American Standard Walk-in Baths

I just got a new product and the sales representative that came out was a very knowledgeable and very nice-spoken guy. The installers drove up here every day. It’s about a two-and-a-half-hour drive up and two and a half hours back. They worked nonstop for three days. They worked Monday and Tuesday and when they left here Wednesday night, it was after midnight when they got done.

The tub is in. It's been a blessing to me because I'm old. I can no longer get in and out of that 16-inch tall tub. The salesman came and talked to me, but he wouldn't even talk about a tub. He said, "You don't need a tub. You don't need sliding glass doors." I said, “Okay.” We have a curtain. We have a 4-inch base, and it's set in a concrete mold. They tore the floor completely out because there were trusses and they put down a three quarter-inch plywood on the floor and poured the concrete. They put some more wood in there for bracing all that plywood. They did a tremendous job. I didn't get it in there and watch too much because it's kind of crowded in my bathroom.

The shower itself has a rainfall showerhead with three settings on it. It can either be a fine mist, a medium mist or a hard stream. Also, the shower stall has handrails all through it on both ends and across the back. It has a bench in it. On the bench side, there's a handheld wand with a five-foot cord on it that my wife loves because she doesn't take showers. She can't stand how water hit her in the face. So, she uses that little wand thing and loves it. It was an expensive adventure, but it's been worth it. It's hard for an old man to get in and out of a bathtub. I can get right in that shower and just stand there and shower. I have long hair and it washes my hair really easily and all that stuff goes along with it.

The first sales representative five years ago was not good. He didn't do any measurements. We live in an old farmhouse so the doors are narrower and the bathroom was very small. He didn't look at the electrical panel either. He told me that he would order the tub and the rest of it was the installers’ problem. Having spent 25 years of my career in commercial real estate, that didn't really work for me. I was not comfortable with that expense of a purchase without having more attention to detail.

The lady who came out this time around was awesome. She did the measurements, checked the panels, and took a picture of the panel. She did the pre-work for the installer so that they knew what they were looking at. The gentleman who was sending out the installers called me personally to ask me about the ingress and egress of the driveway since he was out in the country and he was bringing a big truck. We're on a country road and I sent him photos of how to get in and out. It was pretty easy and the attention to detail this time was stellar.

The installers did a very nice job. I watched because I like construction and it was interesting. The only thing I had a question about later was the GFI breaker to the toilet, which is backed up by the GFI that's on the other wall. That's all interconnected with the tub. I understood that electrical schematic. Everything's operating the way it's supposed to. It's a blessing to have it right now because my husband just got out of the hospital. They told him in the hospital that he could use his tub to shower since he had to sit down and he wouldn't fall. He has a handheld sprayer and just not use the bathtub feature. It’s all great.

My husband weighs about 240 pounds so he displaces more water than I do. I weigh about 178 pounds. It takes longer and more hot water to fill the tub up for me. Other than that, I'm good and I like the tub. Initially, the hot water heater was set at 120 and I was running out of hot water when I was just getting the water to the seat. But I turned the hot water heater up to 125. I can still have hot water and get it up to where I can run the bubbles.

Everybody has bathed in a certain fashion for us for 70 years. When the American Standard product comes along, it's a different style of bathing. You’ve just got a lot more options and your space is different. You have to learn how to work within the space provided and use the different options. Once you figure out how it works best for you because everybody does it differently. My husband's just as pleased as he can be. That is great because he has vertigo. Standing in our old bathtub shower was dangerous. Having American Standard was certainly a lot cheaper than going to the hospital with a serious head injury. He goes in, sits down, and he's happy taking his shower or his bath. Most of the time, we just shower.

Young people came for the installation and they were very efficient. They knew what they were doing. There was a problem with hooking up the electricity because the fuse box was at one end of the house and the tub was at the other end of the house. They figured out how they could go in through the attic. They bore through a couple of walls to get to the electrician box in the kitchen. They then repaired that beautifully. They said they would be through in a day. But the work took two days. I'm glad they took their time because this was a complicated thing that they were putting in. They bothered us as little as possible. They were very congenial and I welcome them into my home anytime because they were such good people. Their work was perfect.

One of the features that I really like was the fact that when you get out of the tub, it had something that will go automatically and it will dry out all the inputs. I heard people say that they had a Jacuzzi or a tub in the house but they didn't use it much because it built up mildew in the water vents. Our walk-in tub also had a pump that would pump the water out. We like that too. We've had friends that had a walk-in tub and they had to sit there and wait for the water to go out.

We decided to go with this walk-in tub even though it was expensive because it would keep us from going to the nursing home. We decided the nursing home would be a lot more expensive than a walk-in tub. We wanted to stay home. Our friends are still staying home with their walk-in tub and they're still satisfied with it. This walk-in tub has certainly made things much simpler and I don't have to worry about my husband when he says he's going to take a bath. I enjoy it too. I have arthritis and sometimes I can lie in there for a while with the pulsating water. It really helps my arthritis.

They got the tub unloaded so I went out there and got in. But I had a little difficulty getting in and I had trouble getting up because of my ability with my ankle, to bend and work with it like I needed to. He said, "I knew that when I saw you getting in it. I knew you was gonna have a problem there.” It would have been better if it had been set up because I would have had the bar to hold to when I'm getting in. But because it was not completely installed, I didn't have that to help me. But he told me that I would do better with another tub. He said they have one that opens to the outside and that I could actually just back up and sit down and swing my feet around and be in the tub without the step up. So they boxed up the first tub and went back and told what had happened to put in an order for the other tub.

I am very happy with everything about the tub. The men that worked on it were great. They were like friends that you had known all your life. They were so friendly and nice. The only thing that I was not happy with was that we did not get a receipt for the purchase of the tub. The bank has cleared the check but you usually get a receipt for purchases. To keep with all my other stuff, I would love to have a receipt.

On installation day, a young man came and he was very nice and business-like. He told me what was going on and all that would be taking place. He told me I would need to get a plumber out here to clean my drain. He wanted to know if I wanted to go ahead and install the shower or wait. I said, “If the guy can clean out that drain without messing up my shower, I’d rather go ahead and get it installed today." He called somebody and they said, “Nobody should have to tear up anything when they just take a roto-rooter down the drain." We went ahead with that. The guy walked me through some of the steps. When he finished one area, he would show it to me.

I’ve always liked American Standard. I loved the work they did. The shower is easy to get to, easy to turn on, and easy to get out of. I don’t have to worry about stepping over something nor do I have to worry about walking into something. When you have MS, you don’t know what you’re gonna do most of the time. The guy put in a new handrail for me. It’s very convenient and beautiful how everything in the area is. I’m just really happy with it. The only thing was I was hurt that the guy couldn’t do my other bathroom because it doesn’t have a tub or a shower in it. Other than that, I thank American Standard for having such a good company, good qualified people all over the place.

They sent two gentlemen up here to do the first bathroom. I'm having another bathroom done on Friday. It's going to be done by one person because it's not as time consuming. The guys were great. They called me in every so often to show me what they were doing. I felt I was part of the process. We had a tub removed and a shower put in, and we absolutely love it. I love the cleaning of it. We're trying to figure out the shower curtain because the lip on the bottom is a little smaller than we thought it would be. But it's not a problem.