Planning the new bathroom and its all sorted apart from the choice of Bath material

Its either an Enamelled steel one or an Acrylic one

We have a shower above the bath and need to stand in it so we're erring towards a steel one at the moment as it will be sturdier


Any thoughts welcome

No reason why a properly installed acrylic bath can't be sturdy. Just don't use those pathetic metal legs that often come in the 'fitting kit'!!

We've had an acrylic bath in place for ten years now and it hasn't budged. A good wooden frame around the walls, properly secured with a good stable base for the bottom and it's perfect. Compare that to the previous owners fitted attempt that actually split apart on the bottom, pretty much exactly where we stand for showers.

Hi, I think there are pros and cons to each.
Steel takes a while to warm up if you're taking a bath and the water cools quicker.
If you have a shower curtain younger use magnets to keep it from blowing around.

Acrylic does need mounting well to avoid lots of creaking or splits.

For the acrylic one I fitted it seemed a bit weak standing in it, big corner one so put some cling film on the floor below it then blasted a couple of tubes of expanding foam under it, lovely and solid after that and if it ever needs to come out it will just lift.

Problem with them is scratches, if you have dogs that need to go for a bath in times of need get a steel/enamel one.

Regards Mark

I've just put one in myself and it would appear there are varying qualities of acrylic ones. When I did a bit of research I came across some cheaper baths that were wafer thin and very wibbly (technical plumbing tem there!) but the one I eventually went for from the bathstore was rock solid. Fitted it to a treated wooden frame and mounted on unistrut - it's going nowhere. We went for the acrylic because the wife likes baths and the metal ones lose the heat quicker.

Have a good look at steel baths - they are nothing like the old enamelled cast iron ones. Often they appear to be less rigid than acrylic.

A proper shower bath will be fairly sturdy but there are some that have a thickened option too. Get a decent leg kit, preferably one that fits under the base of the bath rather than one that supports the bath around the rim.

An acrylic bath we used to have in our house had a thick strip of rigid material bonded underneath - no movement whatsoever when you stood under the shower, even though it was mounted on the stands it came with.

If you go acrylic go for the much thicker ones, I have both types the thicker stronger one in family bathroom and thin one in on suite, the thin one is rubbish
Also put a wood frame screwed to the walls and a frame on the outside, blocks under the base and you will have a ridged structure

I recently fitted a steel one from Screwfix in a rental property - it's a shower over bath.

The bath was really cheap but a decent quality - the leg kit was a bit of a fiddle to fit but all worked out in the end.

The side and end panels were awful though!

wyn

quote:

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Originally posted by lsdweb
The side and end panels were awful though!

wyn

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We went for steel but a decent one isn't cheap. Ours was about £350.

Thanks for all the comments


We've looked at a few and jumped in them and we've decided to order an Acrylic one and I'll make sure its well supported.

We had a steel one previously and it chipped a couple of times and I don't fancy the chances on that happening again