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Bracing to assure absolutely flat plastic shower surround adhesive glued to walls (C) Daniel Friedman at InspectApedia.comRight Adhesive for Tub or Shower Surround
How to glue-up a plastic, vinyl, or fiberglass tub or shower surround enclosure

This article describes the proper adhesives to use in bathrooms to glue a tub or shower surround to the walls.

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Shower-Tub Surround Adhesive Choices

Dap Dynagriop tub surround adhesive cited & discussed at InspectApedia.com

Watch out: Some tub or shower surround materials will be partly-dissolved by the solvents in some adhesives, permanently damaging the tub surround and also making for a bulged, ugly installation. it is absolutely important to identify the specific materials used in your tub surround before buying and applying an adhesive to glue the tub surround to the wall surfaces.

Shown above are some adhesives recommended for "tub surrounds"; often these use polyurethane.

Dap's DynaGrip® Tub Surround construction adhesive, Loctite's PL-550® Tub Surround adhesive, and Liquid Nails® Tub surround and Shower Adhesive (polyurethane) are specifically formulated to be safe for the plastics or fiberglass surround products to be bonded to a wall. The proper adhesive also is a high-tack that helps mount the surround to the wall.

List of Tub or Shower Surround Adhesive Products

Which Adhesive Can be Used in Tub Surround Glue Jobs?

Loctite PL 550 Tub Surround construction Adhesive cited & discussed at InspectApedia.com

Typical adhesives for this purpose will not contain solvents that will cause damage to plastics. Those include

Watch out: read the label on the adhesive you're buying to be sure it is acceptable for bonding tub or shower surrounds.

Some adhesive products will warn consumers specifically NOT to use that product on plastics such as tub surrounds.

Using the wrong adhesive risks using one that contains solvents that damage or dissolve the plastic tub or shower surround - it will be ruined.

Typical Tub/Shower Surround Glue-Up Instructions

Bracing to assure absolutely flat plastic shower surround adhesive glued to walls (C) Daniel Friedman at InspectApedia.comPhotos here illustrate three stages during installation of a glued-up plastic shower surround. Similar procedures are used for both shower surrounds and tub surrounds.

We show a water-resistant drywall enclosing the shower stall, a forest of flexible lath strips used to press the plastic dead flat against the drywall during gluing, and the very nice results after the adhesive had dried.

DAP's DynaGrip® Tub Surround Adhesive Instructions

Given here an example of how to glue up the tub or sower surround:

  1. Surfaces must be clean, structurally sound, and free of debris.
  2. Pre-cut and fit materials before applying adhesive.
  3. Trim nozzle to desired bead size. ¼” recommended for most applications.
  4. Puncture inner foil seal. [A typical caulk gun includes a swing-out wire or rod for this purpose]
  5. Load cartridge into applicator gun.
  6. Apply a continuous bead to studs or backer substrate, adhesive may also be applied to back of tub surround panel according to tub surround manufacturers installation instructions.
  7. Within 10 minutes, position and press panels firmly into place.

    Watch out: if you blob on the adhesive and then wait too long to press the panels in place, the dry adhesive will actually hold the panel off of the wall surface and will give a bumpy, ugly, poorly-adhered job.
Bracing to assure absolutely flat plastic shower surround adhesive glued to walls (C) Daniel Friedman at InspectApedia.com
  1. Allow to dry for 24 hours before exposing to water or moisture.

Our photos show a plastic shower surround that we installed last year; we took care in selecting the adhesive and also in cross-bracing to be sure that the surround would bond dead flat to the drywall surfaces.

Really? Is all that cross-bracing necessary? Not necessarily, though Loctite acknowledges that "some applications will require bracing" without being more-specific.

If you follow the tub or shower surround adhesive instructions you apply it to the wall - or to the surround back surface, wait a bit for the adhesive to become tacky, then press the surround in place.

Really? Well in my experience, especially with tub or shower surround materials that are themselves rather thin and flexible, if you don't use extensive bracing like in my photos, you're going to have slight bulges and loose areas in the surround after the adhesives have cured. That may not look nice.

