Will a Crated Walk-In Tub Fit Up Stairs, Through Doorways or in an Elevator?

A crated Ella walk-in tub fits wherever its shipping size clears, and where the crate will not clear, the tub is uncrated outside and carried in by its frame, so the tub's actual width becomes the figure that decides the tightest doorway, stair turn or elevator door. Ella tubs ship fully assembled and cannot be disassembled to fit, so the only reliable answer comes from walking the route with a tape measure and comparing every opening against both figures on the spec sheet. What Are Shipping Size and Shipping Weight on a Walk-In Tub? explains those two sets of numbers, and this page applies them to stairs, narrow doorways and elevators.

The Two Numbers to Carry with You

Every Ella spec sheet prints a shipping size and shipping weight beside the tub's own actual size and net weight. Shipping size is the crated dimension, and it is the number for the delivery path from the curb to wherever the crate is opened. Actual size is the measured tub, often to the eighth of an inch, and it is the number for every doorway and hallway the bare tub must pass once the crate is off. Both sit in the Downloads section of each product page, and the imperial figures are the authoritative ones. The kilogram conversions on some sheets are misprints, so work in inches and pounds.

The Petite shows how much the packaging adds. The tub is 27.5 inches wide and weighs 200 lbs, but it ships at 31 x 57 x 47 inches and 305 lbs. Across the line, net weights run from 160 to 328 lbs and shipped weights from 220 to 531 lbs, with the LayDown60 the lightest shipped unit at 220 lbs and the Big4Two the heaviest at 531 lbs. Never plan from the rounded name. The Standard is nominally 30x52 but actually 29 5/8 x 52 3/4 x 37.5 inches, and What Is Nominal Size vs Actual Size on a Walk-In Tub? explains why the two figures differ.

What the table means for your route: the narrowest Ella tub, the Mobile, needs a door opening larger than 26 inches, and every other model needs proportionally more. The Petite, at 27.5 inches, has more room to spare at a tight doorway than the Elite, whose passage must be wider than 30 inches. The Monaco and the Capri are the same outward-swing design in two widths, and one customer found the Monaco would not pass through their bathroom doorway and moved to the Capri for that reason alone, keeping the same depth and seat height. The ShaK's crate is the one to check most carefully on stairs and in an elevator, because it is the widest and longest here.

Doorways and Hallways: Crate First, Then Frame

Measure at the tightest point, with door stops and trim in place, and write every figure in inches. The measurements that decide the route are the entry door clear width, each hall width, each interior door, each corner the tub must pivot through, and the bathroom door clear width. Compare the shipping size against the path to the spot where the crate will be opened, then compare the actual width against everything past that point. Once the crate is off, your installer removes the front apron, the access panels and the end panels, then measures and carries the bare frame. The method is set out in Will a Walk-In Tub Fit Through a Standard Bathroom Doorway?. The video on this page shows where to click on each product page to find that model's specific dimensions and why correct doorway and hallway measurements matter. One caution: it quotes an older width for the Elite, and the current spec sheet's 30 inches is the figure to plan around.

Stairs and Stairwell Turns

Stairs add three measurements that a flat route does not have. Note the width of any stair landing, the ceiling height over the stairs, and the turn at the top or bottom, and compare each against the shipping size if the crate is going up, or the actual size if the crate will be opened first. A crate that clears the door at the bottom can still be stopped by a low ceiling over a landing or a turn that will not let the long dimension pivot, so those figures belong on your list alongside the doorways.

Weight is the other half of the stairs question. A crated tub of several hundred pounds needs more than one person on a flat floor, and stairs call for extra hands. Once the tub is uncrated, lift it only by the frame, never by the plumbing, faucet or panels, because the air jets under the tub can break off if the shell is set down hard or dragged. An upper floor also has to be ready for the tub once it arrives: the subfloor needs to be level and adequately supported, with a working drain, water supply and dedicated GFCI-protected power in place.

Elevators and Upper-Floor Condos

Ella tubs go into condos and upper-floor units regularly, and an elevator is simply one more opening and one more turn on the route. Measure the elevator door as you would any doorway, at its clear width, and measure the inside of the car as you would a corner the tub has to fit into and pivot out of. Compare those figures against the shipping size if the crate is riding up, or against the actual size if the crate is opened before the elevator. The same rule applies to the hallway from the elevator to the unit and to the unit's own front door. Installing in Mobile Homes, Condos, Upper Floors, and on Concrete Slabs covers what is different about each setting once the tub is inside.

Two other clearances are easy to miss in a compact building. An outward-swing door needs clearance in front of the tub, which a small bathroom may not have, and a pre-installation check of the plumbing confirms it can supply enough hot water and handle the drainage before the tub is committed to the space.

When the Route Is Too Tight

Width is what usually decides it. The models the team recommends most often for tight routes are the Elite, Petite, Mobile and Front Entry, and the Capri and the Flow are also compact choices, while the Monaco needs a wider passage. Whatever model you consider, the passage into the bathroom must be wider than the tub's actual width. If your clearance is tight, have the model name, the shipping size from the spec sheet, and your own measurements of the doorway, hallway and any stair turn or elevator car ready, and open a ticket at ellasbubbles.com/support or call your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 before the order is placed. Keep the current spec sheet with your paperwork, and read How to Read an Ella Spec Sheet so every line on it, including the known misprints, makes sense.

Watch: How to Choose Your Walk-In Tub | Ella's Bubbles with chapters and a full transcript.

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