Benefits of a cast iron bath, anyone? Help please!

[Rooners]

I have a dilemma. We are moving soon into a first and second floor flat.

The bathroom is serviceable, but eventually I'd like to replace the bath with a metal one and I've already got a nice loo and sink which are very simple and will go with the style of the house (Victorian).

The bathroom isn't huge - it's about 7 x 10,but was knocked through from the toilet and bathroom so has one big window and one little one, so it is nice and light with a fairly high ceiling.

I've found (at last) a really beautiful new freestanding cast iron bath, which is a massive bargain and I'm dying to buy it as I will never be able to afford to again. It's still about 3 or 4 times more than a steel one.

I'm not sure what to do. The bargain hunter in me wants to go for it immediately (they're holding it for me till I decide) and I don't want to mess the shop around. But I'm worried it's a big waste of money.

First of all - will we need to reinforce our floor joists? I can't work out if the house would have had a bathroom there originally, and if so then I imagine cast iron will be fine but if not I am terrified it will fall through the downstairs ceiling and land on our neighbour.

Second, I've not got anyone to help get it up the stairs. I don't know any big strong guys and don't know how to get hold of some even if I'm willing to pay them!

Third, it might just look silly in our bathroom. It's also freestanding, and that means redoing the floor and plumbing so it looks reasonable, because I imagine it's a bit of a mess under the existing bath.

Fourth - what are the actual reasons for buying one of these? I have read that they hold heat better than most baths, but other than that, and the sheer drop dead beauty of it I can't think of anything (and won't it get very messy if it isn't attached to a wall? three hefty children splashing etc)

I'd be really grateful for any thoughts/experiences to help me make my mind up before I lose the plot.

no! They do hold heat eventually but you have to spend HOURS in the bath for this to work. They suck the heat out of the water. Steel is bad enough. There's a reason these things went out of fashion.

(lived in a property which had one - brrr....)

buy it - for a garden feature.

Oh no - I had one- very cold bum. The hottest of water cools down very quickly, the metal absorbs the heat and conducts it away very quickly. Brrrrr.

I've got an original one and it's great. You do need to use more hot water to fill it initially, but it stays warm for ages. It's also bigger and deeper than a modern bath.

we had to make the same decision last year and in the end went for an insulated acrylic(?) bath.
it's lovely in winter when getting in for a shower, the feet are no longer turning blue. and it keeps water warm for ages.

We have one. You have to fill it with hot water to heat the bath up, then add cold before you get in to get the right temp as the cast iron absorbs some of the heat to start off with. We did reinforce the floor (we were doing a lot of work anyway). We did have a number of burly men on site and I have no idea how they got it up the stairs. It is against a wall and the floor is tiled underneath. It makes the bathroom look bigger as you see more floor space. It is deliciously deep and comfortable for three children to loll about in. DH and I could happily spend hours reading a book drinking a glass of wine in the bath. There is nowhere to put soap / shampoo as the edges are curved so you might need to get a grill thing to sit across the bath or a nearby shelf / side table.

If you have a combi boiler, it will take a very long time to fill.

If you have an ordinary cylinder, it might run cold before the bath is full. If you have an immersion heater it will cost a fortune.

If you have a large white Megaflo or similar it will probably be enough.

Thank you guys - I feel a bit better now about not buying it! I am absolutely gutted really as it is soooo beautiful. If anyone wants a Roca Eliptico at a silly, silly price - then it's on here - scroll down a bit.

I have never seen such a wonderful bath in all my life. And they can organise delivery.
It's just going to look silly in our bathroom, it's 850 wide! Though the children would love it and all fit in it at once

We are going for a normal cylinder btw. But it won't be humungous.

I'm desperate for a big airing cupboard, not sure how you could do that with a combi...or am I barking up the wrong tree?

We have a combi. Doesn't take long to fill.

As for why get one - I honestly can't think of a reason other than sheer love of it. It had always hankered after one. It was bliss when pregnant as it is so huge. But it is an indulgence.

Yes you do have to mop under it occasionally, and endeavour to reach behind it to wipe the tiles if the kids have been extra splashy.

To have an airing cupboard with a combi boiler you'd need to stick a radiator in the cupboard.

Sorry x posts. Don't know about airing cupboards. We got rid of ours to make our bathroom bigger to fit our ridiculous bath in

(Although I'm not sure how you'd get it to work when the heating is off)

Ours is brilliant - second hand, so £50 off eBay, six foot long and I never noticed it getting cold particularly. We didn't have the floor reinforced in our ex-local authority but in our new extension they doubled the joists in the bathroom. Me (six months pregnant), DH, DB and a strong friend got ours up the stairs in this house. In our old house, two passing scaffolders did it for us.

Thank you

I would actually probably get a smaller bath just to have room for an airing cupboard, I'm a bit sad like that!

I have decided to compromise by getting a nice steel bath instead which will fit beautifully into the existing space, and I've got hold of a 1930s elliptical curtain rail to go above it. Which is a bit unnecessary really but should look quite pretty.

Just excited to have a bathroom with a window, we only have an en suite here under the stairs so it's got a noisy fan and no daylight. Saying that, I bet this was an actual bathroom in the new flat, because the window is half normal glass and half patterned, and I think it's probably original?

So the floor would probably be fine with cast iron. Oh well - I've decided now. Just too big.

Radiator in airing cupboard can be done as a separate zone. You might want a timer in there rather than a thermostat. Any heating engineer over 14 knows how to do zones, but some like to chuck in a combi in half a day and be off.

MummytoMog - that sounds brilliant. I love the sound of a 6 foot long bath.

Maybe we can get an extra long steel one...

PigletJohn, do you have any thoughts on combi vs ordinary?

We're getting the whole system replaced as well as a rewire. Three bedroom Victorian flat...big rooms and ceilings etc. There is a plastic feeder tank on the top floor landing, weirdly, and apparently a tank or two in the loft which is the bit sticking out at the back of the house above the kitchen and bathroom.

And a HW tank in the bathroom, the boiler is in there too atm.

I happen to prefer cylinders.

A combi will do if you have only one bathroom and preferably only one person running a tap at any one time. An older flat might have a shared water supply pipe, so someone in another flat might reduce your flow. Having your own water meter in the pavement is a good sign.

Fill a bucket at the kitchen cold tap, time it, calculate how many litres per minute you get.

For people who have excellent flow (more than 20lpm) and pressure, and can afford it, there is nothing as good as a pressurised cylinder such as a Megaflo.

Thank you very much. I will check for separate meters - I haven't looked yet. We have a separate meter here and there are two flats above us and the pressure is always very good.

They said that installing a combi would mean putting in a larger gauge of pipe in some places, tbh I like having a tank so we can keep the existing pipework if we stick with that.

There's only one bathroom but even so I think I'll keep a tank.