Hi there,

Further to an earlier posting I am looking into Bathroom suites. All the big
stores seem to of gone acrylic but older folk (e.g. parents) seem to say
steel baths are better (but they do not know much about plastic ones).

Also I am quite tempted by a "shower" bath I saw in B&Q. It retails at £220,
but where you would stand in it for having a shower, it gives a bit of extra
space. This appealed to me and is not available (or harder to find) in
steel.

Any opinions?

Kind regards

Dave

Also I am quite tempted by a "shower" bath I saw in B&Q. It retails at
£220,
but where you would stand in it for having a shower, it gives a bit of
extra
space. This appealed to me and is not available (or harder to find) in
steel.

I prefer steel, although fancy shapes are usually only found in plastic. If
you go plastic, make sure it is nice and thick, especially if you expect to
stand in it.

Christian.

"Christian McArdle" wrote in message
.. .
Also I am quite tempted by a "shower" bath I saw in B&Q. It retails at
£220,
but where you would stand in it for having a shower, it gives a bit of
extra
space. This appealed to me and is not available (or harder to find) in
steel.

I prefer steel, although fancy shapes are usually only found in plastic.
If
you go plastic, make sure it is nice and thick, especially if you expect
to
stand in it.

Christian.

I prefer cast iron.

Mary

I prefer steel, although fancy shapes are usually only found in plastic.

I prefer cast iron.

Well yes. I prefer to bathe in champagne and have hot chocolate taps, but it
ain't gonna happen!

Christian.

"Christian McArdle" wrote in message
.. .
I prefer steel, although fancy shapes are usually only found in plastic.

I prefer cast iron.

Well yes. I prefer to bathe in champagne and have hot chocolate taps, but
it
ain't gonna happen!

This morning, while the ground was solid and the pond and bird baths turned
to deep ice, I bathed in free hot water because the sun was shining!

Bathing in champagne is a waste though, it's best for internal use only :-)
While bathing is a good idea ...

Our cast iron bath was brought round by the rag and bone many years ago, the
price? A glass of whisky in the pub.

Mary

Christian.

"David Smithz" wrote:
Hi there,

Further to an earlier posting I am looking into Bathroom suites. All the
big stores seem to of gone acrylic but older folk (e.g. parents) seem to
say steel baths are better (but they do not know much about plastic ones).

Also I am quite tempted by a "shower" bath I saw in B&Q. It retails at
£220, but where you would stand in it for having a shower, it gives a bit
of extra space. This appealed to me and is not available (or harder to
find) in steel.

Any opinions?

Kind regards

Dave

If you chose an acrylic bath, especially if from the cheaper end of the
range, I recommend fixing it on a wooden frame to support the upper rim (top
end, long side and bottom end if necessary) which goes against the walls. If
you don't then the bath will probably move as it fills with water, and move
even more when someone stands in it. A gap will appear between the edge of
the bath and the sealant, which will allow water to penetrate. This isn't an
usually an issue with a metal bath as it is a rigid structure.

David Smithz wrote:
Hi there,

Further to an earlier posting I am looking into Bathroom suites. All
the big stores seem to of gone acrylic but older folk (e.g. parents)
seem to say steel baths are better (but they do not know much about
plastic ones).

Also I am quite tempted by a "shower" bath I saw in B&Q. It retails
at £220, but where you would stand in it for having a shower, it
gives a bit of extra space. This appealed to me and is not available
(or harder to find) in steel.

Any opinions?

Kind regards

Dave

The glaze on an arcrylic bath tends to wear giving a dull appearence after
some time.
--

Sir Benjamin Midllethwaite

Make sure, if you go acrylic, that it is well supported, both underneath the
base and round the rim.
I bought a reinforced "aqanite coated" acrylic bath, supported it with a 2"
x 1" timber frame all round.
Cetainly solid enough for a 13 stoner.

Phil

"Christian McArdle" wrote in message
.. .
Bathing in champagne is a waste though, it's best for internal use only
:-)
While bathing is a good idea ...

I can't stand drinking the stuff, so I'll probably be sipping on a nice
cool
Trappist beer instead whilst feeling those refreshing bubbles.

:-)

Mary

Christian.

"TheScullster" typed


Make sure, if you go acrylic, that it is well supported, both
underneath the
base and round the rim.
I bought a reinforced "aqanite coated" acrylic bath, supported it with a 2"
x 1" timber frame all round.
Cetainly solid enough for a 13 stoner.

Phil


Erm, surely the weight of the bather is hardly the issue, as the water
in the tub usually weighs rather more??

I don't know how many litres/gallons normally fill a tub but I suspect
it's rather more than 90 litres/20 gallons (which weigh 14 stone)

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

On Fri, 3 Mar 2006 17:49:03 GMT, Helen Deborah Vecht wrote:

Erm, surely the weight of the bather is hardly the issue, as the water
in the tub usually weighs rather more??

