PDA

View Full Version : In the market for a new bathtub



Prashun Patel
07-21-2020, 11:16 AM
We're remodeling our guest bathroom. It has a builder-provided acrylic tub. Any advice on whether cast iron or steel is better?

We're not planning in soaking in it. I just want something that's reliable, easy to maintain, and doesn't look cheap.

Bill Dufour
07-21-2020, 4:11 PM
Our friend bought. a cast iron one for an upstairs remodel. He got the highschool front line to move it for him. He was a good coach and the kids were happy to do it for a piazza. yours in and out? It may be easier to cut a hole in the wall and install a new fancy window to impress the wife.
Bil lD

Tom M King
07-21-2020, 4:48 PM
I'd just rip out the acrylic tub, and put in a tile shower, especially for a guest room. I did this last Winter for a rental house. The tile is just cheap tile from Lowes.

Jamie Buxton
07-21-2020, 5:03 PM
Unless you're bathing small children, showers make more sense. They're cleaner, because you're not sitting in your own dirty water. If you take a shower in a tub, you're likely splashing water around the edges of the curtain. A tub seals better. Depending on your room layout, you may be able to get a shower into smaller floor space. And, if you build it right, you can get one which allows you to rinse your armpits without banging your elbows on the walls.

Mel Fulks
07-21-2020, 5:20 PM
This Just In: You can bathe in a tub ...use shower to rinse off ! Modern renovation is churning, not invention. I can
remember when those who were house shopping would see a couple of missing ceramic tiles in several homes and
mutually vow to buy one piece tub - shower.

Ron Citerone
07-21-2020, 6:27 PM
I'd just rip out the acrylic tub, and put in a tile shower, especially for a guest room. I did this last Winter for a rental house. The tile is just cheap tile from Lowes.

I concur. Few people take baths these days.

Tom M King
07-21-2020, 7:04 PM
That house was built in the '60's. I made that bathroom into a handicap accessible one. I still have a Harvest Gold one to replace, and a blue one. We decided not to rent it through this season, so I lost motivation to cut out the other two fiberglass tubs. It'll be weekly rentals, so I'm not bothering to put a tub back in. I'll probably do the others in colder weather, next Winter.

roger wiegand
07-21-2020, 7:05 PM
Porcelain on steel is very prone to chipping, I wouldn't do it. Cast iron is great, but sucks up a ton of heat (DW hated ours for that reason). My preference these days is a high quality, properly installed acrylic tub. It needs to be bedded into a pond of plaster of Paris to give a solid feeling underfoot, lots of installers don't do this as it's a mess if you don't get it right the first time.

Personally I'm happy with a shower only, but is many markets having no bathtub in a house is a deal killer, if that's important to you. It doesn't need to be in the master (better if not actually, given most folks preference for showers), but many buyers insist on at least one.

Jim Becker
07-21-2020, 8:19 PM
The best bathtub to install is...a shower. :) I'm serious about that. Unless there's a local regulation that requires a tub in at least one bathroom or someone really loves to soak...I'm shower-all-the-way.

mike stenson
07-21-2020, 8:38 PM
I concur. Few people take baths these days.

..and yet, having showers instead of tubs really does hurt resale. Go figure. (we found this out when we got rid of our old place incidentally)

since I made that comment, I should point out.. we have a very large tile shower in our en suite.. and a clawfoot tub (that looks awesome, I'm too tall to comfortably use, and my wife rarely does).

Mel Fulks
07-21-2020, 9:05 PM
..and yet, having showers instead of tubs really does hurt resale. Go figure. (we found this out when we got rid of our old place incidentally. " Oops this got away from me , patching as well as I can.
Here is the reason . Once taking a bath was deemed a filthy practice , tubs ....tanked. But there are millions of
closet bathers....and you are not capable of sniffing them out in a crowd. Especially if there is a lot of the most
popular smoke in the air.

