This is typically a job what everyone thinks like “I can get this done in 30 minutes, how hard it can be”. As it turns out you can easily spend 3 hours with it without any breaks or stops. The customer had some really poorly fitted bath panels which needed changing. The idea is simple: you can buy side and end panels in the exact sizes as your bathtub, just clip it underneath the edge of the bath, job done.
The job starts get tricky when you realise that even though the bathtub is level, the floor is out. But like a lot. That much, that one end you will need to cut off from the panel to fit it in and the other end you will end up with nearly 30mm gap between the bottom of the panel and the floor. So you realise that the only way this bath panel will stay on, if you support it with a wood frame from behind. So let’s start to measure, cut and fix the frame, while you make sure you won’t hit any pipework under the floor. You are already an hour in the work and there is still nothing on. Mild swearing in yourself and carry on.
So finally two hours after you started this job you are getting somewhere. The frame is on and you start to fit the panels. To make sure they are staying on you need screws with plastic caps. But you want to make sure it looks neat so you will only use screws on the bottom. While you are holding the panel with one hand and trying to keep it level, you prop it up from underneath the panel so you can use your other two hands to fit the screws and caps. Sometimes I wish I could be an octopus.
By the third hour it all started to come together, so only the cleaning up left to do. Plus to come back another time and fit some beading around the bathtub to hide the gap. All in all, fitting bath panels are not that easy as it looks 😀
Screw it! 