What warranty covers Ella shower stalls, bases and wall kits?

Ella's AcrylX with Armorcore one-piece shower stalls, including the 48 by 37 by 80 inch E-3648 and the 42 by 42 by 80 inch Millennial unit, print a Lifetime Limited Residential Warranty and a 30-Year Commercial Warranty on the stall. The legacy ESM series one-piece stalls and the low-threshold gel coat multi-piece showers print a 3 year limited warranty. The published pages gathered here do not print a term for the roll-in bases, the acrylic three-piece wall kits or the cultured marble products, so for those you read the document packed with your unit or confirm with your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850. What is AcrylX and how does it compare to acrylic? explains the finish that the longer term is attached to.

Printed Warranty Terms by Product

The pattern in the table follows the finish, not the size or the piece count. The AcrylX with Armorcore one-piece stalls print the lifetime residential and 30-year commercial pair, and the gel coat units print 3 years. Where a cell says not listed, the product's own published document is where the term appears, and the support team can confirm it from your model number. Do not assume a stall's term carries over to a base or a wall kit bought separately, because each product's document states its own term.

AcrylX and Gel Coat: What the Difference Is

AcrylX is acrylic. Ella's product pages describe it as a long lasting applied acrylic finish, laid over a fiberglass-reinforced shell rather than formed as a stand-alone sheet. On a one-piece E-series stall or a three-piece low-threshold kit, the fiberglass gives the unit its shape and strength and the AcrylX layer is the surface you see and touch. Ella's care instructions treat it exactly like any acrylic fixture, and the published documents draw no line between AcrylX and other acrylic surfaces. The line they do draw is between AcrylX units and the older gel coat units.

Gel coat is the finish on the legacy ESM series one-piece stalls and on the low-threshold gel coat multi-piece showers, again over fiberglass. It is also the surface on Ella's cultured marble line. The first video on this page shows the cultured marble shower bases, which are molded solid cultured marble with a glossy gel coat finish and an ADA compliant slip resistant textured floor, and are heavy enough to need at least two people to install. The second shows the cultured marble travertine wall panels, a natural quartz and granite composite with a gel coat surface, sold as eight, six or four panel surrounds that one person can carry and install, with factory finished edges that can still be trimmed and cut, and glued over drywall, plaster, painted walls, Durock or existing tile. The printed warranty follows the finish, which is why an AcrylX stall and a gel coat stall of the same footprint carry different terms. Ella Shower Stalls Compared: One-Piece AcrylX E-Series, Three-Piece 60x33 Molded Seat, and the Legacy ESM Gel Coat Stalls lays the current spec sheets side by side.

What Armorcore Reinforcement Does

Armorcore is the reinforcement behind the AcrylX surface on the walls of the stalls and kits. The E-3648 spec sheet lists Armorcore reinforced walls on all sides for installing future grab bars, and the product pages say the same of seats: because every wall is reinforced, grab bars and seats can be mounted anywhere on the wall. That matters most when a bather's needs change after the shower is installed, since support can be added where it is needed rather than only where the framing happens to sit. The E-3648 is handed by seat, is offered in Basic or Liberty packages, weighs 160 pounds net, and carries UPC, CSA B45.5, IAPMO Z124-11, Home Innovation Research Lab and Southern Building Code listings. Its molded features, the architectural subway tile pattern with a diamond accent row, the Grip Sure floor texture, and the soap, shampoo and foot ledges, are part of the same shell, and the square corners at the base accept a framed or frameless door or a curtain. The 60 by 33 by 77 and 60 by 36 by 77 inch one-piece sizes share the construction. One-piece stalls do not disassemble, so if you are remodeling, confirm the stall fits through every doorway and hallway into the bathroom before ordering, or use the multi-piece line.

Care Instructions for AcrylX, Acrylic and Gel Coat Surfaces

The one rule in every Ella care document is no abrasives. Clean an AcrylX or acrylic surface with warm water and liquid detergent, or with a non-abrasive cleanser made for fiberglass bathroom fixtures, and never use scouring powders, scouring pads or steel wool. The same instruction applies to the acrylic three-piece wall kit, whose 0.118 inch ABS and PMMA composite panel is the finish itself with nothing painted or coated on top, and which comes in white, CNC and digital print finishes with ADA accessories available. What are acrylic shower walls, and how do they hold up? covers the wear to expect from those panels, and What Are Acrylic Shower Walls and How Do They Work? explains how they come down over the base edge so water runs onto the pan. One more rule protects the base: an Ella acrylic base is never tiled over, because acrylic does not accept thinset and a layer on top would bury the molded slope. The cultured marble video describes those bases and walls as durable and easy to clean.

Confirming the Term for Your Unit

Complete one-piece and multi-piece kits are carried by Home Depot, while bases, the collapsible dam and wall systems come through your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850, so the warranty document for your unit arrives with the product wherever you purchased it. If you have the model number but no document, open a ticket at ellasbubbles.com/support and the team can confirm the printed term for that exact unit. Ella does not send technicians: parts ship under the warranty, and a local licensed contractor does any removal or reinstallation.

Related Guides

• How do I activate my Ella's Bubbles walk-in tub warranty?
• How to Get a Copy of Your Ella Walk-In Tub Warranty Document
• What does the Ella's Bubbles Lifetime Limited Warranty cover?

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