What Are Freestanding Tubs?
It seems everyone remodeling a bathroom or building a new house is asking for a freestanding tub. What are freestanding tubs? Why are they so popular? What kind of faucet do they take? In this post, I’m going to cover all of that. Plus, I will give you a couple of freestanding tubs I use on my projects.
What Are Freestanding Tubs?
A freestanding tub does not touch the walls – it floats on its own. Freestanding tubs are a statement piece in your bathroom. They are considered more luxurious because they are deeper and hold more water. Freestanding tubs are a refreshing alternative to whirlpool tubs.
Examples Of Freestanding Tubs
I have a freestanding tub in the primary bathroom of my home. I’ve actually had a freestanding tub in three of my last four homes. The first two were very old cast iron claw foot tubs – so you can see that freestanding tubs are not a new concept! Unfortunately, while you can still purchase cast iron claw foot tubs, they are super heavy, hard to deal with, and have been overshadowed by acrylic tubs.
Acrylic tubs come in so many shapes and sizes.
The first thing you should do is decide what size tub you need. The tub size matters very much if you are very tall or very short. And once you decide what size tub will fit your body, make sure it will fit in your space (and through all the doorways) to get it to your bathroom if you are remodeling!!
Once the size is determined, you need to pick out a faucet. There are a few faucet options, and the cost varies a lot between them, so I want to walk you through the options:
Wall-mounted Faucet
These faucets are pretty sleek and modern looking. Still, if your tub is going to be placed next to an exterior wall and you live in an area with heavy winter freezes, a wall-mounted faucet is not a good choice.
Floor-mounted Faucets
This comes up through the floor and is super easy if you have a basement or crawl space foundation. If you are on a concrete slab, a floor faucet takes some extra planning but is doable. A word of caution: if you are on a budget, know that a freestanding floor faucet is expensive; they are In the $2,000 range.
Rim Faucet
A cost-effective faucet is a rim faucet (which requires a tub that accepts a rim faucet.)
Regular Tub Faucet
A second cost-effective faucet is a regular tub faucet which requires some creativity. Still, I’ve figured all of that out for you. As shown in the photo below, I’ve built a ledge and installed a regular tub faucet. This has been a trendy design with my clients. They saved money on their tub faucet and gained a ledge for candles, drinks, and bottles!
Once you know the tub size you need and what type of faucet you want, you can get down to selecting your tub. I have two places to recommend for tub shopping: your local plumbing supply house (to find, google “plumbing supply house near me”) or Signature Hardware online. With your local plumbing supply house, you will be able to sit in the tubs. But, they probably won’t have many options. With Signature Hardware, you won’t be able to sit in any of the tubs to try them out, but you will have many options.
I’ve purchased tubs both ways. If I were you, I would start at the plumbing supply house because buying local from a knowledgeable person is the easiest for you – they will know all the parts you need and will be very helpful. However, if you just can’t find anything you like and can’t order with them, Signature Hardware has worked well for me in the past. I have worked over the phone with knowledgeable people and experienced excellent customer service with Signature Hardware.
Closing
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