Does the LayDown walk-in tub have a seat, or is it lie-down only?

The LayDown has no seat. Both sizes, the LayDown 30x60 and the LayDown 32x72, are built for lying down at full length, with a long flat textured floor and straight sidewalls behind a centered inward-swing tempered glass door, and both soak 15 inches deep. Every other Ella walk-in tub is a seated model with a seat molded into the shell, and Can you lie down in a walk-in tub? explains why stretching out in one of those seated tubs is not recommended. This page covers what the LayDown interior is actually like, the accessory seats you can add if you want somewhere to sit, and how the LayDown compares with the seated tubs so you can decide which suits you.

Inside the LayDown: A Floor, Not a Seat

The LayDown 30x60 spec sheet lists an actual size of 60 inches long, 30 inches wide and 21 inches high, and an interior floor of 46 inches by 20 inches. That floor is the whole bathing surface. There is no raised seat, no footwell and no backrest molded into the shell; you step in through the door, lie back on the textured floor, and the straight sidewalls give you more room than the curved walls of a conventional tub. The shell is acrylic in a gloss white finish, reinforced with fiberglass gelcoat, on a stainless steel frame with adjustable leveling legs, and it drains through a 2 inch brass drain with overflow.

The door is a tempered glass inward swing door in a brushed-finish aluminum frame, placed at the center of the long side. The drawings print a door opening 19 5/8 inches wide, with the door swinging through a 115 degree arc and needing 20 1/4 inches of clearance inside the tub. A low threshold replaces the wall you would climb over on a standard tub, which is what lets the LayDown be so much deeper: Ella's own comparison is 15 inches of soaking depth in the LayDown against 11 inches in a standard tub. The spec sheet does not print a water capacity for the 30x60, so this page does not quote one. For moving the tub in, the sheet lists a net weight of 160 pounds, a shipping weight of 220 pounds and a crate 63 inches long, 33 inches wide and 29 inches high, so check the doorway and hall clearance against the crate as well as the tub.

If You Still Want Somewhere to Sit

The LayDown product pages list two accessories for exactly this: a folded bathtub seat and a removable bathtub seat. The folded seat lies flat against the wall when not in use, and the removable seat lifts off completely for a full standing shower. Both mount securely and give a bather a stable seated option without changing the tub. These are accessory seats, not the molded 17 inch chair-height seat of a seated Ella tub, so they suit someone who mostly wants to lie down and occasionally wants to sit, rather than someone who needs to bathe seated every time. The LayDown can also be ordered with an optional glass shower screen, which the drawings show spanning 38 1/4 inches along the rim, so the tub can be used for showering as well as a lie-down bath. If sitting upright with your back supported matters most, the seated models are the better comparison, and Do Ella walk-in tubs recline or let you stretch your legs out? puts every way of leaning back in the line side by side.

LayDown and the Seated Ella Tubs Side by Side

Every figure below is printed in an Ella spec sheet or guide. Where no figure is printed, the cell says not listed.

The rows describe two different ways of bathing. In a seated tub you enter, close the door, sit on the molded seat with your back against the backrest and your feet in the footwell, and the water comes up around you at chair height. In a LayDown you lie on the floor of the tub and the 15 inch depth covers you the way a deep conventional bath would, with no seat to slide off. If you are between sitting and lying, the Longer keeps a seat and lets you stretch, and if your measurement is 32 by 60 inches rather than one of the printed sizes, Do Ella 32x60 walk-in tubs recline, or do you sit upright? explains which models fit that footprint. Door side follows your plumbing on every Ella tub: 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.

Therapy, Faucet and Door on a LayDown

Lying down does not mean giving up the therapy systems. The LayDown 30x60 spec sheet offers four configurations: air massage with 20 jets, a 3-speed pump and an auto-purge that activates 20 minutes after the pump shuts down; hydro massage with a pump, intensity dial, in-line water heater and ozone sterilization, for which the sheet leaves the jet count blank; microbubble therapy with an air pressure pump and pressure tank; and a soaking version with no jets at all. Each therapy runs on an on/off push control. Ella's manuals add that any bather who is paralyzed or does not have all limbs functioning must be attended by a caregiver at all times and use an installed safety belt.

The faucet rule differs by size. The LayDown 30x60 has no factory faucet option at all; the spec sheet states that a pre-existing or new wall-mounted faucet must be used, so plan the faucet with your plumber before the tub is set. The LayDown 32x72 is faucet-ready and can be ordered with an optional Ella deck-mount fast-fill faucet. Both sizes have a door, because every Ella tub does, and a doorless soaking version is not offered, as Can I Order an Ella Walk-In Tub Without a Door? explains. If what you really want is a deeper conventional bathtub with no door, Ella does not make one, and Does Ella Make a Deeper Standard Bathtub That Is Not a Walk-In? explains why the LayDown is the closest thing in the line. For the LayDown 32x72 dimensions, or to confirm which LayDown fits your alcove, ask your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850.

Related Guides

• Does the LayDown Tub Have a Seat? Flat Bottom Design, Seat Figures on Listings, Faucets and Therapy Choices
• Is There a Removable or Folding Seat for a LayDown Walk-In Tub?
• How Does the Ella LayDown Walk-In Tub Let You Recline?

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