Eleganza styrene tub installation

[sola_fide]

Hi,

I'm remodeling a bathroom and have an Eleganza styrene
tub and wall surround from Lowes. It has styrofoam (waffle like piece) underneath it that supports it. The instructions with it say
to put adhesive on it and glue it to the floor. Some on the Lowes
website have complained of their tubs cracking within a year. Of course
that could be from poor installation instead of the tub itself.
Does anyone have experience with this tub? I'm wondering if I should
set it in mortar (such as Laticrete 253 ceramic tile mortar that is extremely sticky and strong.) Thanks in advance

[jimbo]

Not familiar with that one, or its instructions. Often, acrylic or fibreglass tubs do recommend an underlayment of structolite or similar. But some products like the Americast PROHIBIT that. So the best recommendation is to carefully follow the included instruction. If they are silent on that issue, I would call the manufacturer.

[jadnashua]

If the floor isn't both flat and level, you will be applying torque to the tub each time you step in it or fill it with water. Then, mortar would help. A thinset isn't designed to be used more than say 1/4" thick where a cement mix mortar could be inches thick. If it doesn't sit flat because the floor isn't, or if it does, but the floor isn't level, I'd consider mortar. Call their tech support line and see what they say.

[sola_fide]

Thanks for the info. The floor was about one eighth inch out of level over
the length of the tub. I've shimmed that with some boards and smaller
material in the middle. I may be a little paranoid trying to make it closer
to perfect than it has to be. The base of the tub is on a styrofoam base and should be a little forgiving.

[jadnashua]

The foam is actually pretty rigid if you don't have point loads (i.e., the load is spread out over a large area). What you really need is full constact of the engineered foam with the subfloor. I think a spread of thinset using a 1/2" square-notched trowel would give you the flexibility to account for the small 1/8" difference, and support it entirely on the bottom.

If the bottom foam support is a grid, then you may want to consider something else, but assuming it was engineered properly, should be sufficient if you have full contact with the available surfaces.

[sola_fide]

Thanks again for the info. I placed a layer of thinset on the floor under the tub base and installed the tub. It seems quite solid and to have lost the styrofoam squeaks. Using thinset (Laticrete 253) seems like a better idea than the plain adhesive the manufacturer suggests.

[roeboat109]

We just found out christmas morning that our new tub which is exactly the same eleganza tub you are talking about had cracked just above the curve towards the front of the tub.My son was home for christmas and heard something like a drip.My wife was in the upstairs shower and sure enough it has a 6" to 8" crack.Merry christmas.
The aqua-glass co.sent us another tub same thing.Now do we install it.If we change tubs everything will change.The tile wont look the same because of different size tub.I havent found the same size in any other co. Of course the carpenter wont even reply. Thats why i try to do whatever i can because you cant seem to trust anyone anymore,sorry to say.
Do you think it is crazy to even think about installing the same tub that cracked? The same measurements are hard to find and was it the installation or the tub.I know there was no mortor or anything like that used. What you think? We do have a replacement tub here from aqua-glass. Same tub.