I don't like a shower or tub surround that moves when you press on it. And in particular, a tub or shower surround that moves in the area near plumbing penetrations is more-likely to leak in the future as it may break sealant you've applied there.

So I jammed all those little furring strips as springs to hold the walls in place until the "tub surround" (in this case a shower) adhesive had dried soundly.

Typically you've got about 10 minutes of working tie after applying your tub / shower surround adhesive.

Bracing to assure absolutely flat plastic shower surround adhesive glued to walls (C) Daniel Friedman at InspectApedia.comBy applying the adhesive and then not waiting the full "tacky" time prescribed by the manufacturer, I had even more time to be certain that all three shower sides were aligned perfectly.

But putting them up a bit early I found that the plastic was not sitting dead flat on the walls. Hence all that crazy cross-bracing.

In sum, using sprung-wood fixtures to press the plastic shower surround against the walls isn't necesssary if you follow the adhesive manufacturer's instructions to

  1. apply the adhesive,
  2. press the plastic in place, then
  3. pull it away and allow the adhesive to dry just enough to become tacky-enough to hold the plastic in place
  4. then it is again pressed against the drywall.

If you wait too long before pressing up the plastic tub/shower panel, the adhesive won't bond at all and you've ruined the installation by leaving lumpy dried adhesive on the back of the plastic.

And if you don't wait long enough, the plastic surround sections won't bond securely to the drywall - leaving loose areas or even slight bulges in the tub or shower-surround walls.

Our approach, though klutzy-looking, was 100% effectiv at giving a dead-flat, perfectly-adhered glue-up of the shower surround to the drywall.

What Materials can Tub Surround Adhesives Glue?

Tub surround adhesives will glue most bath or tub wall materials to drywall or plywood or to a cement backerboard, as well as directly to framing lumber.

Using DAP's DynaGrip® as an example you'll see that a typical tub or shower enclosure adhesive can handle a range of materials including:

Note that the glued-to surfaces should be clean and dry.

Watch out: however these adhesives are NOT recommended for

Don't Forget to Seal Penetrations in the Shower Surround Wall

Bracing to assure absolutely flat plastic shower surround adhesive glued to walls (C) Daniel Friedman at InspectApedia.com

Watch out: don't forget to seal around any openings you cut into your tub or shower surround before mounting the controls. Shown below: the "green cabin" shower control sealed in place.

While some shower controls are self-sealing to the shower control surround surface, when the surface has embossed grooves or ridges like the one shown here, there is some risk of water leaks behind the shower surround and into the building wall where it invites mold contamination, rot, or insect attack.

We used a white silicone caulk to seal our two penetrations in this shower surround wall. To be sure that the silicone sealant would bond well to the plastic shower surround and to the brass shower control body we wiped those surfaces with alcohol to remove any trances of oil or grease.

On 2020-07-16 by (mod) - be sure to choose the proper adhesive for tub or shower surround installation

Jolene:

When buying your adhesive, also look at the details on the adhesive tube, for wording that makes plain that the specific product you're buying is approved for and safe for use on plastics, fiberglass or other tub surround materials.

Do not buy generic "liquid nails" or some other general-purpose construction adhesive. That's where the brand name "Liquid Nails" can be confusing.

Some construction adhesives including "liquid nails" will damage plastic components like a tub or shower surround, but the Liquid Nails company also produces a "Liquid Nails" White Tub Surround and Shower Adhesive, Model # LN-715, shown just below. That product is ok to use for gluing up a tub or shower surround.

Liquid Nails white tub surround and shower adhesive cited & discussed at InspectApedia.com

On 2020-07-16 by jolene

tub surround - what do I use to stick it up?

This Q&A were posted originally at

GLUES ADHESIVES, EXTERIOR CONSTRUCTION

References & Instructions for Tub or Shower Surround Adhesives

Gorilla Heavy Duty Construction Adhesive polyurethane - cited & discussed for bath tub or shower enclosure glue-up at InspectApedia.com


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