Which bath tub?

taney

Hi,

I am looking to purchase a bath tub but i am confused with materials available.Can you please tell me which one is the best of the following:

1.Plastic
2.Steel
3.Fibre glass
4.Acrylic

Any suggestions are highly appreciated!

Teebo_2

Plastic and acrylic are the same thing.

Fibreglass is used in conjunction with acrylic to stiffen a plastic bath. The acrylic is the surface you see and the fibreglass is wrapped around the underside to give it strength.

Plastic (Acrylic) baths have the advantage of being warm to the touch, light and available in all kinds of crazy shapes. The downside is that they can be fragile; it is not unknown for a dropped showerhead to crack a plastic bath. They also tend to be bendy, most noticable if you stand in the bath to shower. Cheap plastic baths are flexible and nasty, expensive (thicker) ones are ok. There are some other materials available (e.g. Corian) from which baths are cast. They start at about £500 but are much stiffer.

Steel baths are cold to the touch and heavy and the range of shapes is limited. They wear better than plastic and are much harder to damage. A steel bath will always be stiffer than an equivalent priced plastic bath and last longer but will feel cold and take a few minutes to warm up when you run a bath. Steel can also be easier to clean as it doesn't scratch like acrylic.

Personally I chose a Kaldewei steel bath but there's pros and cons with each hence both being available.

T.

ritesh

Hi

I just wanted to add that we too recently purchased a bath and after much research we also bought a Kaldewi steel bath as we wanted something to last for quite some time.

ozskin

please let me know where we can get corian baths for £500. steel does scratch at least the enameled surface does but it is unrepairable unlike acrylic
many plastic baths are cheap and will last accordingly but if you go for the quality end eg adamsez then they will outlast a kaldewei and are much more robust. for value option and to our commercial clients we recommend the later