When I was a kid and asked my mother what some word meant, she would always tell me to look it up in the dictionary. Remember those? Big books full of words. I just wanted a quick answer and she wanted me to exert some effort to find it myself. That's what a good mom does, though I didn't realize it at the time.
These days we have the internet for quickly and easily finding word definitions. Now there is no excuse to not know what a word means.
Which leads me to heterodox, the word, which I recently heard on a YouTube interview. The definition of heterodox: contrary to, or differing from, some acknowledged standard.
Well now, allow me to put that word to good use for the first time in my life…
I am heterodox when it comes to tub installation. I might even be a heretic. I’ll explain…
The What’s Wrong With This Picture picture at the top of this page shows a bathtub drain with no water control, tub spout or shower head above it. That is heterodox!
I’ve remodeled a whole lotta bathrooms in my life and I don’t recall ever seeing that arrangement.
The orthodox way to plumb bathtubs is, of course, with the water supply on the same side as the drain. The only exception I know of is my own house. Why is this? I’ll explain…
When my wife and I built our house back in the early 1980s I didn’t know much about construction. I looked at the tub, and putting the water supply plumbing on the wall opposite the drain seemed logical to me. I reasoned that the tub bottom slopes to the drain, so the tub would be easier to clean if the water flowed from the faucet across the bottom of the tub to its exit.
After more than 40 years of living with it that way I can tell you that I think it does make it easier to clean the tub. And there is another benefit…
If you’re a hot-bath-tub soaker, reclining in the tub with your head under the faucet offers an option that the more conventional plumbing arrangement does not. That is, you can wash your hair easier; simply shampoo, then reach up and turn the faucets on for a pleasant warm water rinse.
And so, when I recently built a “retirement addition” on my house (the same one we built back in the ‘80s), I decided to go with my heterodox approach, and that is what you see in these photos
That actually makes a lot of sense!! I'm guessing it's not usually done this way is because of the extra expense involving the plumbing.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment, Jean. I wish this blogger format had a simple "thumbs up" option that I could use to acknowledge comments. 👍
DeleteThis is a brilliant idea! Unfortunately, the wife and I built back in 2020,21 and we have no interest in building again. We put in the ADA compliant bathroom with a no-lip, roll in shower (That I have yet to finish). We still have two little kids in our care and they are always washing their muddy feet in the bathtub. Then one has to run the water and sweep the water up to the other end to get it to come down and wash out the tub. Your way would be MUCH easier.
ReplyDeleteHi Ron. Smart move with putting in the ADA compliant bathroom. It took me 8 years to get mine all finished. You'll get there. 🙂
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