Utile is a do-it-yourself project (2 people are recommended to help lift and maneuver Utile panels) and does not require professional construction expertise to install. Watch our step-by-step for detailed installation instructions.
Just finished ours.A few tips 1) for the installation of the side walls using dual suction cups tool(Harbor Freight )makes it a lot easier to move the panel up and down 2) for centering the pan properly I installed the back wall unit on the pan then you can be more precise by looking at the vertical 2x4 next to the back wall unit.
14:24 this is wrong. you're not supposed to silicone the very bottom of the faucet faceplate. if water goes between the faceplate and the faucet handle, or if the upper silicone fails first, it has to be able to escape through the gap at the 6 o'clock position in the black foam around the circumference of the faceplate rear. if you don't leave that open then it can't drip out and could fill the cavity behind the faceplate and overflow through the faucet hole in the surround
Use gloves or you will be sporting some serious fiberglass splinters. Our holes were not drilled correctly making the clips unusable. Shimming is essential because some of the panels are slightly bowed. So even with leveled studs, the panel might require shimming. Very frustrated with this product. We rigged it all in the end. Would have been appreciated if the had clips or spacers or whatever you want to call it for bases with a different height of lip. FYI we installed shower walls over a tub all the way to the ceiling.
Going to be installing in the next few weeks. How do you secure the outside edge of the side walls (the left edge of the left sidewall, ie)? This edge and the bottom are not even secured with any fasteners.
We are in the process of installing now, most of the holes were miss drilled, we spent all day taking it in and out fighting it and each other! The 1st back panel we got was cracked, it took weeks to get a replacement. Its been exasperating!
Ours were also mis-drilled, making the clips unusable. We ended up just using predrilled holes to screw the thing into the studs when we could. I am pretty sure my husband invented a few new combinations of swear words. Shimming is essential because the panels can be somewhat bowed.
I believe they made a mistake at 14:24 saying to silcone the face plate aka valve escutcheon...there is no need to do this as it comes with a foam seal as shown.. the silicone will look messy if not done well, and may get scumy longterm.
You show shimming the base but not shimming the walls. I'm assuming for this to work, either shimming or building out the studs will be needed for the side walls.
AI B, the shimming of the base will always be required allowing a match perfect between base and wall. By shimming the base on the backside, you will make sure that your Utile sidewall does not exceed the base threshold. Also for each side you will assure that your Utile wall are scared and straight allowing you to secure them directly to the studs.
This video showcases the plastic/styrofoam base, which I returned when I realized what it is. Instead, I got the acrylic base to install, which seems like a much better (though more pricey) product. Is there a video showing how to install it properly? The instructions are quite vague.
We had to reorder the large wall panel due to the first one being warped, off by almost an inch. They sent a second one, and ITS WARPED, but by only 1/2”. Ok we’ll use it…..but… trying to line up clips along the edge, they’re off, and 2 of the clips have a lot of play, and one set of holes is so close to the edge, you can’t even get the clip into them ! Whaaaat ? I’m thinking the rest of you are right, and this is some sloppy manufacturing 😡. The hub is a good problem solver, but still pretty frustrated. Might call Home Depot and recommend they stop selling this product. Not impressed, Canada, with your dictator, or your product …signed, “your unhappy neighbor in Idaho” 🤨
I bought the Utile system in August 2021 at the local Menards. Didn’t get the complete order until January 2022. I hired a plumber who schedule me and couldn’t do the job until September. Now the shower pan kit is missing the drain and Maxx wants me to jump through a bunch of hoops to have the drain sent. My advice is to avoid this company and product. Go with a product and company that actually followed through and helps their customers.
Everyone is SICK of advertising on youtube…you’re trying to sell your product but feel the need to force more ads on everyone….already gives me a very bitter feel for maax…..sheesh. Enough ads ffs!
I bought the Artik bath surround product and although it looks slick to put in, it is a nightmare. I am working on putting in the back of the bath tub surround (and they don't show that do they?...I wonder why) but it is in a remodel situation. My walls are plumb and square, but putting in the back the bottom is bowing. Nothing to tie the bottom back to only the top. The fiberglass edging in this video is very clean, but the product delivered to me the manufacturing is very sloppy. Using the holes to put in the retraction pins and to find the holes on the back side to put the screws in I had to remove the fiberglass to find the holes on the other side. Instructions: The instructions are not sufficient for a remodel. No instructions on what to do if certain situations occur. Support: Maax only has support in Canada M-F from 8 -6 pm EST. How realistic is it that DIYers are going to do this Monday through Friday? Even better, why is it that it is EST? That leaves us in the West short 2-3 hours! I know the universe revolves around Ontario and Quebec. They should have their support team available on the weekend , ' cause reality check Maax - that is when DIYers do their stuff. I know I'm Captain obvious. Now I have to wait until Monday to talk to them, when I have paid a contractor to do the work and have to work with what I have or wait until Monday.
Getting ready to tackle this installation in couple weeks. Special ordered thru Menards. The base Menards bundles this with has the styrofoam core. My foundation is level concrete. Is there any way of minimizing the squeaking noise the base makes? Would felt help?
@@JeffWinters overall yes. There is some give to the styrofoam base but it does not squeak. I put baby powder on concrete prior to install. I was told there is a 300 lbs weight limit for this base.
Why put directly on studs? I like to use aqua board behind mine. Will it work? They don't show how to finish the drywall if using their method over studs.
My valves (installed by a plumber) stick out several inches beyond the wall, making it impossible to engage the side wall to the back wall. I needed to slide the back wall away, engage the side wall, and then move the whole assembly back against the side wall studs.
