What Are Acrylic Shower Walls and How Are They Cut to Fit?

Acrylic shower walls are large glue-up panels that cover the walls of a shower above the base in a few finished pieces instead of hundreds of tiles. Ella's Bubbles offers them as 98 by 60 inch back walls and 36 to 38 by 96 to 98 inch side walls, and as three-piece acrylic wall systems in white, CNC and digital print finishes, with the surface already sealed so the only joints to seal are the panel seams and the edge at the base. A panel is cut on site only where it has to go around a valve, a window or a niche, or be trimmed to meet a wall, and a cut edge is then sealed with silicone or covered with trim. Shower Bases, Walls, and Filler Pieces lists the base and wall options, and this page explains what the acrylic panels are, how they differ from the cultured marble line, where cuts fall and how a cut edge is finished.

What an Acrylic Shower Wall Is, and What a Shower Base Is

Every Ella wall option arrives as a large finished piece with the surface already sealed, so the wall goes up as a handful of glue-up parts. Tile, by contrast, is built one piece at a time on a substrate you have to prepare, with grout joints between every tile and a joint at the base that must be properly sealed. That is why a panel wall is easier to keep watertight: there are far fewer places for water to get in, and each one is sealed with silicone rather than grout. The acrylic panels come in three looks:

• Plain white acrylic, offered as the three-piece panel kit.
• CNC, an engraved pattern in the acrylic, which can be made with a 2-inch bend along an exposed edge when you request it at order time.
• Digital print, a printed pattern or tile design, which is not bent.

Both outside vertical edges of a panel are cut clean and finished at the factory, but they are not wrapped or rolled, so they can be left exposed and sealed with silicone. ADA accessories are available for the wall systems.

The shower base is the molded floor the walls stand on. Its slope, threshold and drain are molded in, and the acrylic base is the finished walking surface as shipped. It is not a substrate for tile: Can You Tile Over an Ella Acrylic Shower Base? explains why thinset will not bond to the smooth surface and why a layer of tile would bury the molded slope. The wall panels come down over the edge of the base so water runs onto the pan rather than behind it.

Acrylic Panels Compared with Cultured Marble Panels

Ella also offers cultured marble shower walls, and the two families are handled differently. The cultured marble panels are made from a natural quartz and granite composite with a gel coat surface, molded in stock sizes rather than made to your wall: 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. They come as multi-piece eight, six or four panel surrounds that one person can carry and install, and they glue over drywall, plaster, painted walls, Durock or even existing tile. The video shows the travertine-look cultured marble panels and notes that their edges are factory finished for seamless joining but can be trimmed and cut for a custom fit.

Because every cultured marble panel comes out of a mold, trimming it on site is a normal part of the job, and Ella's published instruction is to cut it with a masonry blade in a standard circular saw, with the panel fully supported on a flat surface, the cut line marked first, and eye protection and a dust mask worn. Cultured Marble Shower Wall Panels: Stock Sizes, Cutting to Fit, and Finishing the Edges gives the full method. That masonry-blade instruction is written for cultured marble. Ella's acrylic wall pages describe where an acrylic panel is cut and how the cut edge is finished, but they do not name a blade for acrylic, so confirm the cutting tool with your contractor or with the team at (800) 480-6850 before the first cut.

Where an Acrylic Panel Gets Cut

Most of the fitting happens before any saw comes out, in the measuring and the ordering. The steps Ella's guides give are:

1. Measure each wall at the top, middle and bottom, and use the largest figure, since walls are not always square.
2. Choose the panel size that meets or exceeds that figure, so the panel is trimmed down rather than found too small. A panel that is slightly oversized only needs a quick cut, while a panel that is too small cannot be stretched to fit.
3. Note any windows, valves or niches the panel must be cut around before you order, and sketch the alcove to mark which panel edges will be exposed. Edges that die into a tiled wall or a corner need no trim.
4. Bring the cartons into the bathroom and leave them for 24 hours so the material settles to the room's temperature and humidity before it is cut or glued.
5. Confirm the selection with your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 before placing the order.

The cuts themselves fall in two places: the openings for a valve, a window or a niche, and any edge trimmed to meet a wall. A factory edge is finished. An edge you cut is not, until you seal it or cover it with trim.

Finishing a Cut or Exposed Edge

Where an edge shows, most installers add trim to hide the cut and give a cleaner line. Ella's guides describe three ways to dress an edge, and which one applies depends on the panel and on when you decide:

• A 2-inch bend on the white CNC walls. The bend is formed at the manufacturing facility, not in the warehouse, so it has to be specified when you order rather than added later. Bent panels ship lying flat rather than standing, which changes how the freight is packed, so ask about shipping when you request it. Contractors ordering several panels usually find it worthwhile; for a single bathroom many choose local trim instead.
• A trim strip for the printed-design walls, requested separately at order time with availability confirmed per order. Trim strips run the full height of the panel, which makes them awkward to ship on their own.
• A white trim or J-molding bought at a local home improvement store and caulked in place. This is the most common choice for a cut edge made on site.

How Shower Wall Edges Are Finished: 2-Inch Bends on White CNC Walls and Trim Options walks through deciding which of these to order.

Sealing so Water Stays in Front of the Acrylic

Keeping water out of a glue-up wall comes down to the seams and the edges rather than to grout. Silicone goes at every joint water can reach: the seam between one panel and the next, the edge where the panels meet the shower base, and any edge you cut on site. Corner trim covers the joint after it is sealed rather than replacing the sealant. The panels are glued, so the wall behind them has to be sound, clean and dry; if you are unsure whether your wall qualifies, describe it to the team at (800) 480-6850 before you start rather than after. How do I seal shower wall panels to keep water out? covers where the sealing goes on each of Ella's wall families.

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

Related Guides

• Is acrylic a good material for shower walls compared to tile?
• Acrylic 6-Piece Wall Panel Kit: Size, Shelves, Thickness and How It Compares to the 3-Piece Surround and SMC Panels
• How Do You Cut Cultured Marble Shower Walls Cleanly and Safely?

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