What is the Ella LayDown60 30x60 walk-in bath and shower combo?

The Ella LayDown60 is a 30 inch by 60 inch acrylic walk-in tub that you lie down in rather than sit in, built to fit a standard 60 inch alcove and used as a bath and shower combo with a wall-mounted faucet and an optional bi-fold glass shower screen. Its actual size is 60 inches long by 30 inches wide by 21 inches high, with a centered tempered glass door that swings inward, a low step-in threshold, a textured floor and a single 2 inch brass drain with overflow. Laid-Down Walk-In Tub Dimensions and Fit covers the two LayDown sizes side by side; this page covers what the 30x60 includes, which therapy it can carry and how the shower half of the combo works on a tub that ships without a faucet.

What the LayDown60 Is

The LayDown60 spec sheet lists an actual size of 60 inches long, 30 inches wide and 21 inches high, an interior floor of 46 inches by 20 inches, a net weight of 160 pounds and a shipping weight of 220 pounds in a crate measuring 63 inches long, 33 inches wide and 29 inches high. The shell is gloss white acrylic reinforced with fiberglass gelcoat and sits on a stainless steel frame with adjustable leveling legs. There is no molded seat. You lie at full length on the flat floor, and the straight side walls make stepping in and out safer than a conventional tub. The soaking depth is 15 inches, which is why the LayDown feels much deeper than the ordinary 30 by 60 tub it usually replaces.

The door is what makes it a walk-in. It is a tempered glass panel in a brushed-finish aluminum frame, centered on the long side and secured by a safety close handle, and it swings inward through a 115 degree arc with a 19 5/8 inch wide opening. Because the door opens into the tub, nothing swings out over the bathroom floor, and the low threshold is what you step over rather than a conventional tub wall.

Therapy Choices: One System or None

The spec sheet offers the LayDown60 four ways, and you choose one system rather than combining them:

• Air massage. A 3-speed air pump feeding 20 jets, with an on/off push control and auto purge that activates 20 minutes after the pump shuts down to clear the lines.
• Hydro massage. A hydro pump with an intensity dial, an in-line water heater, ozone sterilization and an on/off push control. The spec sheet does not print a hydro jet count for this model.
• Microbubble therapy. An air pressure pump and pressure tank with an on/off push control.
• Soaking. No jets at all, for a plain deep bath.

The brochure illustrates the family with the 32x72 fitted with air massage, and Where Everything Is on a LayDown Tub explains each callout, including the air jets on/off control and the air massage jets you would see on a LayDown60 ordered the same way.

Why the Shower Half Works Differently on This Tub

Every other Ella walk-in tub becomes a shower combo through its deck-mounted fast-fill faucet. The 2-piece and 5-piece sets include an extendable multi-function hand shower, and the optional shower column kit connects to either set to add an overhead rain shower, as What Is the Best Walk-In Tub and Shower Combo? explains. The LayDown60 is the exception. Its spec sheet states that the faucet is not included and that a pre-existing or new wall-mounted faucet must be used, and Using Your Own Faucet confirms it is the one Ella tub with no faucet option at all.

That changes the combo in two ways. First, your plumber supplies and fits the faucet, usually on the wall, and the shower itself is whatever wall-mounted hand shower or shower head your plumber installs with it. Second, the Ella shower column kit does not apply, because it connects only to an Ella 2-piece or 5-piece deck-mounted fast-fill faucet. The video on this page shows that kit in use on a deck-faucet tub, with its height-adjustable hand shower and overhead rain head, so you can see what it is and why it is not part of a LayDown60 order. The column also has to be installed before the final installation of a tub, so on any Ella tub it is a planning-stage decision rather than an afterthought.

What Ella does offer for showering in the LayDown60 is the optional glass shower screen, a bi-fold tempered glass panel that keeps spray inside the tub while you stand or sit. On the spec drawing the installed screen spans 38 1/4 inches in two segments of 21 inches and 17 inches with a 1/4 inch gap, standing 57 inches and 57 1/2 inches tall. It has its own installation document, so tell your installer it is coming before the tub is set.

LayDown60 Compared with Its Closest Neighbors

Searches for the LayDown60 often mix it up with the Ella Ultimate 30x60, which shares the same 30 by 60 footprint but is a seated tub, and with the larger LayDown 32x72. The table shows the published differences.

The differences decide the bathroom as much as the bath. The LayDown60 and the Ultimate occupy the same alcove, but the Ultimate stands 35 3/4 inches tall, seats you upright and always ships fully jetted with its own faucet, while the LayDown60 is 21 inches tall, has no seat and leaves the faucet to your plumber. Stepping up to the LayDown 32x72 buys a foot of length and the option of an Ella deck faucet, at the cost of two more inches of width, so measure the alcove width as carefully as the length. Is there a walk-in tub and shower combo six feet long? covers the 72 inch choice. Owner reviews of these models are not part of Ella's published material, so for how owners rate them ask your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850.

Planning the Installation

• The alcove. Measure the wall-to-wall length and the depth of the opening and compare them with 60 by 30 inches; the drawing prints the overall length as 59 3/4 inches.
• The crate. The tub ships in a 63 by 33 by 29 inch crate, so check doorway and hallway clearance before delivery day.
• Height. At 21 inches, check the tub against any window, shelf or fixture near the planned location, and against where the wall-mounted faucet will sit.
• Drain hardware. The LayDown uses brass-drain hardware, not the dual-drain kit, and the visible drain opener and cover come in chrome only, so mention that the tub is a LayDown whenever you order parts.
• Support bar. The brochure mentions a support bar, but grab bars are not listed on the LayDown spec sheets, so confirm with the team before planning on one.
• Warranty. The spec sheet carries a lifetime limited warranty on the shell, frame, door and parts to the original purchaser at the original address.

Watch: Walk-In Tub & Shower Combo with Shower Column Kit: for Convenient Bathing | Ella’s Bubbles with chapters and a full transcript.

Related Guides

• How Does the Ella LayDown Walk-In Tub Let You Recline?
• Operating and Caring for the LayDown Tempered Glass Door

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