Glass and ceramic coatings in the bathroom

Robin Craddock, sales director at Lakes Bathrooms gives an industry view on the latest coatings in the market and offers some insight into the value of this 'invisible technology'.

are increasingly prevalent but are they really that important or just an easy extra to bump prices?.

Coatings hit the bathroom world over ten years ago and have spread quickly across the market.

At the time coatings launched they were varnish-like silicon products but technology has come a very long way since then and we now have invisible hydrophobic layers, engineered at a molecular level.

When you stand in a showroom and talk to a customer it's easy to convince them of the benefits of a coating that can save their time and money and ensure the beautiful shower enclosure they're about to buy will stay looking as good as new.

When you add the fact that with a coating, they'll put much less chemical cleaners into the environment and improve the hygiene in their bathroom they couldn't be keener.

The stumbling block, however, tends to be if the buyer is introduced to an additional price tag.

And although Lakes Bathrooms adds a high performance coating as standard, currently that's not the norm in the industry and that's a great shame when you consider the benefits a coating can bring.

Why coat?.

It's universally agreed that cleaning is boring.

There are few things that feel like a more exorbitant waste of time, tinged with the inevitability of repeating the task again in the very near future.

Avoiding cleaning time and effort is therefore an obvious plus in favour of a bathroom coating.

If the coating does its job properly the item should only need to be wiped with a cloth to restore it to its original beauty.

The amount of effort required is minimal and the time it takes greatly reduced.

Not only does cleaning time shrink thanks to a coating, so too does the demand for chemical cleaners.

If you visit an average supermarket you will see an aisle of retail real estate devoted to a stunning array of cleaners, antibacterial cleansers and caustic chemicals, all targeting the consumer who wants a clean and hygienic bathroom.

Having a coating that negates or greatly reduces the need for these products saves household bills.

It's worth pointing out that the benefits of reduced cleaning time and need for cleaning products are interesting to the consumer but possibly even more significant in a commercial environment, such as a hotel.

Time is money and quicker cleaning saves on staff costs and means that rooms can turn around more swiftly.

Taking astringent chemicals out of the equation also looks positive with developing corporate social responsibility and pressure for companies to prove 'green' improvements.

Cost is an ongoing theme as we consider the difference that bathroom coatings can make to the environment: By reducing the amount of chemical cleaners that are used and released, plus the knock-on reduction in packaging and transport of these products, coatings can have a positive influence on the environment and hence offer a real eco benefit.

Hygiene is an increasing concern for most of us, with frightening superbugs on the rise.

Antibacterial agents and sprays are booming but, like any cleaning chemicals, they too have a detrimental impact on the environment.

The beauty of coatings that reduce the build up of soapscum and limescale mean that the environment where bacterial growth can proliferate is very much reduced.

So treating surfaces with repellent coatings is like avoidance rather than treatment - proactive rather than reactive.

Going High Tech.

Glass is naturally hydrophilic, meaning that lime and other deposits can sit in the microscopic hollows on its surface.

Over time these build up and create a corrosion process that ultimately damages the glass at a molecular level.

The basic science behind stay-clean coatings in the bathrooms is that they build a repellent, ultra-smooth outer layer on the glass or ceramic.

The lime, dirt or other residue simply slides off as the water droplets merge and fall.

The latest innovation in the coatings market utilises nano technology; the engineering of sub-microscopic particles, thousands of times smaller than the human eye can see.

The nanotechnology non-stick coatings are just a few molecules thick and yet form a very strong, permanent bond with the surfaces to which they're applied.

The layer created is hydrophobic and yet completely invisible.

Depending on the coating, protection on new glass can last up to ten years.

So, with a very healthy stay-clean lifespan and so many other pluses to non-stick coatings the conclusion for the bathroom has to be 'get your coat'.

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