How Do I Install Acrylic Trim Pieces With Ella Acrylic Wall Liners?

Acrylic trim goes on with Ella acrylic wall liners in a set order, and each piece has one job. Corner reinforcements go into the two corners before the wall panels so the corners are square, H-channel seams two wall pieces together, F-channel finishes an outside edge that has no bullnose, the 3/4 inch and 1 1/8 inch trim dresses windows and outside corners, and the 4 inch and 6 inch hole caps cover the openings around a tub spout or shower arm. Every seam in a wet area is then sealed with the color matched silicone that ships in the liner installation kit. The published sizes and finishes for each piece are in Shower Doors, Seats, Benches, Grab Bar Sets, Niches, Soap Dishes and Acrylic Trim, and this page explains what each piece does, where it goes, and what to settle with the team before the first panel goes up.

What the Wall Liner Package Includes

The acrylic wall liner Standard package is the three wall panels plus an installation kit with color matched silicone. The liner is the 98 1/2 inch wall system described in Wall Kit Sizes at a Glance, which lists it alongside the SMC subway kits, the acrylic 3-panel kits and the cultured marble surrounds, so start there if you are not yet certain which Ella wall system is going into your bathroom. The trim does for the liner what molding does for the acrylic 3-panel kits, which glue to drywall or over existing tile and are finished at the edges with molding or caulking. The trim pieces are not described as part of the liner package. They are listed with the shower accessories, so before you order, walk the alcove and count what the trim has to cover: how many inside corners, how many places two wall pieces will meet, how many outside edges will be left exposed, how many spout and shower arm openings, and whether a window sits inside the wet area. That count is your trim list, and your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 can check it against the liner size you are ordering.

What Each Trim Piece Does

The trim pieces fall into three families. Corner reinforcements and the two channels control how the panels meet each other and the wall. The window and corner trims and the hole caps are finish pieces that cover an edge or an opening. The window kit lines a window opening on its own. The table lists every piece with the size printed in the sources.

What the families mean for your bathroom is simple. If the liner covers a plain three-wall alcove with no window and every panel edge dies into a wall, you may need little beyond the corner reinforcements, the hole caps and the silicone. If a wall is wider than one panel, add H-channel for the seam. If a panel edge is exposed in the room, F-channel covers it, and the cap molding turns that same edge into a chair rail when the liner is used as wainscoting. A window inside the wet area adds the window kit and the window trim.

The Order the Pieces Go on

The sequence below follows what each piece does. The exact adhesive and the cutting or mitering order for your particular pieces should be confirmed with the team before you start, because they depend on the liner size and on the corners or windows being trimmed.

1. Set the corner reinforcements into the two corners before any wall panel goes in. Their purpose is to make the corners square, so check the corners with the reinforcements in place before moving on.
2. Install the wall panels. Where two wall pieces meet on the same run, H-channel joins them, so the channel and the pieces it seams are fitted together as the wall goes up.
3. Finish any outside edge that has no bullnose with F-channel. Where the liner stops partway up the wall as wainscoting, clip the decorative cap molding onto the F-channel to form the chair rail.
4. Fit the 4 inch or 6 inch hole caps around the tub spout and the shower arm so each opening is covered the way an escutcheon covers a pipe.
5. Cut and fit the window kit and the window trim if a window sits inside the wet area.
6. Seal every seam in a wet area with the color matched silicone from the installation kit. This includes the channels, the corners, the caps and the window pieces.

Lining a Window

The window kit is four 48 inch sides, each 6 inches deep, and it must be custom cut to your opening. Measure the width and height of the window opening and the depth from the face of the liner to the window frame before cutting, because 48 inches is the length of each side as supplied, not the size of a finished window. The 3/4 inch and 1 1/8 inch trim then dresses the edge where the kit meets the liner. Since the cutting and mitering order matters most on a window, this is the piece to photograph and describe when you call the team.

Colors and Finishes

Trim comes in white, almond, biscuit and gray, and certain corner trims are also offered in pearl, granite and marbleized colors. Match the trim to the liner color, and remember that the silicone in the installation kit is color matched as well, so the sealed seams read as the same color rather than showing as a different line. Ask which corner trims are offered in the pearl, granite or marbleized colors if that is the look you want.

What to Have Ready, and the Shelf Question

Before you call, have your wall kit size and a photo of the corner or window you are trimming, because the team confirms the adhesive and the cutting or mitering order for your particular pieces from those two things. Trim is a finish job done by whoever is installing the liners, so pass the answer on to your installer. If what you are really looking for is a corner shelf for the shower rather than trim, the add-on shelving is a separate accessory line: a flush mount single shelf at 2 1/2 by 16 1/4 inches, corner caddies with one or two shelves, and a triple niche, all listed in What shelving does an Ella shower have, and how big are the shelves?. Cultured marble package option 3 adds two 7 inch corner shelves positioned to your reach, which is the closest thing to a built-in corner shelf in the Ella wall lines.

Related Guides

• Acrylic 6-Piece Wall Panel Kit: Size, Shelves, Thickness and How It Compares to the 3-Piece Surround and SMC Panels
• How do you install a shower wall panel kit from Ella's Bubbles?
• Drilling an Ella Acrylic Shower Wall for Accessories, and Whether Third-Party Window Kits Will Fit

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