Bathtubs Quality and Price

[Country]

Time to buy the bathtub for this bathroom remodel I am working on. I checked at Home Depot and found three types of porcelain over Steel tubs made by Bootz.

One type they call Premium Porcelain Enameled and their price range is $259 to $309.

Another type is just called Porcelain and sells for $169.

Another is Porcelain Enameled Steel made by Aloha and ranges is price from $99 to $119.

Is the quality of the more expensive models much better? Do they just look better or last longer or something?

They are all the same length and width but the $169 model is two inches deeper than the other two. I kinda like that.

I have to get this thing upstairs and they all weigh well under a hundred pounds. The more expensive model weighs about five pounds more than the $169 model. Does five extra pounds make it $90 better?

-C-

[Joe]

Yes. But check the weights on other brands as well. An enameled flimsy steel tub is not much for durability. That's why cast iron has been the standard for so many years. Are the Home Depot brands Chinese? The names don't sound at all familiar.

Joe

[Colbyt]

Just my two cents worth based on 35 years of DIY, I would buy a cast iron tub, I do buy the acrylic tubs, I would never buy a porcelain over steel tub again.

The darn things chip when you drop something in the tub. Glass bottles are much rarer now so not as much of a problem in times past.

I don't buy cast because they are too heavy to move and get into place.

I agree that I have never heard of any of those brands.

[Country]

There's just no way of getting a cast iron tub up those stairs.

So, You are saying the acrylic over fiberglass is better?

Thanks, David

[hrhofmann]

.

How long are you going to be staying in the house? Acrylic may not last 50 years, cast iron will.

[aemeijers]

Don't abuse it or use harsh chemicals or heavy abrasives, and a porcelain over cast iron tub can easily last a century. With a well-built house, that sounds about right to me. Every year or so, I drive by a lot of the houses my father built in 1950s/1960s. As long as they keep a roof on the place and the siding painted and the brick tuckpointed, almost all look like they could easily make another 50 years.

(Probably why his company went out of business- he built even the starter homes to the same quality as the mansions, just not as big or as fancy.)

[Colbyt]

There's just no way of getting a cast iron tub up those stairs.

So, You are saying the acrylic over fiberglass is better?

Thanks, David

I more or less consider them equal. Both of superior to porcelain over steel.

Porcelain over cast iron will last the longest. I just took one to the recycle center that was installed in 1937 and still going. The finish was dulled but the tub could have functioned for another 100 years. Ignoring inflation I suspect I got as many dollars for it as it sold for in 1937.

Colbyt

[Country]

.

I certainly would go with another cast iron tub if the stairs in this old farm house weren't so steep and narrow.

I haven't been to Menards yet because Home Depot is the other direction and an easier drive. But the Menards website lists a lot of acrylic over fiberglass tubs.

I will also check out Lowes since it is near the Menards.

Thanks, Country.

[LdB]

If you use the tub for showers then consider a three piece acrylic tub surround. No more water damage problems. As for durability, my acrylic tub has been in use for ten years an is as good as new.

LdB

[zzyzzx]

It was done once already. Presumably if it was done once, it can be done again. Often contractors make up excuses for not beaing able to replace a cast iron tub though. Don't believe them.

[Cindy Hamilton]

Maybe not. Maybe it was hoisted up an outside wall before the sheathing was on. Nothing to say the old walls are

18" OC like modern walls are.

Shoot, I've got a ranch and it'd be difficult to bring a new bathtub. The bathroom is 5' wide, so the tub would have to slide straight in. I'd have to tear out the wall between the bath and the hallway, and then effect repairs to the walls, which are very nicely skim-coated with plaster. (If I do anything, I'll replace the bath with a shower and end up with a house with 0.75 bathrooms.)

Cindy Hamilton

[aemeijers]

Uh, yes and no. There are cast iron tubs that will go on end through even a narrow doorway, and up any staircase short of a spiral. But it can take a couple of strong experienced delivery guys to do it without trashing the house. In most cases, especially in the old days, the tub was placed as soon as the roof was dry-sheeted in, and the bathroom (often including a non-load-bearing wall) was built around it. That was one of my jobs as a kid, to make sure the cardboard protectors, or even a purpose-built plywood lid, was in place, so the tub would not get chipped or splattered with drywall mud.

Personally, if I was to splurge and redo my bathroom, it'd be a cast-iron tub, even if I had to blow a hole in the non-load-bearing kitchen wall that abuts it, to get it in there. 3-4 studs and 60" or so of rock isn't that big a deal to replace, and the tub side of wall will be stripped anyway.

[Vic Smith]

Does a cast iron tub have to have bigger dimensions than a steel one? Haven't moved a cast iron tub in in a long time, but I remember the weight was the major concern. The weight didn't stop us.

--Vic

[Vic Smith]

You made me go look how I'd do mine if I had to. Same deal with mine, narrow bath, wall to wall tub. There's no wall below the tub top on the plumbing wall. I can see that from the basement. So how it's done is bring it in the bathroom door standing up, position it opposite the plumbing wall, then lay it down. Worst thing would be work on both sides of the plumbing wall at the tub end. Pretty standard.

--Vic

[Country]

I have the wall torn out in my bathroom so getting it in there is not a problem. I've only installed the concrete board in the area of the tub but not the rest of the wall. Getting the thing up stairs would be a bitch.

-C-

[Country]

.

I stopped at Lowes and Menards this afternoon. The guy at Lowes said that an acrylic tub would need a layer of concrete set under the bottom to give it support or it might crack.

I asked the guy at Menards and he didn't think so and showed me one acrylic tub and said it has been there for years and has no support underneath and people climbing in and out with their shoes on and hasn't cracked.

There don't seem to be any easy decisions. :)

-C-