How do you install a shower wall panel kit from Ella's Bubbles?

An Ella shower wall panel kit goes up in the same basic order whichever wall family you bought: set and water test the base or tub first, fit the glue-up flange at the wet edge, prepare a clean, dry, approved wall surface, cut each panel to fit, glue it to the wall, and seal every joint in the wet area with silicone. What changes between kits is the panel itself, because the cultured marble surrounds, the SMC subway panels and the tongue and groove PVC tiles are each cut and fastened differently. The tile by tile method for the PVC product is laid out in How do you install and seal tongue and groove PVC shower wall tiles?, and this page covers the steps every kit shares and the points where the families part ways.

Know Which Kit You Have Before You Start

Ella offers four wall families for the space above a walk-in tub or around a shower base, and they do not install the same way:

• Cultured marble surrounds. Natural quartz and granite composite panels with a gel coat surface, sold as eight, six or four panel sets. They glue over drywall, plaster, painted walls, Durock or even existing tile, and one person can carry and install them. The video on this page shows this product being presented.
• SMC subway panels. A pressed fiberglass composite that goes up in 24 inch rows on 100 percent silicone, with an overlapping flange on each panel.
• Tongue and groove PVC tiles. Individual grout-free tiles that are cut, glued and snapped into the tile before them.
• Acrylic panel kits. The 3-piece surround and the 6-piece kit are large acrylic pieces that glue to the wall. Their fastening sequence is in the installation guide for the kit, and the flange and sealing rules below apply to them as well.

The SMC panels and the PVC tiles both use a tongue and groove interlock, so name the exact product when you ask questions, or the answer may describe the wrong one.

Before the First Panel Goes on the Wall

1. Finish the base or tub first. Level the fixture with every leg bearing on the floor and complete the water test before finishing any wall. Walls that go up before the tub is proven leak-free are the walls that come down again.
2. Fit the glue-up tile flange. Ella tubs have a flat deck edge with no molded tile lip, so the water barrier at the wall is a strip added at installation. The manual calls for a rustproof, waterproof strip about 5 inches tall, bonded with 100 percent silicone so it overlaps the tub edge by about 2 inches. The current part is the flexible, reversible glue-up flange kit, and it goes on after the edge is cleaned with the alcohol tissues in the kit. For a shower base the same approach applies, and the strip can go on after the base is set. My Tub Has No Tile Lip. Which Flange Do I Use? explains how to match the flange length to your wall run.
3. Settle the ceiling and the lighting. Ella showers are open at the top, with no dome or ceiling panel, so any fixture above the shower is wired by your electrician before the panels go up. Does Ella Offer a Dome, Ceiling Panel or Light for Its Showers? covers what is and is not supplied.
4. Let the material acclimate. PVC tiles sit in the bathroom for 24 hours before installation so they settle to the room's temperature and humidity. A tile cut and snapped in the day it arrives can move as it adjusts, and the joints are where that shows.
5. Check the substrate. The panels are glued, so the wall behind them has to be sound, clean and dry. Cultured marble accepts drywall, plaster, painted walls, Durock and existing tile. If you are not sure your wall qualifies, describe it to the team at (800) 480-6850 before you start rather than after.
6. Measure every wall three times. Measure at the top, middle and bottom, use the largest figure, and note any windows, valves or niches the panel must be cut around.

Cutting the Panels to Fit

Because each cultured marble panel comes out of a mold, its size is fixed at the factory. The back panel tops out at 60 inches wide by 96 inches tall, and side panels are molded 30, 32, 34 and 36 inches wide, so you order the size equal to or slightly larger than the wall and trim the excess. Cultured marble cuts with a masonry blade in a standard circular saw. The factory edges are finished for seamless joining, and a cut edge is finished with a bead of caulk or covered with a 2 inch trim piece. Ella carries a 1 inch corner trim in 96 inch lengths and a 2 inch by 3/4 inch flat trim for the gap at the tub. Where Can I Buy Cultured Marble Shower Walls, and Is Acrylic Better? lists the stock sizes and how the acrylic kits compare.

PVC tiles are measured, scored and snapped to size one at a time, and about 10 percent spare tile is held back for cuts. Make the cuts around valves and the shower head opening with the most care, because those are the cuts that stay visible.

Gluing and Sealing

The wall goes up from the wet edge, panel by panel:

• Run the panel down over the flange and onto the deck, so water that reaches the back of the panel is carried into the tub or base instead of the wall.
• Cultured marble panels are glued to the substrate. SMC panels go up in 24 inch rows on 100 percent silicone, with each panel's flange overlapped by the next row. PVC tiles take adhesive on the back and a thin bead of silicone at the joint before they are set and snapped into the previous tile.
• Silicone every joint in the wet area: panel to panel, panel to deck, and the joints where an extension panel meets the tub and where an end panel meets the wall.
• Finish cut edges with caulk or trim, and fit the corner trim where two walls meet.

Existing wall tile that is sound and properly sealed can stay in place under a glued panel, and your installer confirms its condition. The enclosure stays open to the bathroom ceiling, and the room's ventilation handles the steam.

When to Open a Ticket

If the walls are already partly finished, the flange length is unclear, or the kit you received does not match the family described in its guide, open a ticket at ellasbubbles.com/support with the model, a sketch of the alcove with wall lengths in inches, and a photo of the edge where the panel meets the tub or base. Your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 can confirm the kit and the sealing sequence before anything is glued.

Watch: Transform Your Shower with Cultured Marble Wall Surround | Ella’s Bubbles with chapters and a full transcript.

Related Guides

• Cultured Marble Shower Wall Panels: Stock Sizes, Cutting to Fit, and Finishing the Edges
• Acrylic 6-Piece Wall Panel Kit: Size, Shelves, Thickness and How It Compares to the 3-Piece Surround and SMC Panels
• Installing the SMC Low-Profile Shower Bases: 1 Inch Reversible Linear Drain and Barrier-Free Linear-Drain Bases

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