Acrylic Shower Pans As A Great Option

Acrylic shower pans are like fiberglass showers but different. Fiberglass shower pans are made from chopped fibers impregnated with resin and then gel coated. The finished product is about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. The bottom of a fiberglass shower pan can flex and over time the flexing can cause cracks. A crack that breaks the gel coat destroys the pan.

Pans are made from acrylic material in two ways. The first and the cheaper way is by heating and stretching sheets over a mold. It's used for spas, tubs and showers. The heating, stretching and cooling can cause stresses and cracks in the finished products. Sheet pans require support, usually foam, just like fiberglass pans. They are subject to surface crazing or cracking that can cause failure over time.

The other kind of acrylic shower pans construction is solid acrylic. Solid acrylic pans are made from a different resin than the sheets. They aren't subject to cracking, do not support mold growth and do not need support. They are repairable too. Also the solid acrylic can be made in different colors, even in a granite color and pattern.

Some solid acrylic shower manufacturers form their pans from sheets like the sheet acrylic shower pans. The sheet material is a different formula. They heat and form the pan floors by heating and stretching the material and then bonding sidewalls and a threshold to the floor.

Other shower pans are a cast one-piece solid surface product. By casting the pan as a one-piece unit, there are no stresses introduced in the pan. These are the top-of-the-line composite shower pans. Ask about the shower pans you are considering. Weigh the costs against the pluses of acrylic shower pans.