Acrylic Baths
Early designs of baths were particularly robust and heavy, with most being made from cast iron and this made them very heavy and difficult to fit. Imagine installing a very heavy cast iron bath on the first floor of a house, then filling it with water and adding the weight of a person; the total weight was enormous and floors were not always designed to support this kind of load. The modern solution to this problem was to make baths from acrylic material.
Until a few years ago, acrylic baths had a bit of a bad press, since they were thought to move and be too flimsy. More recent developments have allowed the technology to really move on and we have now reached the point where acrylic baths are of a particularly high quality. Today, the majority of baths on the market are made from acrylic.
Acrylic baths are usually formed from just one sheet of acrylic. The shell is then reinforced so that it becomes stronger, more durable and rigid. The thickness of the acrylic itself varies between 4mm and 10mm. Some baths, at the more luxurious end of the market, are actually formed by a double skin, which makes them very strong, yet relatively lightweight.
One of the main joys of an acrylic bath is that it is not cold to the touch. This means that when you pour your bath, coming into contact with a cold surface does not cool the hot water. It can also retain the heat of the water for longer than a bath made from other materials, such as cast iron.