Bath weight

[Geoff_S]

To those that might know.

My wife wants a new bath and is set on having a freestanding one. The thing is, some of them seem to weigh quite a lot ranging from 48kg to 215kg.

Can anyone advise me on what sort of weight I should be concerned at when thinking about putting one on a wooden joisted 1st floor?

The 215kg is the weight of 2 large blokes, plus the water and I sort of feel that would be OK, thinking of say 3 large blokes standing in a group, having a beer on a suspended floor.

Am I overthinking this?

Cheers

Geoff

 

[Doug B]

I can’t see your new bath being heavier than the old cast iron ones I took out in my youth so as long as your floor is of a standard construction I can’t see any problem.
If it’s chipboard I’d suggest placing something under the feet to spread the load as chipboard isn’t the best for point loading.

 

[Myfordman]

You have two issues to consider. the average load not only of the bath but the water and occupant and worse the near point load imposed by the feet. A proper bath will have a frame and feet and also attached to a wall. I'm no fan of these posy free standing things. If nothing else where do you put the soap and your beer!

 

[TheUnicorn]

this could fall into the urban myth catagory but I'd always been under the impression that a full bath weighs a ton, and a quick google says 1 cubic metre of water is 1 metric tonne, plus weight of bath, weight of person, weight of rubber duck

 

[Jameshow]

A full bath weighs 180 kg.

Two average adults would weigh 150kg but displace some of the water.

So 300kg would be a decent figure.

Are the floorboards up to it?

Cheers James

 

[novocaine]

How do you get 180kg? Even if we assume a typical bath half filled id expect 210l or 210kg of water. Or she fills to not over flowing with her in it then more like 300kg. Add the 210 of the bath and the slender frame of her ladyship (which shall remain a numberless unit) and your over half a ton. Split that across 4 legs and you are close to punch through. Work out where the bath is going and put a noggin beneath each foot.

 

[Fitzroy]

You’re fine. A friend of mine recently asked me this question and I looked up floor design loading criteria. In a modern house, which will be pared back to the minimum to save money, a large 250l full bath and two people in the room, I think I said 500kg overall, and it was still less than half the design load for a 2x2.5m bathroom.

 

[Fergie 307]

To those that might know.

My wife wants a new bath and is set on having a freestanding one. The thing is, some of them seem to weigh quite a lot ranging from 48kg to 215kg.

Can anyone advise me on what sort of weight I should be concerned at when thinking about putting one on a wooden joisted 1st floor?

The 215kg is the weight of 2 large blokes, plus the water and I sort of feel that would be OK, thinking of say 3 large blokes standing in a group, having a beer on a suspended floor.

Am I overthinking this?

Cheers

Geoff

Geoff
Sounds like the upper end of your weightle range is similar to the one I had.
Can only give you my experience. Years ago bought an old style suite, free standing bath with claw feet, high cistern toilet etc. Absolute bargain as the company had had big problems. The bath was cast iron, don't know the actual weight, but took three people to lift it. He had sold several to people who had bought them only to return them, having been told by contractors that they would need to substantially strengthen their floor to safely install it in an upstairs bathroom. We were installing it on the ground floor on concrete so no problem.
Doesn't matter if it's within the overall weight limit of the floor, this assumes an evenly spread load. Here you are going to have over half a ton applying pressure over a small area. You need to think about which way the joists run, are they running along the axis of the bath or at right angles to it etc etc. If you want to use a 'proper' cast iron one I really would advise getting someone suitably qualified to look at it. Will be little comfort of the whole thing falls through the floor, to be sat in the bath in your living room telling your rubber duck "the guys on UK Workshop said it should be fine".
Much better to use a modern plastic version, these don't weigh significantly more than an ordinary bath and should be no problem.

 

[Misterdog]

Simple don't buy a cast iron one, they are heavier and absorb much of the heat from your hot water.
The 'plastic' ones are lighter with the bonus that the underneath requires no painting.
I swapped out my free standing cast iron one for a free standing acrylic one.

 

[Geoff_S]

Thanks for the replies guys. The baths that my wife is looking at aren't cast iron, they are some sort of composite. Fortunately, the showroom is closed at the moment and things can change, but the day may still come!