Ease of converting a large shower recess into shower-over-bath

I'm looking for a new PPOR, and I'm looking at inner-city apartments. One of the most limiting requirements that I have is that I really want a bath.

Many of the apartments have large enough shower recesses to fit a bath, and my partner said 'we could just put a bath in there'.

I'm worried, though, whether it's as simple as having space, or whether the weight of a full bath would be an obstacle to converting the shower cubicle into a shower-over-bath.

Can anybody help me out? Would conversion be relatively simple? I know it requires tile-work and plumbing etc, but would it require significant engineering works to support the bath's weight?

 

Depends on what you consider to be a bath. My Olds installed a Kohler bath in their bathroom - a big cast iron thing, twice the depth of a normal tub and needed 4 boofy blokes to manoeuvre the thing, the alternative of a 1500 mm long acrylic tub would have weighed 1/3 of the other. A sap on the other hand would also be reasonably heavy. Most slabs would be designed for at least a 2-2.5 kPa live load and would quite comfortably carry sucha imposed load. To be sure, check with a structural engineer.

 

I'll put it this way...if a house floor (especially bathroom floor) cant hold up a bath tub full of water then that is not a properly built house! Run for your life!

 

Thanks, Y-man, but that's hella ugly. Not happening!!!!

 

(checks again)

OK, if the dude comes with the tub, I'll reconsider.

 

I can't unsee that.

 

If I have learnt one thing watching the Block. Depending on the size of the bath the floor may need reinforcing if it's a big heavy bath.

 

I don't watch The Block, but as I'm referring to apartments that were built for the load of a shower, this is my concern.

Sounds like if it's an acrylic bath - which is fine by me - then I should be OK. But if they do need to reinforce the floor, is it a big deal?

 

I reckon your biggest hurdle will be getting approval from the body corporate.
Good luck with that!

 

Hi Tracey, my first home was in this complex. My bathroom looked like this. 3/56 Cedar Street, Greenslopes, Qld 4120 (It has now been converted to a shower, no bath so I’ve used another unit in the complex that’s unrenovated) . The owner of another unit ripped the bath out and turned it into a mosaic Roman bath something like this. Their tenant loved how deep it was!