Picking the Right Bathtub: Cast Iron vs Americast

The main reason why we decided to demolish the bathroom was because the bathtub was very old. So once you need to take out the tub, you might as well redo the whole bathroom, right?  ;)

As with so many other things in this bathroom, every time I turned a different direction there was a new choice I had to make. So now I needed to pick and buy a tub.

With this renovation I've learned that it is very hard for me to make any decision that has a very long term potential. To have to pick a tub and then to regret the choice is something that terrified me. Especially because of the size of the tub, I mean it's not something that you can return easily. You can't even move it around in your house, easily. Not to mention bringing it up and down steps.

The tub had to be picked right the first time around. That was my goal. Now to give this order to my brain it meant my brain took 2 weeks to pick a tub!

Talking to my husband he suggested we picked a cast iron one, for the obvious reason that it's made better than an acrylic one, and that it feels stronger and more durable. I agreed with him, since we've pretty much always had cast iron tubs in our apartments, and thinking about all the acrylic tubs from past hotels, I really do prefer the cast iron feel.

After reading tons of reviews, there was an obvious winner: the Kohler Villager

There seemed to be no other question to be asked until I read that the Villager weighted 316 lbs, empty! This would pose a lot of problems, back problems included. 

We had already called a plumber and he had suggested going with an Americast. At first I resisted, because I thought he was only suggesting this because he didn't want to carry it upstairs.

But then I started looking at Americast, or enameled steel, and found a few online with pretty solid reviews. The only problem was that they were all online exclusives. 

And I needed a tub, fast. So I went to Home Depot to check their inventory (don't go by the online inventory tool because it's not accurate at all). They had the Villager there, as the sole representative of cast iron tubs. 

As for enameled steel, they had a whole bunch of these Bootz tubs, with pretty low prices (but none of the American Standard ones). I wasn't thrilled with them, also because I had never heard of the name and I was hoping for a Kohler or an American Standard. But I took some notes and went home to read reviews. 

Unfortunately, these Bootz tubs weren't so good, and with most of them it seemed like a hit or a miss, some people loved them (mostly the price), some other people hated them (mostly the quality).

I'm all for a bargain, as the title of this blog suggests, but the tub was not the place for trial and error. I wasn't going to buy something that I already knew was made poorly. I wasn't going to spend years bathing in a tub I hated. And I wasn't going to risk a whole bathroom remodeling to save a few hundred dollars.

I needed to sleep on it a few more nights, but then it came to me. 

1) The cast iron, while the top choice, had the biggest drawback of the weight. We didn't have four people hanging around waiting to help us carry a 300 + lbs tub up two different flights of stairs.

2) I needed a tub fast, and the only ones in stock at Home Depot were the cast iron and the Bootz ones. To ask my husband to pick up the cast iron tub by himself and put it in his car was out of the question, and physically impossible for him. And I didn't want the Bootz one.

3) The only option left was to order it online. Fortunately it looked like these tubs ship pretty fast and only take a few days to get to you. So I researched all of them a million times over again, until I finally settled on this one: American Standard Cambridge

It's an Americast, so much lighter than the cast iron one (160 lbs), it has great reviews, and it's also a bit deeper for relaxing soaking baths.

It was delivered in 6 days and my husband was able to bring it inside the garage from the curb by himself. I doubt he would have been able to do the same if I had ordered the cast iron one.

The tub fits perfectly in the old space (photo coming soon).

As the bathroom is still far from finished, I don't know how I like it yet. It does sound a bit hollow so far, but they still need to stuff the underside with filling agents (not sure what, maybe some sticks and then some mud?)

Another reason why I didn't pick the cast iron tub was because of its weight on the house itself. It's true that since there already was a cast iron tub in place, the house obviously could handle it, but still, I felt that I didn't want to put too much pressure on the floor, and knowing me I would always carry that thought in my head. I would have never been able to take a relaxing bath because I couldn't help but imagine myself falling through the floor into the kitchen below! I'm better off with the Americast.