cast iron bath to replace acrylic one - should I go there?

[figcake]

House is victorian, wooden floorboards on first floor. I guess they would need reinforcement - is this something DH could manage ( has a good knowledge of carpentry).

The unusual pipework is also a concern - does it cost more to fit than conventional? Regs if basically moving within same space around 1m across the room?

Thanks

I know nothing re the technicalities but they look gorgeous and in a Victorian house with wooden floorboards it would be fantastic.

Does it have those claw feet things? Link please? I do love looking at baths .

Yes - not sure if DCs would cooperate with us on this one though (visions of being drenched as I stand at cooker directly underneath)

Hope this works

www.bathsuperstore.com/bathrooms-3/baths-9/cast-iron-baths-250/tc-stirling-cast-iron-slipper-bath-1329.html?utm_source=product

Unless you are prepared to carry it upstairs yourself, it will cost more as plumbers hate lugging them upstairs.
Also. they are really bad at keeping the water hot, like marble, so will cost more to fill with hot water, IYSWIM.

Link didn't work but this might. Anyway, I did find it via the bathroom site and it's gorgeous. Am very jealous.

we had one in our old house, it was lovely because you could get right in it but it took forever to fill up and they weigh a ton so you must make sure the floor is properly reinforced

Thanks Hassled- don't fancy it in green though (too bold for me)

last/nancy - I know about the water temp problem but mainly intend to use it for showering (what a waste, I know). Weight is a deal breaker as is size of bathroom (too small to do it justice. I may keep looking for lighter equiv

have a google of The Cast Iron Bath Company

here castironbath.co.uk/baths.html

Meant to add ; lokat the gallery on the site, but got too excited at being able to do a link

If you want the best of both worlds, do as we did: we bought an acrylic roll top bath from Wickes, then primed it and painted it in Farrow & Ball Off Black. Gorgeous. And also cheaper, warmer and lighter than the real thing.

Little Pushka, thanks for the link, we bought our cast iron bath from there last year, really pleased with value and service, we got this one took DH and one freind, but both strong to get it up the stairs, but looks lovely.

thanks for link - love the metallic ones, they would really suit an old loft conversion - might also have a look at Wickes

Dh a plumber and he claims you don't need special reinforced floors.

Thes company makes nice baths which look liek cast iron but are enamel
www.albionbathco.com/free-standing-roll-top-bath/rolltop-free-standing-bath.html

They are quite pricey but similar to cast iron.

showering in a stand alone bath is a nightmare

A free standing bath is no more difficult to plumb than any other bath but make sure that the floor joists and floorboards can take the extra weight as when you move a bath from the wall the floor takes a greater part of the load, if the bath has the claw feet then it would be wish to strengthen the areas were the feet meets the floor as these 4 small areas will be holding a lot of weight.

We had one in a previous house. It was lovely. However, it is essential to get a structural engineer to look at the load bearing on the bathroom floor. There was apparently a lot of swearing when it was going up the stairs!

Yes, I can imagine - I think engineer involvement would seriously dent the budget. For the first time ever, I am starting to envy people with gf bathrooms!

they are not that heavy

it took two people to carry one into our bathroom and the plumber managed the rest of it himself and he was no Mr Universe!

and it was a genuine old one we had, so none of your modern nonsense!

They do take forever to fill though, but it sold the house for us, the buyer was over six foot and so excited about a decent sized bath! :D

They seem to sell fairly cheaply secondhand and of course, are the real deal so logistics aside, it really is a no-brainer

A genuine cast iron one weighs over 100kg! Add to that the weight of the water and someone in it and you can see why it is important to get an engineer to look at the joists! A resin/plastic one is much lighter.