bath thickness - is 5mm too thin ?

We are refurbishing our bathroom and my wife fancies a couple of the baths in Homebase.

they are largeish double ended ones. I think i had heard rumours about the robustness of 'DIY Shed' baths before with a minimum acceptable thickness.

With this in mind I asked the thinkness of the said bath (antilles) and was told it was 5mm acryllic.

Is this acceptable or should i stick to a plumbers merchant ? Trouble is that we have been to a few this is my wifes preferred bath.

thanks in advance

D
Reply to
dkh
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I prefer 8mm, but a lot also depends on how well the bath is supported. There should be a solid, usually ply, moulded-in support under the bottom of the bath, with a central support leg as well as two pairs towards the ends. You should also look for timber moulded under the bath edge. That is so that you can screw up into it from the bath edge support timbers, which should be firmly fixed to the walls or, on sides away from a wall, supported from the floor on a strong frame.

Colin Bignell

Reply to
nightjar

Try a plumbers' merchant - the sort that has bits on the pavement.

Bad 5mm - 6mm - 7mm - 8mm good.

You get what you pay for. When you go to a shed - you are paying for it to a) be open longer esp w/e. b) have nicely laid out displays so you can see what you are getting.

Reply to
Ed Sirett

Ed Sirett wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@makewrite.demon.co.uk:

Cheers Ed, forgot to add that the bath she most likes is a double ended one (fairly large) which tends to suggest 5mm is not up to the job.

Bit confused about what you meant above

does this mean all but 8mm are bad or is 7mm ok too ?

Reply to
dkh

Personally, I wouldn't touch plastic with a bargepole however thick it is. I know they come in all sorts of wonderful shell shapes and suchlike, but being a porky sort, I like to know the bath will remain approximately where it is when I'm getting into it.

Christian.

Reply to
Christian McArdle

nightjar >told it was 5mm acryllic.

I prefer steel

We've all been very tactful and not asked the OP how much he and his missus weigh :-)

Owain

Reply to
Owain

I'd certainly go along with that; I tend to ignore (or rather augment) what fittings the manufacturer provides, which are invariably inadequate especially for a thin bath. If you use plenty of extra support, eg at the corners, you can compensate in part for the lack of thickness IMHO.

When I went into a specialist bathroom outlet recently, the proprietor launched into a tirade against cheap'n nasty you-get-what-you-pay-for suites at the sheds before I'd barely had a chance to open my mouth.

He affirmed that the 'diy shed' baths were all far too thin, and his were of decent thickness; the interesting part for me was that he said that the reason that 'diy shed' baths always have lots of ribbing and designs built into their fabric is to give them a bit of stiffness so they don't collapse under their own weight; he reckoned if you wanted a very plain bath with no drip grooves, soap recesses etc, you had to go for thicker material.

David

Reply to
Lobster

Are you assuming they're in the bath at the same time? I've heard that it happens :-)

Isn't there a standard weight which the manufacturers are supposed to allow for?

Our bath is an ancient, large, cast iron one. All I worry about is the strength of the floor holding it up when it's full of water. And me. Yes I'm big (11 st 9lb and going down) but not as heavy as most of the men I know. Spouse is 9 st dripping wet, before anyone makes a comment :-)

Mary

Reply to
Mary Fisher

And did you buy one from him?

Mary

Reply to
Mary Fisher

Me too. The work of the devil. And if a child tries out Grandpa's drill on a plastic one you end up with an expensive colander ... :-)

Mary

Reply to
Mary Fisher

He was talking about a double-ender IIRC. Double-enders are for sharing, so I assume.

Owain

Reply to
Owain

I presume that it should hold a full bath of water. We are not that much denser than water I think. (There would have to be a saftey margin.)

Rem

Reply to
Rembrandt Kuipers

A bit less in fact, we float. Well, I do, Spouse doesn't. But that's a good point which I should have thought about!

Mary

Reply to
Mary Fisher

Of course that does not cover five people standing in the bath, or jumping up and down. :)

Rem

Reply to
Rembrandt Kuipers

You've been watching!

It's a long time since our five children did that though :-)

Mary

Reply to
Mary Fisher

Well I did as it happens! - a combination of believing what he said; a bit of a desire to support a local business rather than Wickes/B&Q et al; but mostly that it was a really nice-looking, well made, plain bath!

David

Reply to
Lobster

Another good reason.

Mary

Reply to
Mary Fisher

Acrylic is a better insulator.

Colin Bignell

Reply to
nightjar

I doubt mine is going anywhere. Each of the five feet is screwed down with three screws and there are screws up into the rim timber at about 6" intervals all around the rim. On three sides, the support timber is fixed firmly to the wall and on the fourth side, it is held up by 2" x 2" well-jointed framing, which is screwed to the floor.

Colin Bignell

Reply to
nightjar

Being pedantic though this is a well distributed load. Nothing like the weight of a heavy person standing at one end - this is the case that shows up the flexibility of the bath!

Phil

Reply to
TheScullster

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