Yes and no.

I don't know how many litres/gallons normally fill a tub but I suspect
it's rather more than 90 litres/20 gallons (which weigh 14 stone)

The bath I'm looking at holds around 200 litres (so 200kg). But when I
get in there is another 120kg on top. Even 90kg adds 50%.

--
Nigel M

Helen Deborah Vecht wrote:
"TheScullster" typed



Make sure, if you go acrylic, that it is well supported, both
underneath the
base and round the rim.
I bought a reinforced "aqanite coated" acrylic bath, supported it with a 2"
x 1" timber frame all round.
Cetainly solid enough for a 13 stoner.

Erm, surely the weight of the bather is hardly the issue, as the water
in the tub usually weighs rather more??

True, but the bather's weight tends to be localised... if he's sitting
in just a few inches of water (ie not enough to impart significant
buoyancy) then his weight will largely be concentrated beneath his
buttocks. Then when he stands up (maybe showering?), it's even worse -
the whole weight is transmitted downwards through the small area of his
feet. And that's when the bath is most likely to crack, not when he's
lying down almost floating, with just his nose sticking out of the water.

David

On Fri, 3 Mar 2006 18:34:24 GMT, Helen Deborah Vecht wrote:

I would imagine you put maybe 150 litres into the bath and submerge
about 50 of your kg.

The weight of the filled bath is then 270kg.

The submerged quantity is only relevant if it causes an overflow,
Archimedes and all that. But I agree that 120kg + 150kg = 270kg

--
Nigel M

On Fri, 03 Mar 2006 18:36:27 GMT, Lobster
wrote:


True, but the bather's weight tends to be localised... if he's sitting
in just a few inches of water (ie not enough to impart significant
buoyancy) then his weight will largely be concentrated beneath his
buttocks. Then when he stands up (maybe showering?), it's even worse -
the whole weight is transmitted downwards through the small area of his
feet. And that's when the bath is most likely to crack, not when he's
lying down almost floating, with just his nose sticking out of the water.

.......which is when the bath comes through the ceiling.


--

The message
from Matt contains these words:

.......which is when the bath comes through the ceiling.

My great uncle had a sunken bath in rural Kent in the 1920s. He'd seen
one at the fleapit in some Amerian film and decided it was his heart's
desire.

The effect in the bathroom was by all accounts[1] rather good but
somewhat spoiled if you went into the kitchen and saw the claw-feet
poking through the ceiling.

The same g-uncle had an inside-outside tap. Apparently the water rates
were more for an outdoor tap so he had a hatch in the wall to allow
access to the inside tap. A hatch big enough for the watering can.

[1] And there were many - the Lukehursts were a very large family and
most of them "happened past" to see the magnificent ablutions.

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

Hi,

"Mary Fisher" wrote in message
t...

Our cast iron bath was brought round by the rag and bone many years ago,
the price? A glass of whisky in the pub.

I was out looking for baths today. The only cast iron one I could find was
£1300.
Ouch. I was hoping to get the hardware for the whole bathroom for that!

Regards,

Glenn.

In article ,
David Smithz wrote:
Further to an earlier posting I am looking into Bathroom suites. All the
big stores seem to of gone acrylic but older folk (e.g. parents) seem
to say steel baths are better (but they do not know much about plastic
ones).

Best ones are cast iron.

--
*A fool and his money can throw one hell of a party.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Glenn Booth" wrote in message
...
Hi,

"Mary Fisher" wrote in message
t...

Our cast iron bath was brought round by the rag and bone many years ago,
the price? A glass of whisky in the pub.

I was out looking for baths today. The only cast iron one I could find was
£1300.
Ouch. I was hoping to get the hardware for the whole bathroom for that!

Regards,

Glenn.

Um.

I might be persuaded to do you a deal, Guv ...

Mary

On Fri, 03 Mar 2006 15:49:22 +0000, David Smithz wrote:

Hi there,

Further to an earlier posting I am looking into Bathroom suites. All the big
stores seem to of gone acrylic but older folk (e.g. parents) seem to say
steel baths are better (but they do not know much about plastic ones).

Also I am quite tempted by a "shower" bath I saw in B&Q. It retails at £220,
but where you would stand in it for having a shower, it gives a bit of extra
space. This appealed to me and is not available (or harder to find) in
steel.


Steel is cheaper and stronger.
The plastic is warmer (but really it not a problem with either) and comes
in a bigger variety of shapes and colours.

--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at http://www.diyfaq.org.uk
Gas fitting FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html
Sealed CH FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/SealedCH.html
Choosing a Boiler FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/BoilerChoice.html

What about colours? My 1981 bathroom suite is the same colour as the
Gills of a Mushroom. These days it seems that you can have any colour
as long as it is white.

