How to improve the walls of your home? This question often arises when it is time for the next repair or when buying a new apartment. There are many answers in my head: to paint with paint or
stick wallpaper, cover with decorative tiles or apply decorative plaster. Most of these options require preliminary preparatory work. Which attract both investment and labor costs. And to do this, oh, how I do not want to.
There is an alternative method to solve this problem - wall cladding with PVC panels. This is a universal finishing material for a balcony and a loggia, utility rooms and a corridor, an entrance hall and even some parts of the kitchen. Wall cladding with PVC panels - an aesthetic look at an affordable price. The material is new in the sales market, but is quite suitable for decoration of residential and technical premises.
PVC panels as an option for wall cladding
We found that wall cladding with PVC panels is the easiest and most economical way to clad walls in a residential or utility room. With their help, you can finish almost any surface of the walls with a bathroom or shower room inclusive. They easily lie on a brick or plaster, tiles.
Moreover, using PVC panels for walls, installation can be done with your own hands. It does not represent particularly difficult moments and does not require certain skills. The need to smooth the surface of the walls disappears in principle, which makes repairs in the apartment easy, quick and easy.
But still, in order for the repair work to be successful, you need to know exactly how to fix the PVC panels to the wall, and in what ways you can do it. Our article can help you with this. In it, we will try to give you all comprehensive instructions and advice on installation, features and specifications.
Wall cladding with PVC panels is used very often today. And this is not an accident, but, most likely, a pattern. Why do customers give preference to this particular building material? They have already managed to appreciate a number of indisputable advantages of these panels:
- resistance to moisture on them - absolute;
- level of mechanical strength - high;
- susceptibility to the influence of temperature or atmospheric influences on them is zero;
- they are not exposed to ultraviolet radiation;
- ease of installation work;
- the ability to use the material for decoration both inside and outside.
Production technology
Manufacturers of PVC panels use two main components as a basis: the first is salt, and the second is petroleum products. Therefore, technology must imply environmental friendliness as well as the purity of the material.
The construction of internal partitions from panels gives them good strength, so their use in houses, apartments or buildings of public importance is permissible. The use of special seamless technology in production makes it possible to make joints between them practically invisible. If we talk about the strength of the material, then it is quite sufficient so that various fixtures can be mounted on its surface for additional lighting with electrical outlets and switches.
When installing PVC panels, there are locks on one side and grooves on the other. They are provided by manufacturers, so that the panels are fastened without the use of additional devices and directly onto the frame immediately with self-tapping screws.
As for the thickness of the panels, it varies from 8 ml to 62 ml. And this means their scope is wide. If the surface is processed by hot lamination, then their wear resistance increases and the adhesion process between the wall and the panel is enhanced.
Types and classification
Laminated PVC panels for walls are divided into three main types:
- Rack and pinion. In the form of strips with tongue-and-groove fastening. They are made in the image of the lining or simply seamless.
- Tiled. In the form of sheets of the form of a square.
- Leafy. This type of panel has the largest linear dimension. With their help, you can clad quite large areas immediately.
If we consider all types of panels by materials, then they can be divided into two classes:
- Polyvinyl chloride.
- Particleboard, MDF, fiberboard materials - the result of wood processing.
Features and properties
Laminated chipboard panels. This class of material is considered one of the worst in terms of mechanical strength, it is not environmentally friendly, hygroscopic. It crumbles very easily, it is easy to damage it even during transportation. Moreover, synthetic resins are used in its manufacture. Therefore, it is not practical to use it in residential premises.
MDF panels. Newer and more modern in comparison with fiberboard. They are more resistant to loads, less hygroscopic. Manufacturers use a natural polymer lignin, which is obtained from wood. After wood, this is the second most environmentally friendly material. The appearance of the panels imitates various types of wood, which gives them originality and style.
Laminated PVC panels for walls - the most moisture resistant of all types of material. They found their main application as a cladding for those rooms in which there is an increased level of humidity. Among the shortcomings, one can note only their cold appearance: plain colors, granite or marble. But they look good with external wall cladding.
Stages of preparatory work
Before attaching the PVC panels to the wall, it is necessary to carefully make and count all measurements of the house or apartment, to assess their condition. Only after the assessment, determine in which direction the fixing process will take place, taking into account the dimension of the cladding itself and the features of all the walls of the building. If there are openings and other non-standard structural elements, then there is a possibility of additional costs and the amount of material.
Before fixing the PVC panels to the wall, experienced specialists recommend holding them in any room at room temperature for at least half an hour. The surfaces where you plan to mount the panels must be thoroughly cleaned of dust, dirt and other debris.
