baths

[nospam]

Hello,

I've bought a cheap and cheerful bath suite from Screwfix. It doesn't come with any instructions. I'm a bit unsure about the bath. It is an enamelled bath made by Kaldewei. Plumbing the taps and wastes is easy enough but what about fixing it?

It comes with four legs. Are these enough? It seems pretty stable on them but if you sit on the rim to dry your feet, it does seem to lift. I know the obvious answer is don't sit on the edge! But should I somehow fix it to the wall? It does have some tabs on the one (wrong) side but I thought these might just have been used in its manufacture?

There is also a tiny tab on the bottom. I wondered whether this was to earth it but it looks so delicate, I worry it might snap! Shouldn't the earth tab be a bit sturdier? I presume it needs bonding to the cold water supply since it is metal under the enamel?

Thanks.

[Andrew Gabriel]

Kaldewei is quite a respectable make of bath. One really important point in the instructions is to never use kettle or other powerful descalers or acids on the enamel surface -- they destroy the glaze. Always check that bath cleaners state they are safe on enamel baths, and never leave taps dripping such that you'll get scale build up as it's difficult to remove without damaging the glaze.

No, legs alone are not enough. You need to fix it to the wall. I've seen elaborate clips which you screw to the wall, and offer the bath rim up to them and close a clamp down on it, but they cost rather a lot. I siliconed mine to the wall, which also prevents any chance of water running down behind (I was particularly concerned about this as dry rot had started underneath the previous bath due to this). I also made some clamps by taking a small right angle bracket, bending one limb right back on itself to form the bracket into the shape of a question mark, and then screwing the bracket to the wall such that the top of the question mark clamped the rim against the wall. On reflection, the brackets were probably unnecessary given the silicone, although it may have helped hold it in place whilst the silicone set. OTOH, the silicone would make the bath very difficult to remove, without destroying the bath and some of the wall finish.

It is. I would suggest crimping an eyelet onto the end of the bonding wire, and then screwing this to the eyelet with a nut, bolt, and shakeproof washer. Beware that when you move the eyelet, shards of tiny enamel splinters will shoot off it -- mind your eyes and fingers. Don't bend it right on the spot weld.

[RoundSquare]

My bath from B&Q was similar in that it had no fixing kit. However the four legs had four holes in each of them and after screwing these to the floor I've found that the bath was rock solid. You will need a right angled screwdriver to get to the legs at the wall side.

R.S.

[Andy Hall]

They are used quite extensively in hotels elsewhere in Europe and always seem to be in good condition even in places where the rest of the decor suggests that they have been there for perhaps ten years. This is a pretty harsh environment because neither the users nor the cleaners take that much care.

[visionset]

Oh it is quite easy, you fill the bath with water, not forgetting to insert the plug, then simply step into it and bathe to taste. When you are done, step out and remove plug. HTH

[AnthonyL]

That approach has been know to lead to clothing shrinkage.

[visionset]

That was just a brief synopsis, a memory jogger if you will. Full details can be found here

I refer those unsure of that specific here:

[John Stumbles]

I always screw battens to the wall to support the side and end - only a thin batten or couple of blocks for the tap end so as not to obstruct the tap fixings. I seal the bath to the wall before tiling.

You can arrange blocks and screws to hold the wall edge down but with the silicone, and tiling overlapping the bath edge, it should be OK once this is done.

[Lobster]

I bought a Kaldewi myself a few weeks back, and asked the same question here.... this was the 'winning' response which I went with - worked really well, and the bath is as solid as a rock:

(or )

Also, inspect the end of the tab where the hole is... on mine, the whole think was caked in enamel so I had to do a lot of scraping to get rid of it, in order to achieve an electrical contact.

David

[Owain]

Adjust the hot tap to 'D' instead of 'C'.

Owain

[nospam]

Am I allowed to earth the bath myself or do the regulations forbid it now? I thought I could not wire in the bathroom now, or do those regulations not apply to earthing?

If I can what size wire should I use: 10 mm^2? Where can I buy a short length? B&Q and places only sell 10m reels and Screwfix and the likes sell in even larger quantities.

Thanks.

[Andrew Gabriel]

4mm² (or larger). If the cable is protected from physical damage, you can drop down to 2.5mm².

[Lobster]

Just to clarify your situation - do you already have such cables in the bathroom? Rather sounds as if you don't... they should already be present even if you had a plastic bath, eg between the hot and cold feeds to the bath, plus the same on the basin, toilet, radiator, etc etc

- search for info on "supplementary bonding" which is the buzzword.

David

[nospam]

Hello. No, not in the bathroom.

There is cross bonding downstairs between the hot and cold pipes under the stairs and I think also between the hot and cold pipes under the kitchen sink.

There is no bonding between the pipes on the bath, nor between the pipes on the basin.

I'm not sure what you mean by bonding on the toilet as there is only one copper pipe feeding (which comes off a tee from the basin) into the cistern. What would this be bonded to?

As you guessed, previously there was a plastic bath, so that was not bonded.

So are you saying that I should buy a bag of earth clamps and cross bond the pipe beneath the bath and the basin, also?

The house was built in the 1970's so perhaps this was not required then?

Thanks.