Chris.

wrote in message
ups.com...
What about colours? My 1981 bathroom suite is the same colour as the
Gills of a Mushroom. These days it seems that you can have any colour
as long as it is white.

Hurrah!

Mary

Chris.

The message
from "Dave Plowman (News)" contains these words:

Baths
Best ones are cast iron.

Hmm, they're durable but they also take forever to warm up. Unless you
have the hot-feed wrapped round the back of the head-end to preheat it
I'll pass on cast iron if you don't mind. Can't stand leaning back
against a cold slab.

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

"Guy King" wrote in message
...
The message
from "Dave Plowman (News)" contains these words:

Baths
Best ones are cast iron.

Hmm, they're durable but they also take forever to warm up.

No they don't!

They're at room temperature!

Unless you
have the hot-feed wrapped round the back of the head-end to preheat it
I'll pass on cast iron if you don't mind. Can't stand leaning back
against a cold slab.

shakes head

I sometimes wonder about some folk ... :-)

Mary

The message . com
from contains these words:

My 1981 bathroom suite is the same colour as the Gills of a Mushroom.

Yeah, I hate cleaning the bath, too.

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

"Guy King" wrote in message
...
The message . com
from contains these words:

My 1981 bathroom suite is the same colour as the Gills of a Mushroom.

Yeah, I hate cleaning the bath, too.

An enamelled cast iron bath takes very little cleaning - just a spray with
the shower :-)

Mary

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

"Mary Fisher" typed


Hmm, they're durable but they also take forever to warm up.

No they don't!

They're at room temperature!

Don't know about you, but I like my bathwater to be rather warmer than
room temperature (probably 40°C or 104°F).

My flesh is approximately 37°C and my room is about 21°C. A bath with
sides of 30° will still feel cold.

It will also cool the bath water.

Unless you
have the hot-feed wrapped round the back of the head-end to preheat it
I'll pass on cast iron if you don't mind. Can't stand leaning back
against a cold slab.

Nor can I.

shakes head

I sometimes wonder about some folk ... :-)

So do I...

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

"David Smithz" wrote in message
k...

Hi there,

Further to an earlier posting I am looking into Bathroom suites. All the
big stores seem to of gone acrylic but older folk (e.g. parents) seem to
say steel baths are better (but they do not know much about plastic ones).

Also I am quite tempted by a "shower" bath I saw in B&Q. It retails at
£220, but where you would stand in it for having a shower, it gives a bit
of extra space. This appealed to me and is not available (or harder to
find) in steel.

Any opinions?

Kind regards

When I replaced my bathroom at my old home I got a "carronite" bath, which I
think cannot be beaten as it has the strength of steel yet the warmth of
plastic.

The3rd Earl Of Derby wrote:

The glaze on an arcrylic bath tends to wear giving a dull
appearence after
some time.

It is possible to polish an acrylic bath with Brasso, and it
comes up as good as new.
Once a steel bath becomes worn it's a huge job to resurface it.

Helen Deborah Vecht wrote:

Erm, surely the weight of the bather is hardly the issue, as the water
in the tub usually weighs rather more??

I don't know how many litres/gallons normally fill a tub but I suspect
it's rather more than 90 litres/20 gallons (which weigh 14 stone)

But the weight of the water is evenly distributed. Stepping into, or out
of, a bath is another matter.



--
David Clark
http://www.publishing.ucl.ac.uk
$replyto = 'an.rnser.is.reqird'

On Fri, 3 Mar 2006 21:42:03 UTC, Helen Deborah Vecht
wrote:

"Mary Fisher" typed


Hmm, they're durable but they also take forever to warm up.

No they don't!

They're at room temperature!

Don't know about you, but I like my bathwater to be rather warmer than
room temperature (probably 40–‘C or 104–‘F).

In any case, Mary's room will (she will probably claim) be at 0 degrees,
what with the 3 foot stone walls, the beaten earth floor etc. The only
heating will be a small cow.

--
The information contained in this post is copyright the
poster, and specifically may not be published in, or used by
Avenue Supplies, http://avenuesupplies.co.uk

"Bob Eager" typed

In any case, Mary's room will (she will probably claim) be at 0 degrees,
what with the 3 foot stone walls, the beaten earth floor etc. The only
heating will be a small cow.

Each to his/her own.

I am *really* unusual. I live in a centrally heated, double-glazed, 3
bedroomed 1930s semi-detached house ;-)

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

The message
from "Bob Eager" contains these words:

In any case, Mary's room will (she will probably claim) be at 0 degrees,
what with the 3 foot stone walls, the beaten earth floor etc. The only
heating will be a small cow.

