Access panel for tub with equipment

[3D Artist]

I drew plans for a client that wants a shower room with tub, meaning the room, glass wall with door, other three sides all waterproofed and tiled, houses both the shower and a bathtub. I attached clips of renders showing the room, and a section view through.

I hope she chooses a tub that is just a soaker, with no equipment for jets, bubbles, heat, or all the other stuff you can get with a tub. But if she wants one with equipment, there is going to have to be access, and I don't want to do it in the tile wall apron under the tub, in the shower room.

We can go into the space from the adjacent kitchen, through a base cabinet if we build the cabinet appropriately. We can go into the space from right below, from the ceiling of the unfinished storage room in the basement below. The basement access would mean we would mount the gear on rails spanning the hatch, and opening the hatch would be like being up under a car up on the racks for an oil change.

How frequent are these access panels used? What is a typical problem that is solved by accessing the gear?

 

[Terry]

At some point the hand spray hose will need replacement.
The pump fittings need access from the side door. I don't know of any plumbers having the correct parts, both tubing and fittings to move the equipment to a different location. They would rather just not install it.
Yes, we do have to go back at some time to work on those. Lucky for my I'm still able to squeeze through some portals, but most plumbers my age have a young kid they work with that does lifting and crawling while the fat guy barks orders.
How about a nice looking panel that makes it readily accessible? It's not like they are dumping water near the back of the tub where the pump is. If they're that messy, it's winding up on the floor too.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[John Gayewski]

I think access from the bottom is a good idea in theory. Not sure I've seen it before. As long as it's accessible. As I think readily accessible is a different standard and not practical. Readily means you don't have to remove an obstruction such as a door with a tool. Accessible means there might be a door with screws or you have to move an appliance to get to it.