Prashun Patel
07-21-2020, 9:48 PM
We replaced all the tubs in our house with showers. For whatever reason, SWMBO wants a tub in this last one.

The cast iron ones are cheaper than acrylic. But acrylic just seems easier to install.

Tom M King
07-21-2020, 10:04 PM
When I built the first part of our house-a little hippy, passive solar cabin in the woods, mostly out of recycled materials, we found a really nice, 6' long, old clawfoot tub, and bought it for $15. It's a nice size, but they lose heat Way to fast to be practical for any soaking. I insulated around that one, and closed in around it, after using it as a clawfoot for a while. That was in 1980, and that tub is still just like that, and now the guest bath. It's really not bad for a tub, since it's been insulated.

When I built the master suite addition, after the kids were grown, and gone, I built a pretty nice marble, large shower, and we put a Jacuzzi tub in the master bath. I made all that part of the house handicap accessible, with no thresholds, and 3' doors, just in case. Anyway, long story short, a Jacuzzi type tub is the only type I'll consider putting in any house now. When my Wife decided that's what we should have, I went along with it, not really thinking I'd care much for it, but it really is pretty nice, once in a while.

I wouldn't want another tub/shower combination, for anything.

John Goodin
07-21-2020, 11:10 PM
I am in other people's houses all the time and would shy away from acrylic. It just doesn't seem to wear as well as a tub with porcelain coating. Porcelain is smooth and easier to get the shiny clean look. Porcelain can chip but it is rare for me to find it during an home inspection. Since it is a guest bath I suspect it will not get everyday use and a porcelain tub would look like new years from now.

Bill Dufour
07-22-2020, 1:44 AM
A tub is good for dogs and little kids. The kids can even be potential grandkids, teenagers do grow up eventually. Also useful for washing old rugs etc by foot. I have taken car upholstery and stomped on it in the tub until the water ran mostly clear then off to the laundromat.
Bil lD

Steve Demuth
07-22-2020, 8:06 AM
We replaced all the tubs in our house with showers. For whatever reason, SWMBO wants a tub in this last one.

The cast iron ones are cheaper than acrylic. But acrylic just seems easier to install.

I've installed both a cast iron and an acrylic tub at home (two houses) in the last decade. The acrylic tub was actually harder to install - easier to move around, but required careful attention to support and bedding, whereas the cast iron one, though heavy and hard to move, was free standing. The acrylic is also a bit safer - a slip in that one is not fun, but the landing won't knock you out cold. A slip in a cast iron tub always ends with a hard, dangerous landing.

FWIW, I prefer the cast iron tub personally, even though it does take quite a bit more hot water due to the need to heat a lot of iron when filling, and with the hard landing properties. Just feels right. And for all those who want only a shower in their house - to each his or her own - but while I am happy to use a quick shower to clean or rinse myself when in need, there is nothing more comforting to my old and frequently aching muscles and joints than a long soak in a hot bath. I indulge at least once a week. My wife feels the same way - she frequently takes hour long baths. Comes out warmed to the bones and refreshed - and at our age, even the inevitable wrinkles from such a long soak are barely noticable additions to all our other sags and creases.

Prashun Patel
07-22-2020, 9:38 AM
Thanks for all the input. We decided to go with porcelain over steel ...
American Standard. Done.

Appreciate the advice!!!

Mike Wilkins
07-22-2020, 10:03 AM
Tongue in cheek here-go to the local farm supply store and get one of those big watering tubs that the farmers use to water their cattle.

Peter Kelly
07-22-2020, 10:17 AM
I’ve got one of those tubs in my apartment in the city, beware that the porcelain is pretty thin and seems to chip very easily.

Steve Demuth
07-22-2020, 11:03 AM
Tongue in cheek here-go to the local farm supply store and get one of those big watering tubs that the farmers use to water their cattle.

Our outdoor hot tub is in fact a 300 gal plastic stock tank that I fitted with a surplus pump, woodstove with heat exchanger, and jets in the tub walls. ;-)