SOAKING TUBS
Garden & Roman Tubs
 




Garden Tubs
Garden Tubs are so named to suggest the serenity of a country garden.

In 18th century France, tubs were actually sometimes placed in the gardens of wealthy landowners as depicted in this antique zinc model. When they were drained, the water fed the vegetation.

Legend has it that later, luxury homes in England built baths that overlooked the gardens surrounding the estate, in rooms that came to be called "garden rooms." They are roughly equivalent to what today might be called a "sun room."

For awhile, the term applied to any tub installed under a window that looked out onto the landscape.

The term carries such pleasant connotations that it has been borrowed to apply to virtually any tub, and has consequently ceased to have any meaning.

The term is more common in certain regions, but there is little consensus. In practice, the term usually refers to a larger, deeper tub, without an integrated shower or whirlpool jets, and is used for soaking only.

Roman tubs
 
Roman tubs are named for the original baths built by the Romans, such as over the mineral springs in Bath, England.

These were bathing pools that one stepped down into, so floor-mounted sunken tubs came to be called Roman tubs.

Today, the term is used for any type of tub where the filler spout rises off the deck rather than through the walls of the tub or of the room.

Roman tubs tend to be deeper than the typical American Bathtub and they do not have integrated showers or jets, but are for soaking only.

A Roman tub with its deck-mounted faucet enables overflow tubes to be mounted higher on the shell to provide for a deeper water level.

Some manufacturers mount faucets on the top edge in the center of the tub. . Many of Kohler's high-flow tub fillers use a Roman spout that delivers water at 25 gallons per minute to quickly fill a bath or whirlpool.

Thought must be given as to where to mount deck spouts, handles, sprays. Can handles be reached from outside and inside the tub?

Deck-mounted faucets can interfere with access and egress if mounted in an inconvenient location, such as near the center of the tub. The handles can be mounted in one corner, with the spout at the end of the tub or in another corner.

See Drop-In Bathtubs

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