I spoke to a couple of bath manufacturers before buying last year. They claimed it wasn't quite as straight forward as Ed describes. They claimed that the forming process tends to thin the bath wall more as the wall thickness increases. So the best option is a 5mm bath with a secondary coating. Ideal Standard make one whose name eludes me. I actually went for an "Aquanited" model from Aquabeau - guaranteed 25 years.
There were one or two quality issues, but structurally it seems solid.
Phil
Of course.
Our bath isn't flexible, I could stand on any part of the rim and it wouldn't shift in any direction. What's more it isn't fixed, it just stands on four legs.
It took two strong men to get it up the stairs though!
Mary
I bet the sides bend, though!
Also, the metal one you just put on the floor. Job done.
Christian.
Tell me about it! I had to remove a small(ish) 1970s cast iron bath which I could just about slide and tip. Didn't dare risk man handling it down the stairs and broke it up carefully. One of those tasks that is really daunting to a weakling like me - but it went OK. Also the "bits" fit in the car for removal to tip - bonus!
Phil
Me too. Hope you wore your ear defenders - an unbelievable racket! David
You'd have had a slightly bigger bonus if you'd weighed it in :-)
Mary
I considered whether to have cheap plastic or cheap metal bath and eventually settled for a cheap plastic one (probably 5mm, although I must admit, I haven't measured it).
Although the metal ones were more solid I noticed that they tapered considerably towards the bottom, meaning that lying in it would produce a "penned in" sensation, so much so that even when showering and standing up, it would difficult to lay my feet completely flat. I am only a lanky streak of piss as well.
I assume the cheap metal ones are made this way because they are easier to cast in this shape.
I spent ages building a very substantial wooden frame for my plastic bath using bits of 3" x 2" and the result is a very solid cheap plastic bath. It does stay warmer for longer too, as somebody else has already mentioned.
I have no problem at all and I'm 6'2" and not exactly slightly built. I find standard steel baths to be very comfortable. Perhaps the shop you went to had a particularly unusual shape.
Christian.
Certainly true according to
Oh ... I see. I think.
Ours is a conventional Victorian bath, taps at one end, rounded at the other, but it's had two of us in it often. I always eleced to sit at the non-tap end.
Mary
Ah, the mark of a true gentleman (tap mark between the shoulders, that is)
David
I don't think homebase will allow this? :-)
Two, actually, we have separate hot and cold taps. I tell you, it's an antique, our bath. Even older than us!
Mary
They don't with an 8mm thick acrylic bath.
Colin Bignell
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