Bath hassles

TheFew · 12 Dec 2018 at 16:52

Hi,

I recently bought a new bath. The bath has fibre glass on the underside and I presume the shell is acrylic.

I installed the bath (secured it in place and fitted the waste), but not being happy with the install (decided to have the bath the other way around) I took it out and started again.

To reinstall it I had to remove the metal bars that the bath rests on and reattach them to move them over slightly. The bars are screwed into the under side of the bath using the provided screws (although one broke when refitting - the head snapped off).

The refitted bath is secured using battens, some "L" brackets and the feet are screwed to the floor.

With the bath reinstalled there is one spot on the inside of the bath (over where the metal support bar is) where I can press the acrylic with my fingers and it makes a crackling noise. It feels like the acrylic shell is no longer attached to the fibre glass underneath.

Does this sound like a major issue? Am i likely to have future issues with the bath? What can I do to remedy it?

Thanks for any advice. I have a tiler coming tomorrow and here was planning to tile down onto the bath....

divuk83 · 12 Dec 2018 at 20:36

I would make sure the bath is OK before the tiling. Get the damaged screw sorted, you don't want any flex or movement in the bath as they are surprisingly fragile. I would also fill it with water and test for leaks once you have secured it.

We had a bath fitted and it had splash walls stuck in over the edges of it and the bathroom was finished before we spotted the issue with it. There was a hairline crack in the coating that was causing it to leak, it wasn't even worth grumbling to the shop we bought the bath from as worst case senario they would blame us for damaging it when fitting it (which we didn't!). Best case scenario was the offer of a replacement bath, however this would have meant removing the sink (it was in the way of the bath) pulling down the splashwall (which would have brought the plaster board down too) and then re-fitting the new bath and repairing the damage caused to get the old one out. In the end we found a company that did repairs to the bath while it's fitted. The repaired the fibre glass underneath (which could be done yourself easily enough) and then repaired the white surface of the bath (much harder to do well). It cost about £150 but was done in a few hours and meant we didn't have to destroy the bathroom to sort it!

Hope you get it sorted.

Dave

TheFew · 14 Dec 2018 at 07:36

Well I have sent a video to the manufacturer. The bath is rock solid in place, but the inner surface of the bath sounds like you are walking on a bag of crisps. It can only really be a manufacturing issue as I have not done anything that could have caused it.

doubt they will replace the bath however, so I will probably have to pay £380 for another...

TripleT · 14 Dec 2018 at 13:01

What bath did you buy for £380?

TheFew · 14 Dec 2018 at 13:49

https://www.drench.co.uk/armourcast-bloque-double-ended-bath-inc-leg-pack

1800mm is £350 plus £30 delivery. It is the.only one the wife.liked...

BigBoy · 14 Dec 2018 at 16:10

TheFew said:
Well I have sent a video to the manufacturer. The bath is rock solid in place, but the inner surface of the bath sounds like you are walking on a bag of crisps. It can only really be a manufacturing issue as I have not done anything that could have caused it.

#
sounds like the bath is flexing and the fibre glass bond is week

TripleT · 14 Dec 2018 at 18:28

TheFew said:
https://www.drench.co.uk/armourcast-bloque-double-ended-bath-inc-leg-pack

1800mm is £350 plus £30 delivery. It is the.only one the wife.liked...

A branded there's your problem. But that's just a standard double ended square bath that you can buy for £154.97 for 1800 X 800mm. It won't have the "heat retention" dubiousness of that bath but you honestly won't notice.

Hedge · 15 Dec 2018 at 10:20

When you said it was the only bath your wife liked I expected something fancier than a generic double ended square

. The joys of female mentality. Always seems to hit you in the wallet.

jpaul · 15 Dec 2018 at 11:37

TheFew said:
Well I have sent a video to the manufacturer. The bath is rock solid in place, but the inner surface of the bath sounds like you are walking on a bag of crisps. It can only really be a manufacturing issue as I have not done anything that could have caused it.

if you hadn't yet plumbed it , could/can you just remove it and take it back as a faulty,
obviously better if you had the testament of a plumber, situation where screw broke obviously difficult to explain

becomes a fait accompli at the supplier .. they would be obliged to take return ?

TheFew · 15 Dec 2018 at 14:19

jpaul said:
if you hadn't yet plumbed it , could/can you just remove it and take it back as a faulty,
obviously better if you had the testament of a plumber, situation where screw broke obviously difficult to explain

becomes a fait accompli at the supplier .. they would be obliged to take return ?

Well I have fitted it and connected the waste. I have not cut tap holes yet so it is half plumbed.

Just had a quick look and I am not sure if Drench have physical stores, so I may just have to wait for them to get back to me. I guess I will have to chase them again on Monday.

TripleT said:
A branded there's your problem. But that's just a standard double ended square bath that you can buy for £154.97 for 1800 X 800mm. It won't have the "heat retention" dubiousness of that bath but you honestly won't notice.

The branded bath panels hurt the wallet too. But to be fair they seem to be very well built.

Hedge said:
When you said it was the only bath your wife liked I expected something fancier than a generic double ended square . The joys of female mentality. Always seems to hit you in the wallet.

The real pain will probably come with the next bathroom. She has already mentioned a huge walk in shower.....

Psycho Sonny · 16 Dec 2018 at 13:19

TripleT said:
A branded there's your problem. But that's just a standard double ended square bath that you can buy for £154.97 for 1800 X 800mm. It won't have the "heat retention" dubiousness of that bath but you honestly won't notice.

Sorry to hijack

I want something like this

Insignia 2 Person Steam Shower with Whirlpool Bath - Model INS1057

It's available at Costco for £1500

Cab you recommend anything better?

TripleT · 16 Dec 2018 at 19:15

Psycho Sonny said:
Sorry to hijack

I want something like this

Insignia 2 Person Steam Shower with Whirlpool Bath - Model INS1057

It's available at Costco for £1500

Cab you recommend anything better?

We don't sell anything like that so I'm not that familiar with it sorry.

Psycho Sonny · 16 Dec 2018 at 20:41

TripleT said:
We don't sell anything like that so I'm not that familiar with it sorry.

Do you sell anything that does steam/sauna or a simple whirlpool bathtub?

Just want to evaluate all options and see what's best for the money.

TripleT · 16 Dec 2018 at 21:04

Yer standard whirlpool baths. Baths are UK made by Trojan and then a company in keithley called Bronte fit the jets and pumps.

Doubled ended 1700x750 14jets is £529.97, 8jets is £419.97 so a lot cheaper but obviously no steam etc. Depends how much you're going to use it!

My parents have a whirlpool bath and it's hardly used but everyone's different.

TheFew · 20 Dec 2018 at 17:59

Finally got a response from the manufacturer. Sounds like they are going to send me a new bath and take the old one away. So time to de-install the old bath and start again when the new one arrives.