Steel or Acrylic Bath...

[FWDRacer]

Talk to me people - I'm re-fitting my bathromm without spending a king's ransom. Reason being I don't see myself being in the house in 5 years time.

Checking quality at this end of the market - the acrylic baths appear to frankly, well sh**te.

This is the problem when an engineer does decorating. Lack of straight lines and tolerances and far too many questions

[KenBlocksPants]

If you were staying long term i'd say go as expensive as you can afford which will be a nice steel one.

Not staying long? Acrylic all the way.

[vxsmithers]

my cheap acrylic bath looked ste within 5 years - they scratch too easily.

a decent looking metal bath can be had for less than £100

[dave_s13]

Acrylic is fine as long as you don't have young kids that like to throw their toys around and into the bath.

I put one in our new bathroom and it's has marked where my little bundle of joy has picked up here plastic box of bath toys and lobbed them all into the empty bath...grrr!

Also make absolutely sure it is rock solid when you stand in it or over time it will fatigue and crack.

I should have got a metal one really...the fecker is pretty much tiled in place if I ever need to replace it.

[Ricky_M]

Carronite (SP?) baths are pretty good as long as they are fitted properly.

I always fit them with batten underneath the edges that are against a wall so they don't flex when some gets in them.

Also make sure you half fill it with water when applying silicone!

[dirkgently]

^^^^ wot he sed

[Gingerbread Man]

An acrylic bath put in badly is a dreadful bath to have. Especially if you will also be using it as a shower. But you can get them in different shapes e.g. wider at the bottom for shower use.
Carronite baths, as Rick has mentioned are a much stronger 'acrylic' bath.
Warmer to the touch when leaning back in the shower.

A steel bath can be had dead cheap though. If all you want is a straight forward bath, then this is probably the way I'd go. They both have pros and cons.

[bod27]

There are some decent 5mm baths in the market place, Vitra do one called Optima for about £150, the cheap steel ones are ok, but usually only used in the contract market. If your acrylic bath gets scatched or becomes dull, polish it with T cut, and any deep scratches use wet and dry! it will come up like new.