We had the same issue, but were able to engage the clips at quite a severe angle. We set our panel in so it could still move. We had already cut our faucet, spout side panel. Then we slid the faucet, spout side panel into the corner at the angle required to just get past the roughed in spout. Lifted the side panel about and inch and a half, pushed it into the corner and used a lot of force to push down. It snapped right in. Surprising but it worked. No where does U-tile tell you this, show you this, nor when I called their Tech number did the tech give us this info. One U-tile video on how to properly install a tub surround with the bath spout rough plumbed would be very helpful and is a joke that U-tile hasn’t done this. That’s our only real complaint. Once in place it looks and functions well. Oh, and those stupid little cutouts at the bottom corners of the side walls are dumb. Have a left and right side and stop goughing out the bottom corners that a person has to deal with when finishing the drywall around the side panels.
I installed drain in shower base as shown . Have it set up in my garage to check for leaks before I install it . The drain leaks around the gasket supplied with base . One rubber gasket touching the drain pan itself then the cardboard gasket The directions say one gasket touching the bottom of the pan then cardboard gasket . However the drain came with two rubber gaskets and two cardboard gaskets directions say one set like the video Why is it leaking ? Anyone ????
Hello! If you are still experiencing trouble with installation, please do not hesitate to give the MAAX team a call at 877-438-6229 (Option 2) between 8am-5pm EST, Monday-Friday. We would be happy to hear more about the issue you're experiencing with the gasket and help you find the best solution!
What do you think happens in a new construction after the one piece tub or shower is installed? Drywall is installed above and around it. This is a good example of where you would use a drop cloth to protect a surface. Or, you know, just don't have drywall mud flying around in large quantities.
Thank you for your question, Gigi! The recommended bases for our Utile panels are the MAAX Olympia base and the MAAX B3 square base. We cannot guarantee that bases from other manufacturers will fit the Utile panels properly. If you have additional questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to our team at 877-438-6229 (Option 2) between 8am-5pm EST, Monday-Friday. Our product experts would be happy to assist you. Best wishes with your upcoming project!
This is a terrible product, I wouldn't recommend. The Company has gotten everything wrong! The shower surround costs approximately $1,800 for materials and another $500 for local installation. The weight of the panels are too heavy for one person to install, so you will need two able bodies on the install which adds more costs. I purchased the Utile by MAAX shower surround recently and paid to have it delivered to my project because it's too big to fit in a truck without breaking or damaging. When it arrived, there was hardware missing and getting replacement parts ordered is a nightmare. Also, the pre-drilled holes on the back panel to accommodate the "X" clips are drilled incorrectly and impossible to redrill onsite and get holes to line up with side panels. Online customer service sent me a "template" on my iPhone to use for new hole location, what a joke. Basically, I've spent $1,800 on the product, $500 on labor and help to figure out the onsite problems and i'm not even close to getting the project finished. There are too many other options for a shower surround if you want to drop approx $2,500. I could have spent half of this cost and job would be finished a week ago. The customer service in Canada have no intention of helping, they just ask you to send them more information online and they will get back to you in 2 days. It's been two weeks already and my client is not impressed. Oh!, and to add insult to injury, they asked if I'd pay for shipping to return the incorrectly manufactured panels that weight 200lbs.
As a professional plumber, I would say this is somewhere between medium and professional grade skill to install. Maybe leaning towards professional if the surrounding structure isn't reasonably close to perfectly plumb, level & square. But perfectly plumb, level & square is a myth. In a remodel scenario, you virtually never come across it. Something will inevitably need shimming, trimming or leveling.
If you call the number posted in these replies that they keep posting, the person answering is useless as far as customer service goes. Lowes cannot get any information from them. My Lowes store said that they are no longer going to carry their product. The customer service just keeps telling me to ask Lowes. Lowes has been turning away potential buyers. I would stay as far away from these people as possible.
We had similar experience in Lowes. Went in to purchase and Lowes said they no longer carry the product in stock (though display was still up), it would be considered a special order (doubling the price from the display). Fwiw, if you have a Menards in your area they still sell the Utile system at a reasonable price. Home Depot does not.
Hi Bob! As far as technical and warranty questions, the team at MAAX will be pleased to assist you. However, regarding products our distributors sell, it's unfortunately a little out of our control. We do allow the possibility to all of them to buy any products we offer but it's their choice if they want to special order unit they do not stock. That being said, if you would like to contact us at 1-877-438-6229 OPT 2+2 we could provide you a list of distributors in your area that offer the item you are interested in. Thanks!
Panel overlap is only required on the bottom of each panel. The corner joints of most shower door frames only require silicone with no panel overlap so the other corners should be fine. Last I checked gravity still pulls water downward towards the earth.
The video is very misleading. The shower doors take 1 day alone to install!!! As the door insulation is not detailed in this video, that should be evidence enough of the difficulty of the door installation. Although the Utile shower looks good once completed, I would not recommend buying this product. It comes in hundreds of pieces with hard to read and follow instructions. I would say overall it takes a minimum of 3 days to install by an experienced contractor.
Oh boy.... And I've only given myself one day to do this to stay on schedule. Not real thrilled with the fact that they DO NOT have a video. There's a good bit of junk useless manufacturer videos out there, I'm curious just how "simple" this is going to be.
3 days denotes a very INEXPERIENCED contractor. I demo'd the old valve and installed the new rough in valve today and set the shower base over a mortar bed to level it. Took me 3 and a half hours. I'm going back tomorrow, once the mortar has set up, to install the wall panels. If it takes me 5 hours, I'm goofing off along the way.
