Question 1

What is hygienic wall cladding?

Accepted Answer

Hygienic wall cladding is a wall finish system that uses sheet PVC or HPL panels mechanically fixed or adhesive bonded to the substrate, with joints chemically welded or thermoformed to produce a continuous, impermeable, washable surface. It replaces ceramic tiling in environments where grout lines represent a hygiene risk: grout is porous, traps bacteria and moisture, and degrades under frequent high-temperature washdown. Hygienic cladding eliminates the joint as a failure point, producing a sealed wall that can be steam-cleaned, disinfected and wiped down repeatedly without surface degradation.

Question 2

Where is hygienic cladding specified?

Accepted Answer

Hygienic cladding is specified wherever infection control, food safety or washdown requirements make conventional finishes unsuitable. Typical settings include NHS clinical areas and treatment rooms, hospital and care home kitchen and servery walls, commercial and education catering kitchens, food and beverage production facilities, dental and veterinary clinical rooms, laboratory washdown areas, swimming pool and leisure facility changing rooms, and cold-store and refrigeration environments. The regulatory driver varies by setting: NHS environments typically reference HTM guidance, food production environments reference food safety regulations, and education catering follows local authority food safety standards.

Question 3

What systems do you install?

Accepted Answer

We install sheet PVC hygienic cladding and HPL panel systems. Altro Whiterock and Altro Fortis are the market reference products and we are familiar with their installation requirements. Our focus, however, is on cost-effective alternatives that meet the same hygiene performance standards: Bioclad, IPS HygiClad and similar systems from specialist hygienic cladding manufacturers. These products deliver the same sealed, washable, bacteria-resistant performance at a lower installed cost, allowing clients to specify to the hygiene standard rather than the premium brand. We discuss system selection openly at the specification stage and recommend the product that best meets the hygiene brief and the budget.

Question 4

What is the difference between a thermoformed corner and a chemical-weld joint?

Accepted Answer

Both achieve the same end: a continuous, sealed junction between adjacent panels or between the panel and a trim. A thermoformed corner uses heat to form the sheet material around the corner profile before installation, producing a one-piece curved junction with no joint to seal. A chemical-weld joint uses a solvent to fuse adjacent panel edges together at the joint line, creating a molecular bond that is effectively as impermeable as the sheet itself. Both methods are superior to silicone sealant joints for high-hygiene environments: silicone degrades under repeated chemical cleaning and requires periodic replacement, whereas thermoformed corners and chemical-weld joints are permanent and cleaning-stable.

Question 5

How does hygienic cladding differ from standard wall tiling?

Accepted Answer

Standard ceramic wall tiling uses grout at every joint, typically every 100 to 150 mm across the wall face. Grout is porous, discolours with cleaning agents and provides a surface for bacterial colonisation over time. In high-hygiene environments, the grout joint is the principal failure mode: it cannot be adequately cleaned and eventually has to be replaced. Hygienic cladding eliminates the grout joint entirely. The sheet material is joined at wide panel widths (typically 1,000 to 1,200 mm) with chemically welded or thermoformed joints that are impermeable and cleanable to the same standard as the panel face. The result is a surface with significantly fewer joints per square metre and no permeable grout.

Question 6

What fire ratings do hygienic cladding systems carry?

Accepted Answer

Most PVC hygienic cladding systems are classified Class 1 surface spread of flame under BS 476 Part 7, or equivalent Euroclass B-s1, d0 or C-s2, d0 under EN 13501-1, depending on the specific product and substrate. HPL systems vary similarly. The fire classification of the installed system depends on the panel product, the adhesive or fixings, and the substrate; we confirm the reaction-to-fire classification for each project against the specification and the building's fire strategy. In NHS and education environments, fire performance is typically specified in the project brief and we match the system selection to the required class.

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