But think how warm it gets when it has a widdle. When I milked cows as a
teenager the water heater was rarely working and you learned on bitterly
cold days that a stream of cow urine is nice and warm.

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

Mary Fisher wrote:

"Guy King" wrote in message
...

The message
from "Dave Plowman (News)" contains these words:

Baths

Best ones are cast iron.

Hmm, they're durable but they also take forever to warm up.


No they don't!

They're at room temperature!

Room temp here might be as low as 28 F as wifey likes to open the
bathroom window after her shower in the morning. I like to take a bath
in the evening, as my little job can make me sweat a tad. By this time,
room temp is also the bath temp is outside temp. As others have said, a
cast iron bath takes ages to warm up.

Dave

Adrian Boliston wrote:
"David Smithz" wrote in message
. uk...

Hi there,

Further to an earlier posting I am looking into Bathroom suites. All the
big stores seem to of gone acrylic but older folk (e.g. parents) seem to
say steel baths are better (but they do not know much about plastic ones).

Also I am quite tempted by a "shower" bath I saw in B&Q. It retails at
£220, but where you would stand in it for having a shower, it gives a bit
of extra space. This appealed to me and is not available (or harder to
find) in steel.

Any opinions?

Kind regards

When I replaced my bathroom at my old home I got a "carronite" bath, which I
think cannot be beaten as it has the strength of steel yet the warmth of
plastic.

Rather than remove our over-sized steel bath when it became ratty, we
had it lined with a drop-in acrylic shell which gave the same
advantages.


--
Ian White

On Fri, 3 Mar 2006 16:29:25 -0000, "Mary Fisher"
wrote:


"Christian McArdle" wrote in message
. ..
I prefer steel, although fancy shapes are usually only found in plastic.

I prefer cast iron.

Well yes. I prefer to bathe in champagne and have hot chocolate taps, but
it
ain't gonna happen!

This morning, while the ground was solid and the pond and bird baths turned
to deep ice, I bathed in free hot water because the sun was shining!

Bathing in champagne is a waste though, it's best for internal use only :-)
While bathing is a good idea ...


Think what you could do with the chocolate taps though :-)


--

..andy

The message
from Helen Deborah Vecht contains these words:

I am *really* unusual. I live in a centrally heated, double-glazed, 3
bedroomed 1930s semi-detached house ;-)

You didn't mention the priest-hole. No, really, she's got a priest-hole.

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

On Fri, 3 Mar 2006 19:44:03 -0000, "Glenn Booth"
wrote:

I was out looking for baths today. The only cast iron one I could find was
£1300.

Blimey. That makes me wish I hadn't stuck a lump hammer through ours and
thrown it in a skip when we moved in 7 years ago!
--
Chris Cowley

Guy King typed


The message
from Helen Deborah Vecht contains these words:

I am *really* unusual. I live in a centrally heated, double-glazed, 3
bedroomed 1930s semi-detached house ;-)

You didn't mention the priest-hole. No, really, she's got a priest-hole.

And you didn't mention the *other* priest hole...

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

The message
from Helen Deborah Vecht contains these words:

You didn't mention the priest-hole. No, really, she's got a priest-hole.

And you didn't mention the *other* priest hole...

Yeah, well, I didn't want to give away /all/ your secrets!

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

On Fri, 03 Mar 2006 15:49:22 +0000, David Smithz wrote:

Hi there,

Further to an earlier posting I am looking into Bathroom suites. All the
big stores seem to of gone acrylic but older folk (e.g. parents) seem to
say steel baths are better (but they do not know much about plastic
ones).

Also I am quite tempted by a "shower" bath I saw in B&Q. It retails at
£220, but where you would stand in it for having a shower, it gives a
bit of extra space. This appealed to me and is not available (or harder
to find) in steel.

Any opinions?

Kind regards

Dave

[I was reading all the other posts to see if this was covered, but
eventually I lost the will to live]

For price, cheap pressed steel and cheap acrylic baths are much of a
muchness.

If you are bathing (filling and sitting in) again, much of a muchness.

When I did my second bathroom, I went for acrylic for the following
reason:

We shower mostly, so we were looking for a bath to shower in. Pressed
steel is shaped in curves, and so the standing area at the bottom of the
bath is quite small.
Acrylic baths are moulded and so the bases are flatter.

If you are paying a bit more money, then you can get acrylic baths with
wide strong bases ideal for a combination bath and shower tray.

Don't worry too much about the flexibility of cheap acrylic baths. I had a
major panic attack about out cheapo Homebase unit (and was reassured by
this NG).
With battens along the walls to support the rim, the cradle adjusted
nicely. the brackets from the wooden bits in the bath rim fixed to the
wall it all settled in nice and firmly.

My personal vote is for acrylic but that assumes you will be showering a
lot (or mostly). You did mention a shower bath :-)

HTH

Dave R