Where Can I Buy a Walk-In Tub With a Built-In Shower?

An Ella walk-in tub with a built-in shower is purchased through your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850, and every tub ships nationwide from the company's facility in Chicago, so where you live does not limit which model you can order. The shower is part of the faucet package rather than a separate product: the 2-piece and 5-piece fast-fill faucets include a pull-out hand shower that stays within reach of the seat, and a folding glass screen is offered as an alternative to a shower curtain. The accessibility side of the purchase is covered in Where Can I Buy a Walk-In Tub Designed for Elderly or Disabled Bathers?, and this page focuses on the shower side and on what to settle so the order fits your budget.

What a Built-In Shower Means on a Walk-In Tub

On an Ella walk-in tub, the shower is the hand shower that comes with the faucet package. The 2-piece and 5-piece fast-fill faucets include a pull-out hand shower, so a bather can rinse off while seated, wash hair without filling the tub, or rinse the tub down afterward. The video on this page, filmed on a 30 inch by 52 inch low-entry tub, shows the five-piece fast-fill faucet set with its extendable multi-function showerhead, and notes that five foot supply lines are included with that faucet set. It also lists the four-fold glass screen among the available options, which keeps spray inside the tub when the hand shower is used standing up.

Because the hand shower belongs to the faucet package, there is no separate shower unit to buy, plumb or mount for a seated shower. Your plumber connects the faucet supply lines to the house plumbing as part of the tub installation, and the electrical components of a jetted tub plug into a dedicated GFCI outlet, as the video shows. If you want a shower that works for standing as well as sitting, ask your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 about the glass screen when the order is placed, since screens are accessories that ship with the tub order and are listed separately on the shipping paperwork.

A Walk-In Tub with a Hand Shower or a Walk-In Shower Stall

Ella's Bubbles makes both, and the choice depends on how the person bathes. Ella's Bubbles Walk-In Tubs: A General Overview explains that the company builds luxury walk-in tubs and also offers walk-in showers for anyone who prefers a shower-based option, and both ship nationwide. The tub is the choice for someone who wants to soak, use massage therapies or sit in warm water, with the hand shower as a bonus. The shower stall is the choice for someone who only ever showers and wants a low step-in with grab bars.

The two are packaged very differently, and that matters for the budget. An Ella shower kit ships with the stall, the grab bar set listed for that kit and the drain, but no shower head, no hand shower, no mixing valve or valve trim, and the wall arrives without a valve cutout, so your plumber selects the valve and cuts the openings on site. What Comes in the Box With an Ella Shower Kit, and What You Still Need to Buy lists everything to have on hand before installation day. A walk-in tub ordered with an Ella faucet package, by contrast, arrives with its faucet and hand shower as part of the order. One more difference: the drain position on a shower stall is molded in at the factory and is not something you choose, as Can I Choose a Left, Right, or Center Drain on an Ella Shower? explains, so compare the center of your floor drain with the model drawing before a stall is ordered.

Where the Order Is Placed and What Gets Confirmed

Wherever you are in the country, the order goes through your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850, who confirm the model, door side, therapy package, faucet and accessories before the tub is built. Every tub is assembled and tested to order before it ships. Timing varies by model, options and stock, so the team confirms current timing for your specific order. Once the order is placed, questions about it go to your Ella dealer, the team, or where you purchased.

The tub itself is assembled, jetted and water-tested to order in Chicago, Illinois, which is where every tub ships from. The acrylic shell is produced at Ella's partner factory overseas, and the therapy system, pump, heater, controls, faucet and drains are installed in Chicago, which is why Ella describes its tubs as assembled and tested in Chicago. Where Are Ella Walk-In Tubs Made, and What Is the Country of Origin for Customs? covers the paperwork for anyone shipping beyond the mainland.

Keeping the Purchase Affordable

Prices are not published in this knowledge base, and they change with the model, the therapy package and the accessories, so the only reliable figure is the one your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850 gives you for your exact configuration. What this page can do is point out where a tub-and-shower purchase stays lean.

• Every Ella walk-in model is built around a sealed low-threshold door, a built-in seat and grab bars, so the safety features are not add-ons. The Capri, for example, has a 3.5 inch threshold, and most models have a 17 inch seat height.
• The hand shower comes with the 2-piece or 5-piece fast-fill faucet package, so a seated shower does not require a separate fixture or a separate valve cutout.
• On a shower stall, the valve, trim, shower head and any hand shower are bought separately, so include them when weighing a stall against a tub.
• A stall whose molded drain lines up with your rough-in avoids having a plumber relocate the trap, which is why the drain check belongs before the order, not after the base is set.
• Installation is done by a local licensed plumber and, for a jetted tub, an electrician, not by Ella, so that labor is arranged locally and separately from the tub itself.

What to Settle Before You Order

1. Decide between a walk-in tub with a hand shower and a walk-in shower stall, based on whether the bather will soak or only shower.
2. Choose the faucet package, and confirm it includes the pull-out hand shower if that is the shower you want.
3. Ask about the four-fold glass screen if the shower will be used standing.
4. Confirm the door side and the therapy package with the person who will bathe.
5. For a stall, measure the floor drain from the back wall and each side wall and compare it with the model drawing.
6. Line up a licensed plumber and, for a jetted tub, an electrician for the dedicated GFCI outlet.

Watch: S Class 30x52: Affordable Walk-In Tub with Wheelchair Accessible Door for Disabled | Ella's Bubbles with chapters and a full transcript.

Related Guides

• Ella Fast-Fill Faucets: 2-Piece vs 5-Piece, Finishes, and the Waterfall Option
• Do You Sell Folding Glass Shower Screens for a 60 Inch Walk-In Tub?
• Installing the Shower Column Kit on Your Walk-in Tub

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