How do you install a walk-in tub, and who does the work?

An Ella walk-in tub is installed by a licensed local plumber or contractor that you hire, not by Ella's Bubbles, and in most homes it goes into the same three-wall alcove your old bathtub or shower stall occupied. The job divides into three parts: measuring and choosing options before the tub ships, checking the shipment on delivery day, and the plumbing, electrical and grab bar work your installer completes on site. Start with Will a Walk-In Tub Fit Where My Old Tub or Shower Stall Is Now? to confirm the space, then use this page to plan the installation itself.

Who Installs an Ella Walk-In Tub

Ella's Bubbles manufactures walk-in tubs and does not perform installation or send technicians. You hire a licensed, experienced local contractor, usually a plumber for the water and drain connections and an electrician for the power supply. Any licensed installer is fine, certification by Ella is not required, and if you do not have someone in mind, Ella can refer installers from its nationwide network. Your installer works from the installation manual for your model and can use Ella's free technical support by phone, email and video whenever a question comes up during the job.

Two rules protect the warranty. First, the Ella warranty covers parts, and the labor is warranted by the independent contractor who did the work, so choose an installer who stands behind the job. Second, any alteration to the tub that is not done by Ella is excluded from coverage, which is why the installer should never cut, drill or modify the shell or deck beyond what the manual calls for. Ella also does not cut a door into an existing bathtub or supply a conversion kit; the reasons are in Can Ella Cut a Walk-Through Opening or Add a Door to My Existing Bathtub?. Every Ella tub is a complete unit, assembled and tested to order, with the door, seal, frame and threshold engineered together on a rustproof stainless steel frame.

Before the Tub Ships: Measure, Pick the Door Side, Settle the Faucet

The decisions that make installation day smooth are made when you order, because the tub is built to your choices.

• Measure the finished opening, not the old tub. Record the length between the finished walls, the width from the back wall to the front edge of the alcove, and the height from the floor to the bottom of any window sill. Compare those figures with the actual size on the spec sheet rather than the nominal name. The Petite is marketed as a 28 inch tub but measures 27.5 inches wide by 52 inches long by 35 inches tall, and the Elite is 30 inches wide by 52 inches long by 35 inches tall.
• Check the delivery path. Measure the doorways and hallways the tub must pass through on delivery day, since the route into the bathroom is often tighter than the alcove itself.
• Plan for a 60 inch alcove. A standard bathtub alcove is commonly 60 inches long, and a walk-in tub does not have to fill that length on its own. Ella tubs shorter than 60 inches include an extension panel that closes the gap to the end wall, so a 52 inch model still looks finished, and a knee wall can hide the plumbing or carry fixtures.
• Choose the door side by your drain. On every Ella walk-in tub the door and the drains are on opposite sides, with sides taken as you face the tub. A right-side door tub has its drains on the left, and a left-side door tub has its drains on the right. Pick the side that places the tub drain over your existing drain so your plumber moves as little as possible.
• Settle the faucet. The deck is drilled to order for the faucet you select, so decide on the faucet set before the order is placed. If you intend to use your own faucet, read Using Your Own Faucet: No-Faucet Orders, Pre-Drilled Decks, Wall-Mount Options, and Which Tubs Require a Customer-Supplied Faucet first. The LayDown60 has no faucet option at all and always needs a customer-supplied faucet, usually wall-mounted.

Your plumber confirms whether the existing drain and supply lines need to move to meet the tub, and your electrician confirms the electrical supply the tub needs. If you are replacing a shower stall, measure the wall-to-wall distance after the seat, glass enclosure and curb are removed, since those parts are not part of the finished opening, and plan to finish the exposed walls with panels or a surround.

Delivery Day

Freight-damage claims must be filed within 48 hours of receiving the shipment, so inspect the tub before it goes anywhere near the bathroom. That inspection covers concealed damage as well as the obvious kind, which means a visual check of the shell, door and deck and an operational check of the parts you can test, and it means saving all of the packaging material. Report anything you find at ellasbubbles.com/support or by calling (800) 480-6850 within that window. One thing that is not damage: the faucet arrives assembled on the deck but not connected to the supply lines, which lets the tub ship fully drained. Your installer makes that connection on site.

What the Installer Does on Site

1. Set the tub. Ella walk-in tubs are built for a standard three-wall alcove and can also stand free against one or two walls. The installer positions the tub with the drain side over the waste line you planned around and fits the extension panel where the tub is shorter than the opening.
2. Connect the water. The Ella fast-fill faucet sets ship with the extendable multi-function hand shower, two 3/4 inch braided supply lines and the diverter, all assembled on the deck. The installer hooks those supply lines to the house hot and cold. Your existing tub spout and handles are normally replaced rather than reused, because Ella tubs use their own deck-mount faucet packages.
3. Connect the drains. The plumber ties the tub drains into the existing waste line, relocating it if the measuring stage showed that was necessary.
4. Power the tub. Your electrician provides and connects the electrical supply the tub requires for the options you ordered.
5. Mount the grab bars. The deck-mount bar that comes with the tub ships loose in its own kit and bolts through holes the factory drilled before the tub shipped. Its one rule is that the large metal washer must go under the shell, because installing the bar without it can crack the acrylic and voids the warranty. Extra bars belong on the walls, never drilled into the tub: horizontal bars 33 to 36 inches above the tub floor and a vertical bar near the door, every one fastened into studs or solid in-wall backing that a licensed contractor has confirmed, with silicone in the screw holes. Suction-cup bars are not recommended. Placement details are in Where and how should grab bars be installed around a walk-in tub?.
6. Add the shower column, if you ordered one. The video on this page shows the Ella shower column being attached to the 5-piece fast-fill faucet set: a thin bead of silicone caulk around the metal collar and the rubber washer, the column base inserted into the pre-drilled hole in the deck, the screw collar hand tightened without over-tightening, then the supply line, elbow joint, hand shower hose, riser tube and shower head connected in turn. Ella recommends 7 inches of clearance from the tub deck to the center of the on/off lever, and the video warns that over-tightening damages the rubber washer and can cause a leak.

After Installation: Activate the Warranty

The warranty is put in force by the two-page activation form, which must be completed and signed by both you and your installer and returned to Ella's Bubbles, so have the installer sign it before they leave. The serial number you will need is on the label behind the magnetic access panel next to the door. From then on, if a part ever fails, Ella ships the replacement part under the warranty and your local licensed plumber or electrician does the labor. Questions about any step, before or after the tub arrives, go to your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850.

Watch: Ellas Bubbles - Walk In Bathtub Shower Column Kit Install With Five Piece Faucet with chapters and a full transcript.

Related Guides

• What Installation Involves, How Long It Takes, and What Drives the Cost
• Electrical requirements by model: dedicated GFCI circuits for your walk-in tub
• Plumbing and drain configurations: connecting your walk-in tub to the house drain

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