I'm reconsidering doing the Queen's Bath sooner, perhaps even before the King's Room (let alone the King's Bath...). One issue is that I cannot change Queen's to a shower-only bath, until I fix the King's bath. But actually, I was not thinking of making the Queen's a shower only bath anyway.
Instead, I was thinking of replacing the existing tub (which is a full 60" long, btw, not 56" as I previously thought) with a Kohler Highbridge, which has 13 inch water depth (as compared to 9 inches or less for typical tub showers). The price for the increased water depth is a two inch increase in stepover height, which I believe is OK. (I was going to go for 9 inch increase in stepover height with the Tea-for-Two in Kings, though that is very uncertain.)
Or just sticking to the standard stepover height, a popular choice is the Kohler Bellwether. It is also about 30% less expensive, but actually weighs about 15% more. It has 9 inch maximum water depth. The Kohler Villager, least expensive cast iron tub from Kohler, has 8 1/2 inch maximum water depth.
But I don't see much difference between the Bellwether and the tub I have now. OK, the tub I have now has a tiny nick which I patched once but the patch came loose when I was using a suction cup mat. I think it can be repatched fine and would be good for at least another 20 years.
So one option is to just keep the existing tub, but replace the tile. I'd use a larger size tile for fewer grout lines and to make the bathroom seem bigger.
The toilet drain is 16+ inches from the existing tub, but the toilet was installed at a slight angle so there is only 15 inch gap at the front. Since that could be corrected, a 32 inch wide tub (like the Highbridge) would be OK by code (at least if the toilet angle were corrected) without moving the toilet drain.
Here is Kohler instructions for cleaning bathtubs. They recommend mainly non-abrasive and non-harsh cleaners, also R.O.G. 3.
Here is a discussion about using the Highbridge bath as a bath/shower. It is the model recommended by Kohler for frequent bathers who also need a shower.
Instead, I was thinking of replacing the existing tub (which is a full 60" long, btw, not 56" as I previously thought) with a Kohler Highbridge, which has 13 inch water depth (as compared to 9 inches or less for typical tub showers). The price for the increased water depth is a two inch increase in stepover height, which I believe is OK. (I was going to go for 9 inch increase in stepover height with the Tea-for-Two in Kings, though that is very uncertain.)
Or just sticking to the standard stepover height, a popular choice is the Kohler Bellwether. It is also about 30% less expensive, but actually weighs about 15% more. It has 9 inch maximum water depth. The Kohler Villager, least expensive cast iron tub from Kohler, has 8 1/2 inch maximum water depth.
But I don't see much difference between the Bellwether and the tub I have now. OK, the tub I have now has a tiny nick which I patched once but the patch came loose when I was using a suction cup mat. I think it can be repatched fine and would be good for at least another 20 years.
So one option is to just keep the existing tub, but replace the tile. I'd use a larger size tile for fewer grout lines and to make the bathroom seem bigger.
The toilet drain is 16+ inches from the existing tub, but the toilet was installed at a slight angle so there is only 15 inch gap at the front. Since that could be corrected, a 32 inch wide tub (like the Highbridge) would be OK by code (at least if the toilet angle were corrected) without moving the toilet drain.
Here is Kohler instructions for cleaning bathtubs. They recommend mainly non-abrasive and non-harsh cleaners, also R.O.G. 3.
Here is a discussion about using the Highbridge bath as a bath/shower. It is the model recommended by Kohler for frequent bathers who also need a shower.
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