Bath Types Guide

The bath is the largest single object in most bathrooms and the hardest to change your mind about afterwards. Material affects comfort and heat retention, shape affects the whole layout, and weight affects whether your floor needs work. Here is what to weigh up.

Materials

Reinforced acrylic

The most common choice and, in a good grade, an excellent one. Warm to the touch, holds heat well, light enough for one person to carry upstairs, and available in every shape imaginable. Look for a bath with a substantial reinforcing base board and encapsulated fixing points rather than the thinnest budget models, which flex underfoot. Scratches can be polished out, which steel does not allow. Typically £180 to £600.

Pressed steel with enamel

Rigid, extremely hard wearing and resistant to scratching and heat. It feels cold when you first get in and is noisier while filling, though insulating behind the panel helps considerably with both. Heavier than acrylic but still manageable on a normal floor. Typically £250 to £800.

Cast iron and cast stone

Superb heat retention and a genuinely solid feel, and visually they anchor a room. The catch is weight. A cast iron bath can weigh 100 to 150kg empty, and once filled with water and a person it can pass 400kg concentrated over a small area. On a first floor we check joist size, span and condition, and reinforcement is often required. Budget from £900 upwards, plus any structural work.

Shapes

• Standard single ended. Taps at one end, the classic. Simple, cheap, works in almost any layout.
• Double ended. Taps in the middle, comfortable for two or for lounging at either end. Needs the waste centrally placed.
• Shower bath, P or L shaped. Wider at the showering end, usually 850mm to 900mm, tapering to 700mm. The most practical choice in a single bathroom household.
• Corner bath. Looks generous but eats floor area and rarely gives more bathing length than a straight bath. Only worth it in a genuinely large room.
• Freestanding. The showpiece. Needs clearance all round, ideally 100mm to the wall minimum for cleaning, plus floor mounted or wall mounted taps planned before first fix.
• Back to wall freestanding. The freestanding look with conventional plumbing and no gap behind. A sensible compromise in a mid sized room.

Sizes

1700mm by 700mm is the UK standard, but 1500mm and 1600mm lengths are readily available and bathe most adults comfortably. Reducing to 1600mm can free up the 100mm that lets a door swing or a vanity fit. Depth matters more than length for comfort: look at the water depth to overflow rather than the overall height, since a deep bath with a high overflow is far more pleasant.

Practical details that affect satisfaction

1. Insulate behind the panel of a steel bath, it noticeably reduces noise and heat loss.
2. Fit a removable access panel, or at minimum leave the trap reachable, because you will need it one day.
3. Support the bath on its full cradle and adjust every foot, do not rely on the rim alone.
4. Fill it before siliconing so the seal is made at full load.
5. Check tap hole configuration matches your chosen brassware, particularly for wall mounted or floor standing taps.
6. Confirm a freestanding bath will physically get up your stairs and round the landing before ordering.

Bath or shower, if you can only have one

If it is your only bathroom and you have young children or may sell within a few years, keep a bath. If the bath has been used as a shower tray for the last three years and the household is adults only, a proper walk in shower will improve daily life considerably. Where there is a second bathroom or a downstairs shower room, the decision is much easier.

What it costs fitted

Swapping a bath like for like as part of a refit adds relatively little labour. As a standalone job, removing an old bath, fitting a new one with panel, taps, waste and making good typically runs £550 to £1,100 plus the bath, depending on tiling and access. A freestanding installation with new floor mounted taps and any joist reinforcement is considerably more.

Ask us to check the floor

Before you order anything heavy, we will look at the joists and tell you what is realistic. Free survey, fixed written price within 24 hours, all plumbing, tiling and structural preparation carried out in house.

Common questions