SmallSea
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Hi. My husband and I have been lurking on this site a while - great advice. We're renovating our 1957 split level home, and are working on the bathroom now. We've succesfully smashed up the nasty old cast iron tub, and are ready to install a new bathtub.
Our tub alcove measures 30.625 inches wide. Based on what we've read here, we wanted an acrylic tub (better than fiberglass and steel in our opinions, and not as good as cast iron but much easier to carry.) However, it seems that all the acrylic tubs all have a nailing flange that measures about 1.25 inches wide, actually making a 30-inch tub measure 31.25 inches wide (the flange extends perpindicular from the floor up along the side of the tub to the top of the tub ledge.) We've been researching online and it appears we have 3 choices:
1. Use an acrylic tub (a Lucite tub by Lasco) and extend the wall out another 1.5 inches. This would require moving a heating vent and we could have a problem with the trim around our doorway.
2. Use a 29-inch wide tub that measures 30.25 inches... but we can't find a 29-inch acrylic tub. We found one by Sterling (Kohler) in the Vikrell material which appears to be a type of fiberglass.
3. It appears that there might be a 30-inch tub by American Standard (Americast) that doesn't have a nailing flange. Neither the spec sheet nor the installation instructions show the flange extending past the edge of the tub, so this 30-inch tub might actually be 30-inches... we'd have to check.
So: Acrylic and move a wall, Vikrell by Kohler, or Americast by American Standard. Given those choices, which would you do and why? What are the pros and cons? Is there a 4th choice we haven't considered?
Thanks everyone. I look forward to your replies!
Sterling Accord
Our tub alcove measures 30.625 inches wide. Based on what we've read here, we wanted an acrylic tub (better than fiberglass and steel in our opinions, and not as good as cast iron but much easier to carry.) However, it seems that all the acrylic tubs all have a nailing flange that measures about 1.25 inches wide, actually making a 30-inch tub measure 31.25 inches wide (the flange extends perpindicular from the floor up along the side of the tub to the top of the tub ledge.) We've been researching online and it appears we have 3 choices:
1. Use an acrylic tub (a Lucite tub by Lasco) and extend the wall out another 1.5 inches. This would require moving a heating vent and we could have a problem with the trim around our doorway.
2. Use a 29-inch wide tub that measures 30.25 inches... but we can't find a 29-inch acrylic tub. We found one by Sterling (Kohler) in the Vikrell material which appears to be a type of fiberglass.
3. It appears that there might be a 30-inch tub by American Standard (Americast) that doesn't have a nailing flange. Neither the spec sheet nor the installation instructions show the flange extending past the edge of the tub, so this 30-inch tub might actually be 30-inches... we'd have to check.
So: Acrylic and move a wall, Vikrell by Kohler, or Americast by American Standard. Given those choices, which would you do and why? What are the pros and cons? Is there a 4th choice we haven't considered?
Thanks everyone. I look forward to your replies!
Sterling Accord
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