Few rest room updates have the previous-fashioned attraction of a claw-foot tub with its pretty porcelain ft. Positive sufficient, a claw-foot tub was at the leading of my lavatory would like record as the ideal vessel for me to devote quite a few a stress-free soak in.
However, at the risk of alienating the legions of claw-foot tub lovers, I have to say it: This fashionable update is not all it’s cracked up to be—and I’m not on your own in this evaluation.
“Claw-foot tubs are wonderful and can incorporate elegance and ambiance to a bathroom, but there are many downsides to consider—regardless of no matter if yours is new, antique, cast iron, or acrylic,” states Cristina Miguelez, a home blogger at Fixr.
So prior to you make your mind up to put in 1 in your home, allow for me to share all that will annoy you about this oh, so pretty enhance as soon as you use it in true lifetime.
1. It is a agony to thoroughly clean all around it
A claw-foot tub sits small to the floor and hugs the wall following to it, which implies sweeping up dust and hair underneath is a pain in the rear. You generally require to be on your tummy to swab the floor down below, and it normally takes a skinny mop to slide around the wall to clear at the rear of it.
2. Drinking water receives in all places
Image by Kerr Construction, Inc.
In addition to dropping hair at the rear of your tub, you will no doubt splash water again there as well, which should be wiped up. Even even worse, my big soaker is not surrounded by tile as is the norm. It is flanked by wooden floorboards, and I’m continually seeking to stay clear of dripping on it when I exit the tub or reach for some thing outside the house it (like soap or shampoo, due to the fact yet another draw back is there is no place for these objects in a claw-foot tub).
All in all, the additional strain about staining or damaging the flooring negates the calm I’m meant to be attaining with this dang tub in the first place.
You are going to have to feel 2 times if you want to develop a tub-shower combo.
“While you can install plumbing to make a claw-foot into a shower, this is not usually necessarily functional,” points out Miguelez.
If you have at any time stayed at a mattress-and-breakfast, you’ll fully grasp. Some inns try to rig a shower curtain all over the claw-foot tub so equally alternatives are probable, but it is awkward at finest trying to enter it from the middle of the tub and figure out which nozzle is which.
Some of these tubs are monstrous, but, for each Miguelez, “most don’t hold as significantly water as folks assume they do. So if you seriously want a soaking tub, a claw-foot is not that comfortable—modern tubs are further and far better to soak in.”
As for the h2o temperature, a free-standing tub is exposed to much more air than one that’s enclosed behind shower doors or a curtain. And an acrylic tub won’t maintain water warm for quite extended. (Solid iron does a much better occupation, nevertheless.) Of system, you can always hold introducing far more warm water, which qualified prospects to the upcoming trouble.
5. You will feel responsible filling it
Even a shallow claw-foot tub normally takes a ton of water to fill and cover your overall body when you get in. My personal tub is larger than most, so I truly feel pretty conflicted when I use it various situations a week. I convey to myself that the composting we do in addition driving a hybrid car will offset the damage I’m inflicting on the world, but that could also be a huge, excess fat lie.
6. Installation is a tiny nightmare
Image by Outdated Hillsboro Setting up Company
If your tub resides on the 2nd flooring or bigger, you may possibly need to shore up your flooring to guidance its pounds. You truly will need an ace contractor to put in a megatub, suggests Kara Harms, a way of life blogger at Whimsy Soul, as lousy set up is a popular situation.
Be sure a house inspector checks the tub in your likely new dwelling prior to signing off.
7. It might in no way absolutely drain
Folks with outdated residences really like to put in aged factors, of course, but this exercise is not devoid of its problems. Our property is much more than 100 years aged, and the floors slope on every single stage. So when our outdated-timey tub was place in, that little incline meant the water does not get to the middle drain. As a result, there is always some aged bathwater just sitting off to the side, mocking me.
8. Claw-foot tubs are superior-upkeep
Picture by Alison Kandler Interior Structure
Iron tubs will rust—and their acrylic counterparts are inclined to scratch and stain above time, says Miguelez.
“The rust challenge is especially real if the porcelain on the interior or the paint on the exterior chips off,” she adds.
Be ready to reglaze your soaker, people today!
