PVC Wall Panels and Hygienic Wall Lining

When a wall gets wet, splashed or hosed down every day, painted plasterboard does not last. Flat PVC sheet makes a smooth, waterproof lining that wipes clean, does not rot or rust, and can go up over an existing wall in a weekend. We cut rigid white PVC to your sizes for laundries, garages, coolrooms, food prep rooms, animal pens, wash bays and the strip of wall behind a sink.

Our rigid PVC sheet is a flat, solid sheet, available in white from 1 mm up, as well as grey and clear. It has a smooth face with no grain or grout lines to trap grime, and water does not soak into it.

It is worth being clear about what we do not sell. The decorative tongue-and-groove PVC wall and ceiling panels you see in hardware stores, the ones that click together in long planks with a timber-look or tile-look print, are a different product. We do not stock them. What we supply is flat sheet, cut to size, which suits a plain hygienic finish rather than a decorative one.

• Laundries and wash troughs, where a full-height sheet behind the tub replaces stained paint.
• Garages and workshops, where oil, grease and dust need to wipe off.
• Coolrooms and storerooms, where the lining is cold, damp and cleaned often.
• Food prep and commercial kitchen back rooms that need a smooth, washable surface. If your inspector or fit-out spec needs paperwork, ask us for the material data sheet.
• Animal areas, such as dog washes, kennels, stables and vet clinics, where walls get hosed down.
• Behind sinks and basins, as a simple splashback panel.

For lining a flat, sound wall, thin sheet is enough because the wall does the structural work. 1 to 2 mm rigid PVC suits adhesive fixing over plasterboard, fibre cement or sealed ply. Step up to 3 mm or more where the lining takes knocks from trolleys, mops, tools or animals, or where it bridges small hollows in an old wall.

Foam PVC is a lighter option for lower-duty lining. It is a closed-cell expanded PVC with a smooth white face, easy to cut and very light to handle, available from 1 mm to well over 20 mm thick. It is not as hard as rigid PVC and will dent if struck, so it suits ceilings, upper walls and areas away from heavy impact.

Most PVC wall lining is glued, with or without a few mechanical fixings. A few points make the difference between a lining that stays flat and one that bubbles:

• Start with a clean, dry, flat wall. Remove loose paint and fill large hollows.
• Use a panel adhesive that states it suits PVC and your wall substrate, applied in vertical beads so moisture can escape.
• Allow for movement. PVC expands with heat, so leave a small gap at the ceiling, floor and between sheets, around 2 to 3 mm on a full-height sheet, and cover it with a trim.
• Finish joins and corners with PVC H-joiners, angles and cap trims, then seal external edges with a mould-resistant silicone.
• If screwing, use oversized holes and pan head screws so the sheet can move without cracking.

Cut-outs for power points, taps and pipes are much tidier done on our CNC router than with a jigsaw on site. Mark them on a sketch with measurements from a sheet edge and we will cut them in.

Polypropylene is an alternative where a lining sees strong chemicals, and aluminium composite panel gives a metallic or coloured finish that is stiffer than thin PVC. For coolrooms and long runs, rigid PVC is usually the simplest and most economical lining.

Plastic Online is how you order online from Holland Plastics, a plastics fabrication shop with its own workshop. CNC routing, laser cutting, vacuum forming and plastic welding all happen under one roof, and our plastic fabrication team can make matching sills, capping and corner pieces for a fit-out.

We cut to ±0.1 mm and will confirm critical sizes with you at quote stage, which helps when sheets must meet neatly at a corner. Orders ship Australia-wide from the nearest capital-city depot, and there is no minimum order, so lining one wall behind a laundry tub is fine. Start on our cut-to-size page.