Sliding or hinged walk-in tub door: which fits a narrow bathroom?

Ella's Bubbles does not make a sliding walk-in tub door. Every Ella walk-in tub has a hinged door that swings either inward into the bathing well or outward into the room, and the sliding doors in the Ella catalog are shower doors that ride on rollers along a track, as What is a shower screen, and how is it different from a door? explains. For a narrow bathroom the real comparison is inward swing against outward swing, and the inward-swing models need no floor space in front of the tub to open.

Why There Is No Sliding Walk-In Tub Door

The door on a walk-in tub is the way in, and it has to hold back the water in the bathing well every time you bathe. That is why it is hinged to the tub and sealed against the water, with a latch mechanism that pulls it tight. A sliding door does a different job. It rides on rollers along a track and keeps shower spray inside an enclosure, and it is never asked to seal against a full tub of water.

When a search result shows a sliding door next to an Ella product, it is a shower item. The Ella Duo is a 55 by 70 framed sliding door with two panels of clear tempered glass about 1/4 inch thick in a chrome frame, reversible for left or right opening, and it is the door commonly used on the 60 inch wide one-piece and three-piece shower stalls. Ella also lists a 5/16 inch glass sliding door in 48 by 78 and 60 by 78 sizes, which is heavy enough to need two people to install. All of these are described in Shower Doors, Seats, Benches, Grab Bar Sets, Niches, Soap Dishes and Acrylic Trim: Sizes, Capacities and Finishes. None of them is a walk-in tub door, so if a narrow bathroom has you hoping for a door that slides out of the way on a tub, the honest answer is that the choice you actually have is which way a hinged door swings.

The Four Hinged Door Styles on Ella Tubs

Every Ella walk-in tub belongs to one of four door styles, and the style decides the swing.

• Inward-swing brushed stainless steel door. The door opens into the bathing well. The Petite and the Elite use this removable stainless door.
• Inward-swing acrylic S-shape door. Also opens into the well, with a door molded in acrylic. The Flow is the shortest model in this group.
• Outward-swing U-shape door. Opens into the room. It is made of white composite and tempered glass and closes with a gear-and-shaft mechanism and three latches. The Mobile and the Front Entry use it.
• L-shape outward transfer door. The extra-wide outward door on the Transfer models, closing with the same gear-and-shaft mechanism and two latches.

So the question sliding or hinged really becomes inward or outward, and the answer depends on where the room is tight: along the wall, in front of the tub, or at the doorway you have to carry the tub through.

Inward or Outward Swing in a Narrow Room

An inward-swing door needs no floor space in front of the tub, because the door travels into the bathing well rather than into the room. That is what makes the inward-swing stainless and S-shape models the usual choice for a small bathroom where a toilet or vanity sits close to the tub. An outward-swing door opens toward you and eases entry, but it needs clear floor in front of the tub for the door to travel. The Mobile's U-shape door, for example, swings 165 degrees outward, so the space it needs is the arc of that door, not just the tub footprint.

The table compares the Ella models most often considered for tight rooms, using the actual sizes from the current spec sheets rather than the nominal names, as listed in What is the shortest walk-in bathtub Ella's Bubbles makes?.

What the differences mean: if the tight dimension is the floor in front of the tub, the inward-swing Petite, Elite or Flow keeps that floor clear, and the Petite at 27 1/2 inches actual width is the narrowest of them. If the tight dimension is the length along the wall or the doorway the tub must pass through, the Mobile at 26 by 45 inches is the shortest side-entry tub Ella makes and can pass a 25 inch doorway with the frame removed, but you must budget floor for its outward door. The Front Entry is a different answer again, because you enter from the end of the tub, so its 40 inch front-to-back measurement suits a room where the door arc can fall at the foot of the tub rather than beside it.

Measure Three Things Before You Decide

1. The space along the wall. Compare it to the length figure of the actual size, not the nominal name. The Petite is sold as 28 by 52 but measures 27.5 inches wide, and the Mobile is 45 inches long.
2. The clear floor in front of the tub. This is the measurement that decides between inward and outward swing. Note anything that sits inside the arc an outward door would need, such as a toilet, a vanity or the bathroom door itself.
3. Every doorway on the path in. A tub that fits the alcove still has to reach it. The Mobile's 25 inch doorway figure assumes the door frame is removed.

Take those three numbers to your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 together with the height of the person who will bathe, because a tub that wins on width can lose on seat length, and the team can match the swing to the room from the drawings.

Screens and Shower Doors Are a Separate Decision

If you also want to shower in the tub, you will meet hinged glass again, but on the other side of the door seal. Ella's 4-fold glass shower screen is a set of hinged panels that mounts in a channel on the bathroom wall and rests on the tub deck to keep spray inside the tub. It is not the entry door and it does not seal the bathing well. Its bottom edge has to follow the inner lip of the deck along its full length, and a panel that sits out of line with the frame is corrected at the hinges, as described in Hinged Glass Screen Door Out of Line With the Frame: Adjusting the Hinges. One inside panel can be removed to turn the four-panel screen into a three-panel screen, which is another way to suit a shorter wall. Choose the tub door swing first for the room, then add the screen for the shower.

Related Guides

• Will it fit through my doorway? How to measure your home for a walk-in tub
• Inward or Outward Swing Door: Which Should I Choose Before Ordering?

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