Before attaching the PVC panels to the wall, the surface of the facing tile needs to be sanded, the wallpaper cleaned and their residues removed if your panels are attached to glue. Each panel is covered with a protective film on top, it is better not to remove it during installation, so you can save the presentation of the material.
Instruments
Before proceeding with the installation of PVC panels, prepare the necessary tools:
- Electric drill with a drill and a special tip. A diameter equal to the dowel head.
- Hand electric saw.
- Electric screwdriver. You can use a simple screwdriver.
- The correct building level.
- Stapler. You can hammer.
- Pencil for marking, crayon, tape measure.
- Scissors for metal.
- Hacksaw for carving wood or metal.
- Ladder.
Methods of fastening PVC panels to the wall
Fastening of PVC panels to the wall is carried out using brackets, mounting profile, nails or gluing. These are the most basic types of panel fastening for wall decoration.
Fastening with brackets or nails
Installing PVC panels on the wall using brackets or nails is the most used method. To use this technology, the construction of the crate is required. To build a crate, you will need wooden bars with a section of 40 × 25 cm.
Using them, a frame is created on the surface of the wall. The bars are fixed perpendicular to the panel canvas 50 cm from one another to the wall with screws. One point to pay attention to.
In this option, the walls are aligned due to the panels. And this means that the crate must be erected perfectly evenly, strictly in level. Next, it is advisable to begin fixing the PVC panels to the wall from the corner of the building structure, fixing the finishing element in it with a bracket or a nail. The direction does not matter, just make sure that the comb of the PVC panel is directed in the direction where the installation movement is directed.
If you started fastening PVC panels to the wall, then make sure that the panels are pressed tightly to each other. To make the wall cladding look more accurate in the corners or where PVC panels are adjacent to window, door or other openings, use special start and end moldings.
They are on sale, you will not have problems finding them. When laying the last strip of the panel, it is necessary, with a little effort, to push into the finish element or corner, as well as into the previous strip.
Fastening panels with a mounting profile
The technology for installing panels in this way involves the use of special profiles for plastic panels. They are made of either plastic or galvanized steel. During
mounting them must be attached to the wall as in the first method.
Then you need to insert the angle profile, it clicks on the rail with special clips. Here you need to insert the first canvas of the PVC panel and attach it to the rail using a clip. Further, all subsequent strips of material are inserted into all previous ones and are also attached.
Fixing PVC panels to glue
To apply this cladding method, the wall must be perfectly even, clean and dry. If this is not so, but you have chosen this particular method of cladding, then before gluing you need to prepare all the surfaces of the walls. Next, the panel is lubricated with glue evenly and thoroughly, then attached to the wall.
Gluing panels can also be on the frame. Then the need to align the walls disappears, a layer of glue covers the slats or wooden bars of the crate. In order to stick PVC panels to the wall, only specially designed glue is used. In another way, it is called "liquid nails."
In no case should you use glue, which contains a cleaner or solvent. When fitting PVC panels in height, do not forget that they can expand in winter and summer.
Therefore, you need to leave small gaps. In a room with high humidity, using slats as a crate, make small cuts for air circulation.
Shape and size
PVC slatted panels for walls have the following dimensions: each of them has a width of 10–30 centimeters, a length of 2.5–6 meters and a thickness of 8–25 mm.
Sheet panels. Their typical dimensions are: 122 ÷ 244 cm, 260 ÷ 100 cm, 200 ÷ 100 cm, 130 ÷ 100 cm, 260 ÷ 490 cm, 130 ÷ 49 cm, 128 ÷ 98 cm, 260 ÷ 98 cm. Thickness 3 ÷ 6 mm .
Square PVC panels for walls have the following size: 30 ÷ 30 cm, 30 ÷ 60 cm, 15 ÷ 60 cm, 98 ÷ 98 cm, 98 ÷ 49 cm.
PVC wall decoration
Plastic panels are a material of non-natural origin. They include polyvinyl chloride and a minimal amount of softener. The structure of the material is cellular, thanks to it it has good sound insulation. On the surface of the panels is applied by printing a different texture or pattern. From above, they are covered with a special antistatic layer, which increases wear resistance and protects against ultraviolet radiation.
Top they can be varnished or matte-silky. PVC panels can be sheathed in rooms with direct moisture on their surface, for example, in a bathroom or shower. The material is absolutely waterproof, easy to clean. Sheathing PVC walls is much simpler, easier than plasterboard.