Bath help!

[CupcakeBabaPoo]

I am in the process of doing up my bathroom and I am trying to choose a bath. I will also be using the bath as a shower.

So, my question is.... does this bath need to be reinforced acrylic or should it be steel?

Boring question I know!

Either should be fine. Bathstore is pretty good for shower baths.

Thank you does the acrylic need to be reinforced or a certain thickness?

It's so difficult to choose everything!

Acrylic keeps the water warmer for longer than steel . If you go for acrylic d go for 8mm thickness. Trojancast I think that is the spelling are decent baths.

you can get a very strong and rigid bath in "Carronite" which is a process Carron apply to (some of?) their acrylic baths. It put the price up somewhat.

I have one, as they make them in a wide range of abnormal sizes, which I needed, and it seems fine. They are a bit heavy. It holds the heat better than ordinary baths, due to the thicker construction, and much better than an iron one. They do matching reinforced panels.

BTW, ordinary baths come with a very flimsy plastic panel. You can get aftermarket panels in simple rectangles, but it is very difficult impossible to match weird shaped baths unless you buy them from the bath manufacturer before they discontinue that model.

don't forget that if your old bathroom floor is chipboard, it needs to be ripped up and thrown on the bonfire. 18mm WBP ply is generally OK, but 25mm if you are tiling, and ask the tiler to agree first. Nog short joins even if the chippy says it's not necessary. Renew any iffy underfloor plumbing or cabling because you will not want to take it up again. If you have any areas that might need to come up, lay them with screws and square-edged (not T&G) board.

I put a lot of care into my bathroom floor. This is the space under the bath, which nobody will ever see....

Thanks a lot all, your advise is appreciated. I know what style I want (even down to the specifics) it's just trying to find an appropriate bath that matches that.

Piglet - your bathroom floor under the bath looks better than mine does all over! It's only a 20 year house and the previous owners only did the bathroom about 6 years ago but it's awful (not envy) so I am hoping the floor isn't too bad. It's currently tiled and sits slightly higher than the landing carpet but who knows what lurks underneath.....

Don't burn chipboard, it's not even good for a fire. Plenty of nasty glues

Gardengeek - your bath sounds beautiful!

I have ordered a Trojancast round/square thing so hopefully that is substantial enough. Now just need to choose the rest!

Thanks all for your help

Can I recommend a Bette Ocean lowline? Steel, centre plughole, 170 long, 80cm wide. We have just replaced bath and hardly ever does anyone in the house take showers, so this suits us v well, and being lower height is great too.

A Trojan bath is a good choice. We have had a standard one in our house for 12 years and it still looks like new.

The version you have gone with is their reinforced version. Their baths have a 25 year guarantee which is always reassuring! I work in the bathroom industry and their reputation is excellent.

Hopefully you'll be very pleased with it once you have decided on the rest of your products.