What is an acrylic shower, and what is a shower stall?

An acrylic shower is a shower whose bathing surface is acrylic, and a shower stall is a molded shower unit, one-piece or multi-piece, that arrives with its walls and floor already formed at the factory. On Ella's made-in-the-USA shower stalls the acrylic is AcrylX, an applied acrylic finish over a fiberglass reinforced shell, as What is AcrylX and how does it compare to acrylic? explains. This page puts the two terms together so you know what you are looking at when a listing says acrylic shower stall, what arrives with it, and what it asks of you afterward.

What Acrylic Means on an Ella Shower

Ella's product pages describe AcrylX as a long lasting applied acrylic finish. 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. So an Ella acrylic shower is an acrylic bathing surface on a rigid fiberglass shell, not a thin stand-alone sheet.

AcrylX is acrylic. Ella's care instructions treat it exactly like any acrylic fixture, and the published Ella documents do not draw a separate line between AcrylX and other acrylic surfaces. The comparison the documents do draw is with the older gel coat units:

• The legacy ESM series one-piece stalls and the low-threshold gel coat multi-piece showers use a gel coat finish over fiberglass, and their published documents print a 3 year limited warranty.
• The AcrylX with Armorcore one-piece stalls, including the 48 by 37 by 80 inch E-3648 unit and the 42 by 42 by 80 inch Millennial unit, print a Lifetime Limited Residential Warranty and a 30-Year Commercial Warranty.

Behind the finish, the stalls and kits have Armorcore reinforced walls on all sides. That means grab bars and seats can be mounted anywhere on the wall, which matters when a bather's needs change after the shower is installed. The AcrylX name also appears on Ella's barrier-free roll-in bases, which are pre-sloped, self-supporting and pre-leveled, with a textured slip-resistant floor and a beveled entry.

What a Shower Stall Is

A shower stall is the shower sold as a molded unit. Depending on the model it is one piece or several pieces that go together on site, and either way the walls come out of a mold. That is the difference between a stall and a shower assembled from a separate shower base and a wall kit.

Because the walls are molded, the look is fixed at the factory. Ella molded shower stalls come only with a tile pattern formed into the walls, and on some stalls the back wall also has a single upper row with a diamond pattern as an accent. The lines you see are part of the molded surface, not grout joints, so there is nothing to seal or regrout and the surface wipes down like any other acrylic wall. There is no smooth-wall version, and the pattern cannot be removed or filled on request. The details are in Do Ella Shower Stall Walls Come Smooth, or Only With the Molded Tile Pattern?

Two more things are fixed:

• Color. Ella shower stalls, bases and wall panels are offered in white only. Beige is the color people ask about most often, and it is not available, so plan floor tile, wall paint and the vanity around a white shower from the start.
• Surface. If a plain wall matters to you, the stall is not the right product. A separate shower base paired with one of Ella's wall kits is the route to consider, and your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 can confirm which wall kit and finish fits the base size you are planning.

What Arrives with a Stall, and What Your Plumber Adds

A stall is the enclosure, not the plumbing fixtures. An Ella shower kit ships with the shower stall itself, the grab bar set listed for that kit, and the drain. The grab bars are packed loose rather than pre-installed, so mounting them is part of the installation.

What is not in the carton is just as important to know before installation day:

• No shower head or hand shower.
• No mixing valve, valve trim or supply plumbing.
• No valve cutout. The wall arrives solid, with no opening for a valve or shower head and no preset height or offset.

The solid wall is deliberate. The correct location depends on the valve you choose, the rough-in behind the wall and the needs of the person using the shower, so your plumber marks and cuts the openings during installation and connects the drain to the house waste line. The full list is in What Comes in the Box With an Ella Shower Kit, and What You Still Need to Buy.

Adding Accessories to an Acrylic Wall

Acrylic is a thermoplastic, and that shapes how anything is added to the wall later. A bit spinning fast builds heat at the cutting edge, softens the material and leaves a rough, stressed hole that can crack later rather than on the day you drill it. A standard twist bit made for wood or metal also tends to grab as it breaks through, which chips the back face of the panel.

The answer is a standard drill kept in its low speed range and a bit made for acrylic. Ella recommends a bit with these characteristics:

• A point angle between 90 and 135 degrees.
• A neutral or 0 degree rake angle, so the bit scrapes the material rather than digging into it.
• High-speed steel (HSS) construction or a brad point design, which helps prevent chipping and cracking.

Start each hole with light pressure, let the bit cut at its own pace, and ease off as it reaches the back of the panel. Anything that will carry weight, such as a grab bar, must be fastened into the reinforced backing built into the panel. Third-party add-ons such as a window trim kit may work with an Ella stall, but Ella cannot guarantee that another manufacturer's kit will fit or seal. The step by step is in Drilling an Ella Acrylic Shower Wall for Accessories.

Caring for an Acrylic Stall

The one rule in every Ella care document is no abrasives. Clean with warm water and liquid detergent or a non-abrasive cleanser made for fiberglass bathroom fixtures, and never use scouring powders or pads or steel wool.

Walls and floor need different tools. The method the stall manufacturer specifies is Soft Scrub applied with a cloth on the walls and Soft Scrub worked in with a brush on the floor, because a cloth alone does not lift the buildup that settles there. Work the cleaner across the whole floor rather than one spot, then rinse thoroughly so the finish looks even. For hard water staining, the team recommends Goo Gone or rubbing alcohol. Other cleaners are acceptable as long as they contain no ammonia, bleach or Clorox, because those products make the gloss dull. If the floor still looks wrong after a proper cleaning, The Shower Floor Looks Dull or Dirty Compared to the Walls lists the photos to send with a request at ellasbubbles.com/support.

What This Means for Your Bathroom

An acrylic shower stall is a good match when you want a finished enclosure with no grout to maintain and walls that are ready for grab bars and a seat wherever they turn out to be needed. Before you commit, check these points against your plans:

1. You are happy with white and with the molded tile pattern, since neither can be changed.
2. You have chosen the shower valve and trim, the shower head and any hand shower with your plumber, because none of them ship with the stall.
3. The drain position on the stall matches the rough-in in your floor.
4. Your installer knows the grab bars ship loose and will mount them into the reinforced backing as part of the job.

If any of the first points is a concern, ask your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 about a shower base with a separate wall kit instead.

Related Guides

• What is the difference between gel coat and AcrylX Ella shower finishes?

Common Questions