Nice tub Magiver. At 26" wide it would still be a challenge to get it through the 24" wide doorway of my brother’s bathroom. If you look at the top veiw of the the tub and estimate how thick the walls are then it’s clear the seated width is probably 20-21", not wide enough for my brother’s large frame. Good effort but there’s no point in replacing one too small tub with another too small tub.
Not useful for my current situation.
As a professional renovator/flipper I just wanted to chime in and confirm that if you’re dealing with thousands for the tub, removing and replacing a few interior studs should almost be negligible, a few hundred.
I used Angie’s List all the time until I found a good General Contractor. Prices can vary by 250% or more. Don’t be afraid of immigrants, but be sure to check license and insurance.
Good luck
ETA: Also, make sure you have all the details written out beforehand for the agreed price, and signed by both. For a job this size I would expect to pay half up front, and half after you’re satisfied.
Missed my five minute window for edits… I tried to say basically don’t pay it all up front. All at the end is great too obviously, but I wouldn’t pay more than half up front, and I’d prefer to do it when I see the tub show up at the house with the installers.
You are probably going to have to talk directly to a dealer or manufacturer representative to see if a sectional tub is an option. I suspect it probably is. And not that you asked, but here are a couple of more things to consider. It looks like these types of tubs can hold quite a bit of water, perhaps 80 gallons or so. So consider if the floor can support the weight of the water, and then consider if the water heater is big enough to provide enough water.
That’s what I was afraid of with the 26". At this point I’m surfing sites that focus on advice such as this one. they say to expect 1.5 days of labor to install. So that would be 12 hrs X 80/hr for a plumber so round that up to $1000 plus any electrical routing for a GFI circuit. A handyman could do it for less but make sure the tub is tested before installation. The nice thing I’ve seen so far is that a number of them have leveling feet. Makes a quicker install. Still no hits on 2 piece.
The ones I looked at had built in heaters but floor strength needs to be calculated if the load is greater than the tub it replaces.
I’m going to have to trust my contractor regarding the strength of the floor joists and their capacity to support that much weight. If it’s required though, I could easily install a couple of steel lally columns supporting a short beam perpendicular to the joists below the tub. It may or may not be a problem but I really doubt it’s insurmountable.
As for the capacity of my water heater, no worries. That’s not dangerous and easy enough to fix later.
What about a small inflatable hot tub like this? Obviously it is lacking in aesthetics, but it would certainly be a cheaper non permanent option.
Pretty cool product but the op is looking for bathing options with a little TLC thrown in.
I am a salesperson for a plumbing supply house in Chicago. I asked around and my coworkers who hqve a combined 80-90 years of plumbing experience have never heard of a tub that you asemble onsite. If you really have 2’0" doors you are going to have tough time getting something in.
Id be looking at the 60x32 Jacuzzi skirted tubs. They are less than 19" deep and are about the only way to do it inexpensively. You can get whirlpools or air baths in that configuration.
That’s an interesting option. It isn’t going to work long term but it might make an acceptable stop-gap measure until we can get a proper tub installed. I’ll run it past my brother.
I’m not actually surprised that no such tub exists but I had hopes. Many thanks for the expert info. I’ll check out the Jacuzzi but something that low will require some kind of mechanical hoist to assist my brother getting in and out.
You might want to speak to them anyway as they may have other models.
For instance, see here and here for some ideas.
This bath lift has a weight limit of 170kg.
You can have a tub made from concrete and tiles…
I would recommend talking to whatever companies regularly install these things in your area. Walk-in tubs are likely a significantly different beast than a standard tub. I am willing to bet there are some tricky details and ways of doing things that are specific to this kind of tub. You want someone used to judging what can fit where and what they have to do to get it in. Then see if you can get a couple quotes from plumbers (if they will even touch it). There are probably contractors that work through the local homecare supplier. That would be my first step.
This is plumbing, one of the reasons its expensive is water can cause a lot of damage. This has to be done right.
Its true that taking out a wall or door can be a relatively minor expense in the whole scheme.
Nothing to offer on the tub front (aside from a minor grumble about how no tub is really deep enough for an adult human), but it’s probably not a bad idea to widen a few doors anyway. I don’t know the nature of your brother’s disability; with 24-inch-wide doors I’m guessing he’s not in a wheelchair, but if there’s a chance he might be someday, wider doors will be a huge help.
Good luck, and I hope you’re able to get him the tub to enjoy without spending too huge a fortune on home modifications to permit it.
May I point out that 24 inches as a doorway is seriously freaking narrow for someone who uses a wheelchair and 32 inches is the recommended width? He might as well consider retrofitting the various doorways in the home to the right width to make life easier.
And the reason that the inflatable tub, or many of the other suggestions is not going to work is that it is useless having a tub without seats because his uncle like myself simply can not stand up from a sitting on the floor position. I would need a freaking crane to get my fat ass off the floor … one really does need one of the walk in tubs with the molded seat, the controls at arms length and enough depth to actually sit so the water comes up to the waist. If we try sitting in a regular tub on a shower chair, we can soak our ankles and perhaps up to the mid calf. :rolleyes: