Shower-Liner or Bath-Fitter Vs Ceramic Tile Replacement

If you live in an older home, you typically have ceramic or porcelain tiles on the shower walls of your bathroom. While you may not like their present condition or color, the truth is that these ceramic tiles have stood the test of time, often lasting 40-50 years or more. When you consider the typical life expectancy of many materials, that’s a fairly good track record.

In the last decade, bathroom remodeling companies have started offering alternative materials when providing bathroom designs. Sadly, the reason for the shift away from traditional materials is often for the sake of saving money and increasing contractor profit, not in order to enhance the quality and durability of a bathroom remodel. The shower-liner is one such product. It has reduced bathroom improvement costs, but has also had the effect of reducing the quality of many completed bathroom projects.

Quite simply, a shower-liner, or bath-fitter as they are often called, is a molded fiberglass or vinyl sheet which is installed over a homeowner’s existing tiles and bathtub. No plumbing beneath the bathtub or shower is replaced. Many times in an older home the ceramic tiles have mold growth on and underneath the grout lines between tiles. The shower walls themselves may be unstable and dry-rotted. Unfortunately, once the liner is installed over the tiles homeowners don’t see the conditions that exist behind it. While on the surface things look all right, no one can be certain what’s lurking beneath the surface. Of the many bathroom ideas contractors have come up with, the bath-liner is among the worst.

Instead of saving a few dollars and purchasing an inferior product, homeowners would do well to use the services of a qualified bathroom contractor who will completely replace their shower walls and install new ceramic tiles. Whether yours is a small bathroom or a large one, a custom-designed ceramic tile scheme will add beauty to your new bathroom and value to your home. Instead of simply installing a white or almond-colored sheet over the shower walls, we can design an attractive pattern of angled tiles with interesting borders and glass mosaics.

Very often, the cost for the services of a professional bathroom contractor is not much more than taking the cheaper route and installing a bath-liner. That’s especially true when you consider that it’s likely you will ultimately need to rip-out the shower-liner or bath-fitter in order to replace damaged plumbing and eventually install new walls and ceramic tiles anyway.