer printed term, and the two gel coat lines carry the 3 year term, which lines up with the dealer's experience in the video of gel coat being the layer that chips and cracks. On a walk-in tub you get acrylic with fiberglass hidden underneath for stiffness. On a stall you get fiberglass for shape with acrylic applied on top. In both cases the surface you clean and sit on is acrylic, and the fiberglass is doing structural work where you never touch it.

Cleaning Any of These Surfaces

The one rule in every Ella care document is no abrasives, and it applies to acrylic, AcrylX and gel coat alike. Clean with warm water and liquid detergent or a non-abrasive cleanser made for fiberglass bathroom fixtures. Never use scouring powders or pads or steel wool, because they scratch the finish layer that gives each product its gloss. Stainless steel doors, the brushed stainless towel bar and chrome fixtures have their own guidance, and a mild, non-abrasive cleaner is the safe starting point for all of them. If you are unsure which construction your tub or shower has, your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 can confirm it from the model.

Watch: Acrylic Over Fiberglass: The Better Walk-In Tub Choice | Voted Safest/Best 2020 | Ella’s Bubbles with chapters and a full transcript.

Related Guides

• What is AcrylX material and how is it different from acrylic?
• How Ella Tubs Are Built: Acrylic Shell, Fiberglass Reinforcement, and Stainless Frame
• What the Ella Acrylic Shower Base Is Made Of and How It Is Installed

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