What is an oversized bathtub and who actually needs one?

An oversized bathtub is a tub that goes beyond the standard 60 inch bathtub footprint in length, width or soaking depth, so a tall bather can stretch out at full length and sink into deeper water. In the Ella line the clearest example is the LayDown72, a 32 inch wide by 72 inch long lay-down walk-in tub with a 15 inch soaking depth, described next to its smaller sibling in What is the Ella LayDown walk-in bathtub and which sizes are available?. The people who need one are bathers over six feet tall, anyone who wants a full-length reclined soak, and households that want a conventional bathtub layout with a glass door in place of a high wall.

What Oversized Means Next to a Standard Bathtub

Most bathtubs, walk-in or conventional, are built around the same three-wall alcove that a standard 60 inch bathtub occupies. Ella's 52 and 55 inch models use an extension panel to fill the leftover gap at one end of that opening, and the 60 inch models fill it outright. A tub becomes oversized when it needs more than that opening, or gives you more room than a tub of that size normally offers. With the LayDown that happens in three ways.

• Length. The LayDown72 is 72 inches long nominal, and the spec drawing prints the overall length as 71 3/4 inches. That is a full foot beyond the standard 60 inch alcove, so it needs a longer run of wall than a straight tub replacement.
• Width. The LayDown72 is 32 inches wide where the LayDown60 is 30 inches wide, which is why the width of the alcove has to be measured as carefully as the length.
• Depth. Both LayDown sizes soak 15 inches deep, compared to about 11 inches in a standard bathtub. That extra water is what makes even the 60 inch LayDown feel much deeper and roomier than the tub it replaces, while standing only 21 inches high.

One caution on the word itself. In Ella's own materials, oversized most often describes a part rather than the whole tub: the single oversized 2 inch brass drain on both LayDown sizes, or the oversized adjustable foot jets pointed out in the video tour. A listing that mentions an oversized drain is not promising a larger tub, so read the actual size line on the spec sheet before you draw conclusions about the footprint.

How the LayDown Sizes Compare with Seated Ella Tubs

The table shows why oversized is really a question about how you bathe. The seated tubs give depth by standing tall, from 35 to 39 inches on the models listed, and putting you on a chair-height seat with the overflow above it. The LayDown gives depth by lying you down in 15 inches of water inside a low 21 inch shell. If you want to stretch out, the 72 is the only tub in this comparison with a 61 inch interior, and the 60 is the choice when the alcove cannot grow. Heights across the whole line are compared in How Tall Are Walk-In Tubs Compared to Standard Tubs?.

Who Needs an Oversized Bathtub

• Bathers over six feet tall. The LayDown 32x72 is the model Ella lists as fitting bathers over six feet, with its 61 inch interior length and 28 inch interior width. A seated 60 inch tub can hold a tall bather, but only sitting up.
• People who want to lie back rather than sit. The LayDown has a flat floor from end to end with no molded seat, so it bathes like a conventional tub with a door. Does the LayDown Tub Have a Seat? explains why seat figures on a listing do not apply to it.
• Households that share the tub. Ella's video introduces the LayDown as a tub for the whole family: young kids step in through the glass door with easy access, and seniors or people with limited mobility get a standard lay-down bath without the step in and step out over a high wall.
• Bathers who want deeper water without a tall tub. If the appeal is the 15 inch soak rather than the length, the LayDown60 delivers it in a 21 inch high shell, the lowest profile in the line, as covered in Do they make a bathtub that is only 15 inches high?.

Who Is Better Served by a Seated Walk-In Tub

An oversized lay-down tub still asks you to lower yourself to the floor of the tub and rise again. Someone who needs to sit upright, or who cannot manage that movement, is better served by a seated walk-in tub or a transfer tub with a molded chair-height seat, a built-in grab bar and a textured floor. Ella also offers two removable seat options that can be placed in a LayDown rather than molded into it, and because the LayDown deck has no room for hardware, grab bars go on the wall beside the tub instead of on the tub itself. Your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 can send images of the removable seats so you can judge how they sit in the tub.

Measuring and Ordering an Oversized Tub

1. Measure the alcove wall to wall at the back and at the front. The 72 needs its full length, and the 60 fits the standard opening.
2. Measure the width too. The 72 is 32 inches wide and the 60 is 30 inches wide, so a wall or vanity that crowds the alcove matters more with the larger tub.
3. Find your house drain before you choose. Both sizes are offered with a left or right drain.
4. Plan the door. It is a tempered glass panel in a brushed aluminum frame that swings inward through a 115 degree arc with a 19 5/8 inch opening, so no floor clearance is needed in front of the tub.
5. Settle the faucet. No LayDown includes a faucet by default. The LayDown60 has no faucet option at all and needs a customer-supplied faucet, typically wall mounted, while the LayDown72 is faucet ready with an optional Ella deck-mount fast-fill faucet in the five-piece or two-piece set.
6. Choose one therapy system: soaking with no jets, hydro massage, air massage or microbubble. A LayDown takes a single system, so pick the one that matters most.
7. Check the delivery route against the shipping size. The LayDown60 ships at 63 by 33 by 29 inches and 220 pounds, with a 160 pound net weight. The 72's shipping figures are not listed here, so ask for its spec sheet.

The video on this page shows both configurations, the 60 inch and the 72 inch, along with the glass door, the oversized 2 inch drain that empties the tub quickly, and the adjustable foot jets. A folding tempered glass shower screen is optional on both sizes, and on the 72 the drawing shows it spanning 44 1/2 inches along the rim.

Watch: Ella’s Lay-Down Walk-In Tubs: Safe, Comfortable Bathing for All | Best/Safest 2020 | Ella’s Bubbles with chapters and a full transcript.

Related Guides

• The LayDown Walk-In Tubs: 30x60 vs 32x72 Sizes, Faucet Options, and Features
• Interior Length, Seat-to-Overflow and Seat-to-Footwell by Model: The Soaking Depth Table
• Walk-In Tub Dimensions Explained: Which Figure Is the Width, the Length and the Height, and Where to Find the Spec Drawing

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