Bath panels in my house were painted hardboard. No sign of any problems
whatsoever after 30 years. They are now tiled plywood and I dont expect
any problems with this either. Make sure it's stiff and well sealed
first oitherwise it will warp when you tile it (as I found out at first
attempt - LOL).

Where do you expect all the water to come from? If there's enough to
rot a tiled bath panel then I would be far more worried about other
things (floorboards, joists, etc) than the bath panel! We're not, after
all, talking about the panels in a shower cubicle that are regularly
soaked.

The OPs problem, as described, is caused by water escaping from the
bath during showering. He needs to first fix the cause then address the
symptoms.


Wee it's a concrete floor (I'm in a flat) and a steel bath. When I moved in
there had already been a dripping leak for many years it seems. Not a pretty
sight but was sorted.

It's a very small area, and like I said the bath panel was black about 2-3
inches from the bottom.

Changing the bath panel would be tricky. It's a very tight space as a small
bathroom and it would mean cutting out and then building in some different
solution.There is not access to the entire side of the bath panel.

I did speak to the original plumber who build the side panel. He said not to
lose any sleep over it, and said perhaps we should drill an air hole from an
adjacent cupboard (which I have a condenser dryer in) to underneath the bath
area to allow the damp wood to dry out.

Still, it was stressful getting this all fitted, now it is done, it is still
causing me stress. £4k spent so far. How much more do I have to spend?

(boo hoo)