Fitting a Freestanding Bath onto a Concrete Floor

Here we discuss the special considerations you need to pay attention to when you are thinking of fitting a freestanding bath onto a concrete or otherwise solid floor. By solid floor we mean a floor with no cavity beneath it into which the waste pipes could be fitted, this would also include floors where the floorboards are also the ceiling of the room below but usually you would only find this in very old buildings.

1. Finding Room for the Trap

First because there is no room in the floor for the waste kit you need enough of a cavity between the bottom of the bath and the floor to fit the waste kit and trap.

2. Getting the Waste Pipe Out from Under the Bath

Once you have you have identified a suitable trap that will fit under your bath but stay above the floor you need to plan how you will get the waste pipe that comes out of the trap out from under the bath.

3. Fitting Different Baths on a Solid Floor

There are two cases depending on the type of bath, one where your bath has feet, the other where it doesn't.

a. When your Bath has Feet

Most baths that have feet have between 12 and 16cm of clearance between the bottom of the bath and the floor, and this is plenty of room within which to fit a shallow trap and outlet waste pipe providing you source a very shallow bath trap.

When fitting an ultra shallow trap with a bath waste kit the outlet waste pipe from the trap can go in any direction except back out the way that the overflow pipe comes in. This is because the trap rises up to the same level as the overflow and so the two will interfere with each other unless they are going in different directions.

b. When your Bath doesn't have Feet

If you are fitting a bath without feet then whether or not there is enough space to fit a waste kit between the floor and the bath will depend on the specific bath. Stone cast resin baths without feet do not have a cavity beween the inner and outer walls of the bath and so usually these baths have no space at all between the bath bottom and the floor. Many of the contemporary freestanding baths without feet come with a prefitted waste kit and many of these also have little space between the bottom of the bath and the floor into which a trap can be fitted. So its important to check this if your bath is being fitted onto a solid floor. Ring or email us to confirm if the bath you like can be fitted like this.

Once you have established that the bath you want has enough room underneath it for your bath trap you next have to plan how to lead the outlet waste pipe out from underneath the bath. This will mean cutting a hole just wide enough for the 40mm waste pipe to be lead out of. Usually this can be easily done in acrylic or fibreglass baths with a hacksaw or similar tool.

3. Fitting Your Bath on a Plinth

If the bath you want does not have enough space underneath to fit on your solid floor then you migt consider building a plinth or platform to stand the bath on. This can be easily done with timber and backing board and then tiled to make an attractive and practical feature.