The Future – Bathrooms Someday May Be One-Piece Units

The trend is toward more and more fiberglass-reinforced plastic bathroom fixtures. In fact, entire bathrooms may be constructed of fiberglass and lifted into place for connection to the pipes and drains. At least one manufacturer is doing this now. Selecting a bathroom may become very much like selecting an automobile — you will select the bathroom with the accessories that you want. Hopefully, this will not involve any planned obsolescence which would date bathrooms to the year of purchase or installation.

Although today the approach to bathrooms is primarily a "component" or "integrated" approach, it appears that the "systems" bathroom is not far away. Instead of components being gathered from various manufacturers and placed in the bathroom, one manufacturer will assemble them all together and market the bathroom as a single unit or system. All the plumbing in the systems bathroom will be pre-installed except for connections that must be made to water, heat, and electricity sources.

Bathrooms of the future also will change in accordance with changes in living patterns and desires of homeowners. Many of the trends will be established by the builders, who must attempt to provide people with the homes and bathrooms they want and at the same time maintain reasonable pricing. It is here that new materials and techniques will be most significant.

The following pages reveal some of the design approaches that are now being used, and some designs for the future.

DEVELOPMENT OF FIBERGLASS-REINFORCED PLASTIC

You'll be hearing more and more about bathroom components made of fiberglass-reinforced plastic (FRP). Already, at least many companies are either producing FRP bathroom components or developing capacity for production. In time, entire bathrooms may be made of FRP.

The design flexibility of FRP is changing the appearance of the bathroom. FRP units can be installed quickly, and they are easy to clean. There is no discoloring or staining. FRP meets the requirements for bathroom building materials set forth by a Cornell University bathroom study report, which include structural soundness; dimensional stability; chemical stability and inertness; abrasion resistance; freedom from odor retention; non-absorbency; and cleanability.

The manufacturing qualities of FRP can shorten the time from the drawing board to the finishing mold. This means more flexibility in design to meet consumer demands for new and improved bathroom components. 

Molding methods most commonly used in the manufacture of FRP units are hand lay-up and spray-up. In hand lay-up, a liquid material (normally polyester resin) is combined with glass fibers. A chemical reaction is initiated in the liquid by means of a catalytic agent that causes the resin to harden into a strong, light part. In theory, it is somewhat similar to pouring concrete over steel reinforcing rods.

In fabrication, an open mold is made, fiberglass and resin are placed in or on the mold, and the entrapped air is removed. Layers of fiberglass are added to build up thickness. For a quality surface, a gel-coat is applied to the mold before lay-up.

In the spray-up method, fiberglass and catalyzed resin are deposited simultaneously in the mold with special spraying equipment. Fiberglass reinforcement is fed through a chopper and into the resin-catalyst stream for deposit in the mold. The glass-resin mix is hand rolled to remove entrapped air, lay down the glass fibers, and smooth the surface. The part is then cured by air, or the cure can be accelerated in a heating oven.

Although any plastic resin can be reinforced with fiberglass, polyester resins are the most widely used.