How Does the Ella LayDown Walk-In Tub Let You Recline While Bathing?

The Ella LayDown lets you recline because it has no built-in seat at all. It is a long, flat-floored acrylic tub with a glass door in the side, so you step in over a low threshold and then lie back at full length the way you would in a regular bathtub. It comes in two sizes, the LayDown 30x60 and the LayDown 32x72, and every other Ella walk-in tub is a seated tub, a distinction explained in Can you lie down in a walk-in tub?. This page covers how the LayDown is shaped for reclining, how the door and the water work around a reclining bather, and what to choose if you sometimes want to sit up.

A Floor Built for Lying Down Instead of a Seat

On nearly every Ella walk-in tub a seat is molded into the shell at chair height, with a footwell in front of it, and the backrest leans back only slightly. The LayDown drops the seat entirely. Per its spec sheet, the LayDown 30x60 measures 60 inches long, 30 inches wide and 21 inches high, and its interior floor is 46 inches long by 20 inches wide, a flat surface you lie on rather than a footwell you lower your feet into. The bath walls are vertical rather than curved, which gives more interior floor space than a conventional bathtub of the same outside size. The LayDown 32x72 adds length, and Ella describes it as a good fit for bathers over six feet tall. Because there is no fixed seat angle, reclining in a LayDown is not a question of degrees. You lie back against the end of the tub with your legs stretched along the floor, and the water does the rest. The video on this page shows the LayDown 30x60 inside and out, including the glass door, the low step in and a bather stretched out at full length with the air massage running.

Getting in: The Glass Door and the Low Threshold

What makes the LayDown a walk-in tub rather than a regular bathtub is the door. On the LayDown 30x60 it is a tempered glass inward swing door with a brushed finish aluminum frame and a chrome locking handle. The door opening is 19 5/8 inches wide, and the door swings through a 115 degree arc into the tub, so it needs no clear floor space in the room to open. The threshold is low, so you step in rather than climbing over a wall. The order of a bath is the same as on every Ella walk-in tub: step in dry, close and latch the door, close the drain, fill, bathe, then open the drain and wait for the tub to empty before opening the door. The door is part of the tub wall, so it stays closed for as long as there is water inside, and on an inward swing door the water itself holds the door in its seal. Door side follows your plumbing: a right-side door tub has its drains on the left, and a left-side door tub has its drains on the right, as you face the tub. The tub sits on a stainless steel frame with adjustable leveling legs, and the shipping crate for the LayDown 30x60 is 63 inches long, 33 inches wide and 29 inches high, so check doorway and hall clearance before delivery day.

Depth, Drain and Faucet

Reclining only feels like a bath if the water comes up over your body, and the LayDown is built deeper than a standard tub. The LayDown 30x60 stands 21 inches high, and Ella's video describes it as much deeper and roomier than an average tub. The LayDown 32x72 has a 16 inch floor to overflow height, which is the depth of water the tub holds before the overflow takes the rest. Each LayDown has a 2 inch brass drain with overflow and drains by gravity. The water capacity of the LayDown 30x60 is not printed on its spec sheet, so Ella does not quote a gallon figure for it. The faucet rule differs by size and is easy to get wrong. The LayDown 30x60 is never sold with a factory faucet. It has no faucet option at all and needs a pre-existing or new customer-supplied faucet, typically wall mounted, so plan the faucet with your plumber before the tub arrives. The LayDown 32x72 is faucet ready and can be ordered with an optional Ella deck-mount fast-fill faucet. Both sizes can be ordered with an optional glass shower screen, which lets you shower standing in the tub as well as recline in it.

Therapy Options and Sitting Up When You Want to

Lying down does not mean giving up the therapy choices. The LayDown 30x60 spec sheet lists four configurations: soaking with no jets, air massage, hydro massage and microbubble therapy. The air massage package has 20 jets on a three-speed pump with an on and off push control, and its auto-purge activates 20 minutes after the pump shuts down to blow residual water out of the air lines. The hydro massage package has a hydro pump with an intensity dial, an in-line water heater and ozone sterilization, and the microbubble package uses an air pressure pump and pressure tank. Because you lie along the floor, the jets reach the length of your body rather than only the back and feet, which is the full body air massage the video shows. Fill above the jets before starting any pump. If you would like the option of sitting up, Ella offers a folding seat and a removable seat made for the LayDown, so a bather who wants to sit for part of the bath or for a shower under the screen can do so. Ask your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 which seat suits your size and how it fits with the shower screen.

LayDown Compared with Ella's Other Ways of Leaning Back

What the differences mean: only the two LayDown tubs let you lie flat, because only they have no seat. The Lounger and the Longer keep a seat but let you lean back and stretch your legs, which suits a bather who wants to sit up to wash and lean back to soak. Every other seated model holds you close to upright at chair height, and lying down in the footwell of a seated tub is not recommended and could be hazardous, since the footwell is the deepest water with nothing behind you. The ways of leaning back across the whole line are compared in Do Ella walk-in tubs recline or let you stretch your legs out?, the Lounger and the two-seat alternative for one bather are in Does Ella make a single-person walk-in tub with a reclining lounge seat?, and the 60 inch length specifically is covered in Do Ella 32x60 walk-in tubs recline, or do you sit upright?. Any bather who is paralyzed or does not have all limbs functioning must be attended by a caregiver at all times, and that applies in a LayDown as in any other Ella tub.

Related Guides

• Does the LayDown Tub Have a Seat? Flat Bottom Design, Seat Figures on Listings, Faucets and Therapy Choices
• LayDown Tubs on Video: 30x60 and 32x72 Walkthroughs, the Glass Door, the Drain and Where the Controls Are

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