What Is a Tub Cut and How Does It Compare to a Walk-In Tub?

A tub cut is a modification to an existing bathtub in which part of the tub's side wall is cut away to make a walk-through opening, sometimes with a door or gate fitted over the cut. Ella's Bubbles does not cut openings into existing tubs and sells no cut-in kit; it builds complete walk-in tubs whose door, seal, frame and threshold are engineered together, as explained in Can Ella Cut a Walk-Through Opening or Add a Door to My Existing Bathtub?. The comparison below shows what a purpose-built walk-in tub gives you that an opening in a standard tub does not.

What a Tub Cut Is, and What It Is Not

The term covers any alteration that turns a conventional tub into something you walk through instead of step over: cutting a walk-through opening in the tub wall, adding a door or gate to that opening, or making the same change to the tub side of a tub and shower combination. The tub itself stays where it is, so the rest of the fixture, including its faucet, drain and floor, is unchanged. What changes is only the wall you used to step over.

Ella's answer to any request for this kind of work is no. There is no Ella cut-in product, no conversion kit and no customization service, and the same applies when only the tub wall of a tub and shower combination is the problem. If you want to keep your current tub, a licensed plumber or contractor would have to evaluate the modification on their own, without Ella parts or Ella support. Staff usually suggest looking at a purpose-built walk-in tub instead, because it gives you a sealed low door, a seat and grab bars rather than an opening in a tub that was never designed to have one.

Tub Cut Versus Walk-In Tub, Side by Side

Read across the rows and the pattern is the same each time. A tub cut changes one thing, the height of the wall you step over, and leaves everything else about a conventional tub in place, including the need to lower yourself to the floor and get back up. A walk-in tub is designed around a seated bather from the start, so the low threshold, the seat, the grab bars and the watertight door all work together, and the therapy systems are built into the shell at the factory rather than added afterward.

Why the Walk-In Door Cannot Be Added After the Fact

A walk-in tub's door, seal, frame and threshold are engineered as one assembly. The door closes on an integrated gasket, the latches are driven by a gear and shaft mechanism, the acrylic shell sits on a rustproof stainless steel frame, and every tub is assembled and tested to order before it ships. None of that can be added to a standard tub later, which is why Ella does not offer cut-ins or customizations of any kind.

The same principle applies in reverse: an Ella tub is not a candidate for a tub cut either. The installation manuals are explicit that the shell and the frame are never cut. The only cutting an Ella tub is designed for is limited and specific:

• The extension panel that closes a 52 or 55 inch tub up to a 60 inch alcove is designed to be trimmed on site when the alcove is out of square or slightly under 60 inches.
• In a recessed installation, the installer may cut the bottom of the apron and, for corner installations, the end panel to clear the floor, with masking tape and appropriate tools to protect the acrylic.
• Holes may be cut in the deck for a switch, push control or aromatherapy canister. Fine crack-like lines sometimes appear around such a hole, and Hairline Lines Around a Hole Cut in the Tub Deck explains why they stay put and are hidden by the flange of the part.

Keeping Your Bathroom Layout with a Walk-In Tub

The practical worry behind most tub cut searches is disruption. Most Ella walk-in tubs go into the same three-wall alcove your current tub occupies, so you keep the room's layout and plumbing locations. When the tub is shorter than the alcove, an extension panel fills the gap; tubs shorter than 60 inches include one panel, left or right as specified on the order, and it takes a 52 or 55 inch tub to a standard 60 inch opening. If the exposed end is freestanding rather than against a wall, the reversible end panel is used instead. Why Doesn't the Extension Panel Attach on the Faucet Side? shows how to confirm which end of the frame carries the shelf brackets for the panel. A knee wall can hide the plumbing or carry fixtures where a wider gap remains.

Ella tubs use their own deck-mount faucet packages, so your existing tub spout and handles are normally replaced rather than reused. If reusing a wall-mounted faucet matters to you, the LayDown 30 by 60 has no factory faucet option and requires a customer-supplied faucet, typically wall-mounted.

Getting the Step-In as Low as Possible

If the reason you were considering a tub cut is a very low entry, look at how the walk-in threshold is set. Ella tubs leave the factory with the leveling legs preset so the 2 inch drain piping runs beneath the tub and above the floor, with approximately 3 inches of clearance under the tub. That is the standard installation on a slab, a condo or an upper floor and the one the warranty assumes. The tub can be lowered by putting the drain below the subfloor and trimming the apron, and thresholds can then be as low as 3.5 inches, but the warranty no longer covers the parts that were cut. Lowering the Tub: Below-Subfloor Drains, 3 Inch Thresholds, and What It Does to the Warranty covers that trade-off and the S-Class 3 inch threshold models. The video on this page is an owner's short tour of the low threshold entrance on an Ella walk-in tub, along with the light chromatherapy.

Watch: Low Threshold Walk-In Tub with Light Chromatherapy | Ella’s Bubbles with chapters and a full transcript.

Related Guides

• Will a Walk-In Tub Fit Where My Old Tub or Shower Stall Is Now?

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