ᐅ Bathtub Instead of Shower in a Rental Apartment

Hi everyone,

I am new here. I am from Hamburg and recently moved into a new rental apartment as the first tenant.

The apartment has a walk-in / barrier-free shower area without a shower enclosure or any separation. Tenants have to buy a shower enclosure themselves.

Now, I would like to have a shower tub. Such a combination is available, for example HERE in the dimensions 170x90cm (67x35 inches). As you can see, it is a tub that can be "simply" placed without needing to be covered with a tile surround (or whatever that is called).

Here is the catch. I would like to have it installed in a way that can be easily reverted to the original state when moving out. Otherwise, I would have to discuss such (structural) modifications with my landlord, which I would prefer to avoid.

Questions:

• Is it even possible to install such a tub without major structural changes?
• How easy would it be to uninstall it later if needed?
• What is the effort involved for the installer, and what additional costs should I expect beyond the materials?

I would really appreciate it if someone with expertise could answer these questions.

Best regards, t4zm4n

It won’t be easy. The water from the shower tray has to go somewhere – you don’t have a drain. So you’ll have to break up the floor and so on. This will be expensive during installation and later during removal.

How does the water get into the tray? Only from the showerhead? What about waterproofing against the walls? These are just a few points.

Everything is possible, but it will cost a lot afterward, and the landlord will also need to agree.

Hello

Where do you see the advantage of having a shower tray made of steel/acrylic or mineral cast?
The shower fixture appears to be designed for wheelchair users; it looks very low in the picture. With a shower tray installed on the current floor, the floor height will increase by about 12 - 15 cm (5 - 6 inches).
If you want to install something that can be removed later without leaving any marks, then choose a complete shower unit.

Olli

Quote @nordanney: "You don’t have a drain."

I do have a drain in the middle of the shower floor, surrounded by slightly sloped surfaces. I thought it might be possible to simply remove the drain cover and connect the tub drain “easily” with an adapter or something like that.

@wrobel: The goal is to have a combination of tub and shower with the footprint of a standard bathtub. Also, I thought the low single-lever mixer could simply be replaced with one that has a faucet.

With a drain like this, you won’t find an "adapter." Try removing the grate; you will most likely see that there is initially a component that needs regular cleaning, and you cannot connect anything to it.

The bathtub also needs to be fixed and sealed somewhere. How are you planning to do that?

Good morning

However, it is definitely possible in various processes to connect a pipe after removing the bell.

Olli