Can You Cut an Existing Bathtub Into a Walk-In Shower?

No. Ella's Bubbles does not cut an existing bathtub, whether the goal is a walk-through opening, a door, or a full walk-in shower, and it sells no cut-in kit or conversion product of any kind. As Can Ella Cut a Walk-Through Opening or Add a Door to My Existing Bathtub? explains, Ella manufactures complete walk-in bathtubs, and staff usually suggest a purpose-built walk-in tub instead, with an Ella shower as the other option when a shower is the better fit. If you want to keep your current tub, a licensed plumber or contractor would have to evaluate that kind of modification on their own, without Ella parts or Ella support.

What Cutting a Tub Really Gives You

The modification people search for is usually called a tub cut. Part of the tub's side wall is cut away to make a walk-through opening, and sometimes a door or gate is fitted over the cut. The tub itself stays where it is, so its faucet, drain and floor are unchanged. What changes is only the wall you used to step over. That matters when the word you are using is shower, because a cut tub is still a tub. You stand on the same tub floor, the water still goes to the same tub drain, and there is no curb-less base or wall system of the kind a walk-in shower is built from.

The wall of a standard bathtub is 18 to 22 inches high, which is the lip you swing a leg over today. Ella publishes no step-in figure for a cut, because it is not an Ella product, so you would be relying on the contractor's own work for the height, the finish of the cut edge and any seal around a gate. What Is a Tub Cut and How Does It Compare to a Walk-In Tub? sets the two side by side feature by feature.

Why Ella Only Sells Complete Tubs

A walk-in tub's door, seal, frame and threshold are engineered together. The door closes on an integrated gasket with a multi-latch gear and shaft mechanism, the acrylic shell sits on a rustproof stainless steel frame, and every tub is assembled and tested to order before it ships. None of that can be added to a standard tub after the fact, which is why there is no Ella cut-in service, no conversion kit and no customization of an existing fixture. The same answer applies to a tub and shower combination where only the tub wall is the problem.

Your Real Paths, Compared

Once cutting is off the table, the choice comes down to how much of the old tub you want to keep and how low a step you need. The table uses only figures Ella publishes; where Ella publishes none, the cell says not listed.

The differences come down to entry and seating. Keeping the tub keeps the full-height wall, a cut removes part of it with nothing engineered around the opening, and the two Ella paths give you either a low sealed door with a built-in seat or a shower with a wall-mounted seat you choose. If the reason you want to stop stepping over the tub wall is safety, the walk-in tub and the walk-in shower are the two options where the step and the seat were designed together.

Putting a Walk-In Tub Where the Old Tub Sits

Most Ella walk-in tubs go into the same three-wall alcove your current tub occupies, so you keep the room's layout and plumbing locations. Most bathrooms were framed around a 60 inch tub, and What Is an Alcove Installation for a Walk-In Tub? explains how that opening is filled. Tubs that are 60 inches or longer fill it on their own, and most 52 and 55 inch models use an extension panel at one end so the finished installation looks built in. A few models, such as the Front Entry and Mobile, have no extension panel, so the installer frames and finishes any remaining space instead. Ella tubs use their own deck-mount faucet packages, so your existing tub spout and handles are normally replaced rather than reused. If reusing a wall-mounted faucet matters to you, the LayDown 30 by 60 has no factory faucet option and requires a customer-supplied faucet, typically wall-mounted.

The threshold is the part that replaces the tub wall. What Is the Step-In Threshold on a Walk-In Tub? lists drawing and team figures by model, from the Monaco at 3 5/8 inches to the Elite at about 6.5, and explains that thresholds can be reduced to about 3 to 3.5 inches by setting the tub lower with the drain below the subfloor. Cutting the apron or end panel to make that work voids coverage on those altered panels only. Ask your installer to add a wall access panel behind the plumbing end so pumps and drain connections can be reached without disturbing tile, and never let the space around the tub be packed with insulation.

Getting a Shower from a Walk-In Tub

If what you miss about a shower is standing under running water, a walk-in tub can carry a shower column. The video on this page shows the kit being added on the tub deck: the existing hand shower is removed, the shower column base attachment is installed into the vacant receptacle, the water supply line is replaced, and the new one-half inch supply line is attached to the diverter on the two-piece or five-piece fast fill faucet set. On a tub with an extension panel the column uses the long 4 to 5 inch pipe connector to reach the wall, and the 4-fold glass screen converts to a 3-fold screen by removing one section, which is how it fits a 52 inch tub in a 60 inch alcove. Mention the alcove and the panel when you ask about either accessory.

If a Shower Is the Better Fit for Your Household

Ella also makes the pieces of a walk-in shower, and its shower builder lets you plan a base and walls for the space. Seating is a separate choice. Shower Seat Sizes and Options: Is a Larger Fold-Down Seat Available? explains that the 16.5 by 16.5 inch fold-down seat is about 1 1/2 inches deeper than the standard seat but narrower, that folding bench seats are ordered left-hand or right-hand and usually go on the side opposite the drain, and that a bather who needs a seat both wider and deeper may do better with a seat from a home improvement retailer. Whatever you choose, have a licensed installer mount it and confirm the wall can carry it. Your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 can help you decide between a walk-in tub and a shower for the opening you have.

Watch: Easy Shower Column Installation for Your Walk-In Tub | Ella’s Bubbles with chapters and a full transcript.

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