Can a Glass Shower Enclosure Be Installed Around the LayDown60 Tub?

No. Ella's Bubbles does not offer a full-length or full-height glass enclosure for the LayDown60. The glass option built for it is the bifold glass shower screen, which mounts on the wall at one end of the tub and works alongside the tub's inward-swing glass door and the wall-mounted faucet you supply. The screen fitting and wall finishing steps are in Installing the LayDown Tubs, Part 2: The Single 2 Inch Drain, Faucet by Size, Electrical, Therapy Controls and Wall Finishing.

What Ella Offers for Glass Around the LayDown60

The LayDown60 spec sheet lists one optional glass feature, the Glass Shower Screen, and Ella publishes a separate installation document for it. The team confirms that the bifold screen is the only screen option for the LayDown tubs, so a full glass enclosure with walls on every open side is not something Ella sells. The seated tubs use a different four-fold screen, and the full list of what is and is not available is in Common Questions About Showering Add-Ons and Accessories.

The first video on this page presents the 3060 LayDown and shows the bifold glass shower door in place: a sleek tempered glass door on durable chrome hinges with chrome brackets, and a gasket along the bottom edge that keeps water from leaking out under the glass. The video describes it as easy access for showering in the tub, which is the whole purpose of the screen. It keeps hand shower spray inside the tub while you stand or sit in it, without turning the tub into a closed box.

The spec sheet drawing with the screen installed prints these figures:

• A screen span of 38 1/4 inches in the top view, made up of a 21 inch segment and a 17 inch segment with a 1/4 inch gap.
• Installed heights of 57 inches and 57 1/2 inches.
• A base depth of 20 1/4 inches.

Set that span against the tub's overall length of 59 3/4 inches and it is clear the screen covers part of the top of the tub rather than closing the whole length. That is by design. The panels fold so you can reach in and out, and the remaining portion stays open. If you were hoping for glass from floor to ceiling on the open side, the LayDown60 is not built for that from Ella's catalog, and your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 can talk through what the screen does and does not cover in your room.

How the Inward-Swing Door Works with a Screen or Enclosure

The LayDown60 door is a tempered glass panel in a brushed-finish aluminum frame set into the side wall of the tub, and it swings inward. The drawing prints a door opening 19 5/8 inches wide with a 16 1/2 inch panel, a swing arc of 115 degrees and 20 1/4 inches of clearance. Because the door swings into the tub, it needs no room outside the tub wall. A screen standing on the tub, wall panels behind it or an existing enclosure wall beside it will not stop the door from opening, which is the main reason the bifold screen and the door coexist without a conflict.

What the door does need is the clearance printed on the drawing inside the tub, plus a clear path for you to step through the opening and onto the tub floor. The floor is flat from end to end with no molded seat, as Does the LayDown Tub Have a Seat? explains, so the only thing to plan is where the folded screen panels sit so they are not beside the door opening when you enter. The screen is fitted after the tub is set, leveled and water tested, so your installer can position it with the door already in place.

The Faucet Layout: A Wall Faucet You Supply

The LayDown60 ships without a faucet and has no factory faucet option. The spec sheet states that a pre-existing or new wall-mounted faucet must be used, so the faucet belongs to your wall plan, not to the tub. That matters for any glass planning in two ways:

1. The wall that carries the faucet has to be a solid wall with supply lines roughed in before its surface is finished. Glass on that side is not an option, because the faucet body, the spout and any hand shower holder need a surface to mount on.
2. The screen should stand where spray will land. Decide where the hand shower will hang and where you will stand to shower, then place the screen so it catches that spray, with the faucet wall on one side and the glass on the other.

The 3060 video shows the tub paired with a wall-mounted waterfall style faucet and an extendable hand shower with four settings, resting on a column that adjusts up and down and side to side. Whatever wall faucet you choose is supplied separately from the tub and connected by your plumber. The installation page linked above lists which faucet pages of the owner's manual apply to each LayDown size, and for the 60 the deck faucet pages do not apply at all.

Putting a LayDown60 Inside an Existing Shower Enclosure

Some readers mean the reverse question: can the tub go inside the glass enclosure already in the bathroom? The rule for every Ella tub is in Can I Install a Walk-In Tub Inside My Shower Enclosure?, and it applies to the LayDown60 as written. Only a soaking-only tub can go inside an enclosure. The LayDown60 is offered as a soaker with no jets, or with one therapy system: air massage with 20 jets and a three-speed pump, hydro massage with an in-line heater and ozone sterilization, or microbubble therapy with an air pressure pump and pressure tank. Each jetted version carries a pump under the tub that your installer connects and that a licensed plumber or electrician must be able to reach later, and enclosure walls and a curb block that access.

If you order the soaking version, check these points with your installer before committing:

• The tub's actual size is 60 inches long by 30 inches wide by 21 inches high. Measure the enclosure's interior and its curb height against those figures, leaving room to level the tub.
• The shipping crate is 63 by 33 by 29 inches, and an enclosure opening is often narrower than the tub, so confirm the tub can be brought in through the opening.
• The single 2 inch brass drain with overflow must line up with a house drain that flows freely, with as straight a run as possible.
• Shower pans slope toward the drain. The tub sits on a stainless steel frame with adjustable leveling legs, and it must be level before the final drain connection.
• The wall-mounted faucet must already be inside the enclosure or be added on one of its walls.

Finishing the Walls and Caring for the Glass

Whichever way you go, the walls around the tub need a water-tight finish. The second video shows Ella's PVC groutless tongue and groove tiles going over new or existing surfaces: measure, score and snap each piece, apply adhesive to the back, run a thin bead of silicone at each joint and snap it into place. The result is a modern tiled look with no grout lines to scrub.

Once the screen is in, clean it after use with a soft lint-free cloth and warm soapy water, then rinse with clean water. Never use alcohol, petroleum-based liquids or other chemical cleaners on the screen, and never anything gritty. In hard water areas, wipe the glass after each use so lime deposits do not build up. The full routine, including the denatured alcohol exception that applies only to the acrylic shell, is in Cleaning the Glass Shower Screen, Stainless Door, and Chrome Fixtures.

Related Guides

• Installing the LayDown Tubs, Part 1: Delivery, Placement, Leveling and the Glass Door (30x60 and 32x72)
• Operating and Caring for the LayDown Tempered Glass Door
• Folding Glass Shower Screen: Which Side It Mounts On, How Much Room It Takes Folded, and Confirming Stock

Related Videos

Common Questions