How Tall Are Walk-In Tubs Compared to Standard Tubs?

Ella's seated walk-in tubs stand roughly chest high on a seated bather: the Petite and Elite are 35 inches tall, the Ultimate is 35 3/4 inches and the Deluxe is 39 inches, while the lie-down LayDown 30x60 is only 21 inches high. The sources do not list a standard bathtub's overall height, but Ella's own LayDown video compares soaking depth directly, 15 inches in the LayDown against 11 inches in a standard tub. Height matters less than how you get in and how deep you sit, which is why Seat sizes and soaking depth: how to measure yourself for a comfortable fit starts with your body rather than the tub.

What Height Means on a Walk-In Tub

On a conventional bathtub the height of the rim is the wall you have to climb over. On a walk-in tub you step through a door over a low threshold, so the exterior height stops being an obstacle and becomes the thing that gives you depth. The taller shell lets you sit on a molded seat with water up to your chest instead of lying in a shallow pool. Ella's video on the LayDown tubs makes the comparison plainly: those tubs soak 15 inches deep against a standard tub depth of 11 inches, and their straight, narrow sidewalls give more interior space than a curved-wall standard tub while minimizing the trips and slips that curved sidewalls can cause.

The soaking depth you actually feel in a seated tub is determined by three factors: the interior length of the tub, the length of the seat, and the depth from the top of the seat to the overflow drains. That seat-to-overflow figure runs roughly 15 to 18 inches across the mid-size models, and a tall bather with a long torso sits higher in the water than a shorter bather on the same seat.

Heights and Interior Figures by Model

Read across the rows and the pattern is clear. The seated tubs cluster between 35 and 39 inches tall, and the extra inches on the Deluxe come with the longest interior in the table, which is where it earns its legroom. The LayDown tubs are built to a completely different profile, about 21 inches high, because you recline instead of sit, yet they still soak 4 inches deeper than the standard tub in Ella's comparison. Both the ShaK at 36 by 72 inches and the Big4One at 33 1/8 by 66 inches are the long-seat tubs for bathers around six feet and taller, but their heights are not given in these sources, so ask for the spec sheet before planning around them. Width is the number that decides doorways: the Deluxe at 29.5 inches and the Ultimate at 29 5/8 inches both pass a 30 inch doorway.

Choosing by Your Body, Not by Tub Height

Ella's measuring video shows the method. Sit in a chair facing a wall in a relaxed position and take three measurements: your hips while seated, because the tub seat must be wider than that number; your shoulder width while seated, so the tub has the proper shoulder room; and your length from head to feet while sitting, to gauge the tub length that fits you. Then compare those numbers to the drawings and specifications for each model. Ella's seat widths run from 19 inches on the Petite and Transfer26 to 29 inches on the TransferXXL. One tip from the video is worth repeating: the extra-large tubs with very long seats are designed for taller bathers and can be uncomfortable for an average or shorter person, so bigger is not automatically better. If you are around six feet or over, What size walk-in tub fits a six-foot-tall person? narrows the choice to the models built with long seats and long interiors.

What Tub Height Means for the Bathroom

• Getting it into the room. The crate is taller than the tub. The Ultimate ships in a 33 by 63 by 47 inch crate and the Deluxe in a 58.5 by 33.5 by 46 inch crate, so plan the route into the bathroom around the crate as well as the tub's own 30 inch passage width.
• The wall above the tub. Ella offers wall surround systems that enclose the area around a walk-in tub, with an acrylic top portion available so the installation is finished and water tight above the tub deck. Shower wall panels are made 98 inches high, which gives a sense of how much wall a full surround can cover; the options are in Shower Bases and Wall Panels.
• Service access. The Ultimate carries two access panels on the door side so it can be serviced from the front in an alcove, which matters more in a tall tub than in a low one.
• Fit in the alcove. The Deluxe uses a 4 inch extension panel and a reversible end panel to reach a standard 60 inch alcove, while the Ultimate needs no extension panel and includes one reversible end panel.

Two model profiles give the full picture of what the height buys you. The Ella Deluxe 30x55 pairs its 39 inch height with a 46.5 inch interior and a fixed air and hydro package, and the Ella Ultimate 30x60 is the full-length stainless-door tub with independent foot massage as standard. Your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 can send the spec sheet with the actual size for any model not listed here.

Watch: Introducing 3272 & 3060 Hydro Massage Lay Down Walk-In Tub | Ella's Bubbles with chapters and a full transcript.

Related Guides

• Interior Length, Seat-to-Overflow and Seat-to-Footwell by Model: The Soaking Depth Table
• Step-In Threshold Heights by Model and How Low It Can Go
• Walk-in tub dimensions by model: exterior sizes, seat widths, and door types

Related Videos

Common Questions