Fitting a bath

[Andrew Gabriel]

I've fitted one of these, and it's been good. B&Q's steel bath was a Kaldwei at one point (and might still be).

Suggested it for my brother, and his plumber went and got one. After plumber tightened up the legs too much (in spite of the dire warnings in the instructions), he had to go and get another one when a large piece of enamel pinged off the inside.

I built a frame and used several IKEA decorative panels for the ends of kitchen units, hung from the frame on hinges. You can lift them up to access the under bath area (which currently has the unused floor tiles stored there). It looks very good, is much more robust than any prefabricated panel, and came in at a tiny fraction of the cost. It also matches the cupboards I used in the bathroom (which are IKEA kitchen wall cupboards, cut down to 20cm deep, and again came in at a tiny fraction of bathroom fitted furniture, which is both very expensive, and a complete pile of crap.

My brother bought a beech (I think) contiboard kitchen worktop, a piece of which was used as the washbasin cabinet top, the largest part is the bath panel, and another piece is the window sill. Also looks good.

[Andrew Gabriel]

The plumber took out my brother's old one, manhandled it down the stairs, and proped it up against the railings on the pavement. Went back upstairs to get the legs, and by the time he got back down again, the bath was gone, which was actually rather convenient. He left the legs out on the pavement for a couple of days, but no one come back for them.

The problem we had many years earlier getting my parents one out was that it had been fitted in the bathroom before it was plastered, and the width of the bathroom exactly matched the width of the bath, before the plastering was done. Had to remove a lot of plaster at one end in order to lift it up clear of the wall. We didn't think of trying to break it up in place.

Bear in mind that the shards of enamel are like broken glass on steroids from the point of view of injuring you, and how they can ping off at high speed.

[Tim W]

Andrew Gabriel wibbled on Thursday 10 December 2009 10:11

Kaldwei was the one I saw, and would have got if steel was an option. Very nice product.

If a "pingfukit" is an annoying ping, what do you call the sound of an expensive ping?

I like that idea. I have my sub frame in place (which helps support the front rim. It can be remounted forward or back a little to accommodate undecided panel thicknesses.

I'll have a look at nicking your idea.

Was cutting them down hard - not the actual cut, but remounting the back panel? Was it the sort of job that a jigsaw and/or circular saw will handle or is a router required (eg for cutting a groove for the back)?

Cheers

Tim

[Tony Bryer]

Yes, that's what I installed in my place back in Twickenham before selling up. Pity it ended up in a skip within months.

BTW it's Kaldewei for anyone looking on Google.

[ARWadsworth]

She ran out of condoms after the 8th customer.

Adam

[Tim W]

ARWadsworth wibbled on Thursday 10 December 2009 17:22

Sir: you owe me one new keyboard! ;->

[ARWadsworth]

Her pimp was not happy when she gave him £60.50 in takings.

"Which tight bastard gave you 50p?" he asked.

"All of them" she replied.

Adam

[John Rumm]

Clean water sprayed through whatever crud has gestated in the shower head ;-)

[John Rumm]

Most folks. Its part of what makes the world civilised.

[Roger Dewhurst]

Try some travel. In most of the world they never existed. In much of the rest of it they have been superseded by showers which are more hygenic, quicker, use less water and less inclined to go cold. Standard baths remaining in houses in Australia and New Zealand are rarely used relics. Expensive houses may have fancy spa baths fitted but there is always a shower in a proper shower cubicle. As for the "children do not like their faces getting wet" stupidity the shower rose is always on the end of a hose and can be directed at whatever part of the body interests the user. I recall that when baths were installed in British council houses about the time of WW2 they were commonly used for the storage of coal! Civilization indeed! Even in better society a bath tended to be a weekly event. Perhaps it still is.

R

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Roger Dewhurst saying something like:

The less of them, the better.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Roger Dewhurst saying something like:

You recall wrong. It may have happened in a couple of places - after all, there are pikey bastards in NZ too - but not commonly.

[PeterC]

After I bought my council house I took out the bath and now it's much easier to shovel up the coal.

[Andrew Gabriel]

I cut them down with a circular saw. You lose half the assembly fixing points when you do this, so I used a doweling kit to add new ones at the back. Didn't bother with cupboard backs - just painted the wall white inside the cupboards. Also lost the row of holes up the back for the shelf supports and the wall brackets, so I redrilled those, and cut down the shelves to match.

Here's a picture before grouting and painting

after grouting and painting, but not such a clear view of cupboards the the "worktop" is a white cupboard door from another range; I wanted something thinner than a real kitchen worktop.

[Tim W]

Andrew Gabriel wibbled on Friday 11 December 2009 10:34

Right - I see.

Yes - that's totally clear now. Thanks Andrew. I also have need of some computer cupboards high up in the hall to keep my servers - Ikea cupboards would be good there too, although it's not yet clear if I would need to cut them down.

That's the sort of professionalism we've all come to expect from you :) It looks really nice - like a super expensive vanity unit.

The boiler pipes are your work too I take it?

[<me9]

Only the first few times.

They'd get used to a gradually increased amount of splashing, starting in the baby bath.

[<me9]

Very young children are quite capable of being totally immersed without drowning, they spend their time before birth like that. As long as it allowed to continue intermittently after they are born they never gain fear of inmmersion.

[Tim W]

[e-mail] wibbled on Friday 11 December 2009 15:34

Says you! ;->

My eldest can stand a shower now - but it took 6 years. Forcing it on them on causes trauma IME.

Also, the pair of them share a bath and play for 1/2 hour whilst getting clean which is a good thing

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember [e-mail] (Andrew Gabriel) saying something like:

[Dave]

I wish that I had known that when our children were young. It took me ages to get our 2 g children to trust me in washing their hair in a bath. They would grab a flannel and wrap it around their fore heads, so the soapy water didn't go in their eyes.

The answer is simple, get them to lay backwards, using their elbows to support their back, so that the head is laid backwards into the water and the water can't get anywhere near their eyes. Sit them upright, but their head backwards while the shampoo goes on etc. etc. Repeat.

Dave