How To Cut Bathroom Wall Panels

How to Cut Bathroom Wall Panels

Bathroom Wall Panel’s exploding popularity is due in part to their ease of installation but perhaps more importantly their speed of installation. Cutting Bathroom Wall Panels is a big part of that, very easy to cut and shape. You can cut PVC Wall Panels with a variety of tools but I will focus on five of the most popular.

The typical cutting tools I would use are Stanley Knife, Handsaw, Jigsaw, Circular Saw and Mitre Saw. I’ll go through the pros and cons of each cutting tool below…

How to cut Bathroom Wall Panels with a Stanley Knife

Cutting Bathroom Wall Panels with a Stanley knife is one of the easiest methods, very fast and will give you a clean edge. It is important to cut decorative face up when using a Stanley Knife. Using a Stanley knife is for the thinner depth panels such as 5, 6, 7 and 8mm. These are typically 250mm width panels.

The technique is to score the panel using a straight edge (a large speedsquare is ideal), score the panel once or twice then move the score line so it is just beyond the edge of a bench, place your hand on the panel that is not supported by the bench and push down quickly using a snapping action. The panel will snap cleanly along that line.

You could use a Stanley Knife for 500 and 600mm panels but I would recommend a saw for that width panel.

I wouldnt recommend using a Stanley Knife for a 10mm Shower Panel, not for somebody fitting shower panels for the first time, there is too much material to cut through and the technique when using a Stanley Knife is to score and then snap, you couldnt reliably predict the snapping line with a 10mm panel. Experienced bathroom fitters can do this and make it look easy but I would stick to the saw options for a shower panel. 

Cutting bathroom wall panels with stanley knife guide

How to cut Bathroom Wall Panels with a Handsaw

Another good option is a handsaw, I would always recommend a dedicated PVC handsaw and that is because the higher number of teeth will give you a reliable clean edge. You can use a general handsaw but the fewer teeth will mean a rougher cut. Try and do a test cut on a scrap piece of PVC cladding first.

When using a handsaw to cut Bathroom Wall Panels dont be in a rush, a slow sawing action will ensure a cleaner cut. A handsaw is a very good tool for cutting cladding because of the amount of control you have with the cut. Just like with the Stanley Knife you cut with the decorative face up when using a handsaw.

Something to remember with any tool you use to cut cladding is that you would typically cover any cut edge with a trim so any rough cuts will be covered.

How to cut Bathroom Wall Panels with a Jigsaw

Cutting PVC Wall Panels with a jigsaw is another popular option. For bathroom wall panels any of the electric saws are primarily used for speed. A 5mm > 8mm bathroom panel offers very little resistance to cut (think of it like cutting 6mm plywood) so an electric saw can often offer too much power and there is a danger of tear out.

A jigsaw with variable speed is great for cutting shaped cuts and they can be used for straight cuts, I would use a large speed square or straight edge as a guide to prevent blade drift. Another point is to use a blade with small teeth to avoid an aggressive cut pattern.

With a jigsaw you place the decorative face down as the jigsaw cuts on the upstroke.

How to cut Bathroom Wall Panels with a Circular Saw

Cutting 8mm Bathroom Wall Panels with a Circular Saw

I wouldnt typically recommend a circular saw for cutting bathroom wall panels unless you have a thin kerf blade dedicated for fine cuts but after trying a circular saw with a general blade I had minimal tear out. 

In summary a circular saw will cut a bathroom wall panel but I would use the other methods before this option as it does feel like overkill. 

Cutting 10mm Shower Panels with a Circular Saw

A circular saw will offer a fast and accurate cut but it generates a lot of dust and larger particles, I tried this with dust extraction but a circular saw isnt the best for efficient dust extraction. If you do use a circular saw for cutting shower panels, I would recommend good quality PPE and cut in a well ventilated area because you’ll essentially be in a snow globe. 

How to cut Bathroom Wall Panels with a Mitre Saw

Cutting PVC Wall Panels with a Mitre Saw is the fastest option. You can cut a full pack of four panels with a single pass but again like with all the electric options you need a fine cut blade.

Cutting with a Mitre Saw does give a clean edged finish and I would recommend cutting with the tongue against the fence so the blade cuts the rear tab on the groove first (it prevents tear out on the tab). Most samples you receive will be cut with a Mitre saw so that will give you an idea of how clean a cut you get.