Application
In a bathroom, soap is the enemy, not water.
Water drains. Soap, shampoo and body oil lodge in an open pore and stay there. That is the whole argument for a filled face in a wet room.
For bathrooms, specify the filled face: the pores are closed during casting, so soap and oils wipe off. The open-pore face suits dry walls and feature panels. Behind the panel, the wall still needs tanking, because a cementitious panel is not a waterproof membrane.
The splash zone rule
Divide the room. Inside the shower and around the basin, use filled and sealed joints. On the dry walls, open pore is fine and gives the texture the design was after. Specifying one face for the whole room is how bathrooms end up looking patchy two years later.
| Zone | Face | Joint | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shower enclosure | Filled | Sealed | Tanking continuous behind |
| Basin splashback | Filled | Sealed | Watch soap residue at the tap |
| Dry wall | Open pore or filled | Open or sealed | Texture reads best here |
| Floor | Filled, 25–30 mm | Sealed | Slip resistance is a separate specification |
Tanking is not optional
A cementitious panel is vapour-open and not waterproof. Water that reaches the substrate through a joint or a fixing will travel. Tanking behind the panel, carried up the wall and across the floor, is what makes the room reliable, and it is invisible once the panels are up.
Cleaning that keeps it even
Questions buyers ask
- Does travertine cladding stain in a bathroom?
- A filled face resists staining because there are no open pores for soap and oil to sit in. An open-pore face in a shower will discolour; it is a question of when, not whether.
- Do I need a waterproof membrane behind the panels?
- Yes. The panel is not a waterproofing layer. Tanking behind it is what keeps the wall dry, and it should be continuous across the floor junction.
- Can I use 20 mm panels on a bathroom wall?
- Yes, bonded to a flat, tanked substrate. The adhesive has to be rated for the panel weight, and the substrate flatness checked before fixing.
Send the drawing. We will return a joint layout.
Panel layout, area, substrate and required delivery date are enough to start. Quotation within 24 hours.