Locking Vinyl in Showers?

Question

Has anybody ever used locking vinyl plank or tile for tub or shower surrounds?  I recently saw a Durawall video where they applied adhesive to the back and silicone in all the locking joints.  Anybody have any firsthand experiences or have input as to whether or not this would be a reasonable idea?

Pat L. · Answer

In the nasty old days of C-class rentals we glued in sheets of rolled linoleum offcuts as tub surrounds. Amazingly they held up well, but we did coat the old drywall walls with with 'liquid rubber'. My concern with interlocking vinyl would be joint expansion consistent with Hot water hitting it but not equally. These joint sites would be prone to mold & water infiltration unless you painstakingly silicon every joint. Then again with uneven joint expansion/contraction due to hot water it may compromise the very thin silicon bond you talk off applying. Last year (in a flip) we had professionally installed vinyl flooring glued to a perfectly good subfloor & because of a very hot humid summer it was a peeling/lifting in spots nightmare.

Definitely not something I would be prepared to experiment with but would be interested in following your progress.

Jim K. · Answer

@Jill F.

Jill, if I were you, I wouldn't back any wall of a shower alcove in rental with any gypsum based product -- greenboard, purpleboard, DensShield whatever. Can you just put in cement board instead? It'll be twice as expensive but you'll have real peace of mind if this Dura-wall stuff cracks in the wrong place or something.

Mark Perea · Answer

@Brandon Roof

Fast forward 6 months later.

Contractor: Here’s your estimate on damages. $6000.00

Erik B. · Answer

WHY?????

what could be the possible advantages of adding something like this to a wet area?

The prep to make this prevent water damages to the rest of the house will cost more than anything saved.

Subway tile is in style and super cheap if shopped around.  Do it right - do it once

Jill F. · Answer

I'm about to try this product (Dura-wall) for the first time. We are going to install with adhevsive over purple board. with siliconed joints wet area per the instructions. I'll post about it when we get to the install and let y'all know if we have any install issues or use issues down the road. I think it will look nice.

Jill F. · Answer

@Jim K. Thanks, that's a good thought. (Especially for an untested (by me) product).  You are supposed to be able to nail the durawall directly to the joists but that didn't make me feel warm and fuzzy.

Scott Weaner · Answer

Interestingly, I was just wondering about this myself. I have a shower with some issues.

Jon Reed · Answer

Please just put up concrete board and tile or a fiberglass surround (it is cheap stuff!). Everything else will work for some period of time but will fail much quicker than the 'good old fashion' methods... and the worst part is that you will have no idea it has failed until the floor joist have rotten out and the tub is sinking (yeah... the last renovation we did we had to tackle this exact issue from someone else's 'renovation').

Mark Perea · Answer

@Mark Perea Also don’t let, We do it right because we do it twice be your motto.

Rob B. · Answer

I'm of a similar notion as others who have posted above. We're in the process of remodeling our family home and one of the biggest questions we've toyed is how we want to approach the bathrooms. Locking Vinyl is something we considered, but ultimately went a different direction. I'm interested to see how this turns out though! Would love to see pictures.

Locking Vinyl in Showers?

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