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Thread: In the market for a new bathtub

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
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    In the market for a new bathtub

    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.

  2. #2
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    Sep 2016
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    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

  3. #3
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    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.
    Attached Images Attached Images

  4. #4
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    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.

  5. #5
    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.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Tom M King View Post
    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.

  7. #7
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    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.

  8. #8
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    Sep 2013
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    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.

  9. #9
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    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.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  10. #10
    Join Date
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ron Citerone View Post
    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).
    Last edited by mike stenson; 07-21-2020 at 8:42 PM.
    ~mike

    happy in my mud hut

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by mike stenson View Post
    ..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.
    Last edited by Jim Becker; 07-22-2020 at 9:33 AM. Reason: fixed quote tagging

  12. #12
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    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.

  13. #13
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    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.

  14. #14
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    Cedar Park, TX (NW Austin)
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    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.

  15. #15
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    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

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