I'm having trouble visualizing what you're trying to do here. Are you talking about a true oval, freestanding tub that can also be used as a shower? If so, there are round curtain rings that include a shower faucet and riser with a showerhead.
If you are talking about having walls around your tub then a tile flange is a must, and you won't get this on any oval tub that I have seen.
The tile flange doesn't just keep the water in the tub. It also provides a vertical area for your wall board and tile to attach to so that you don't get leaks.
The best way to prevent mildew is to get a proper vent fan, and use it according to the manufacturer's suggestions. I let mine run for a while after my bath.

If we got an oval tub - we'd like a drop in. I like the look of it better - and would use the edges of it for safety when get in out, over an undermounted.

Good point about having to have those risers for any kind of shower with a freestanding (probably the reason my DH has dismissed freestanding).

There would be a deck that went to the wall - not the tub. I guess that's my question (whew). If we have a deck that the tub goes into - what's the tile flange for? We'd have cement backer board (and tile) meeting at the wall...at least, that's how I keep envisioning it.

Ideally, I'd like a drop-in whirlpool tub, on a tiled deck with a wall-mounted hand-held shower that would get rare use as a shower.

I guess part of what I'm asking is for help with terminology (what AM I looking for here? Drop-in tub seems to be the right term.) Second, do I need to have a total shower ban if I use a drop-in tub?

You speak of guests - is this the only bathroom in the house?

Maybe I'm "speshul" ;-) but I have never dried off in the tub/shower enclosure in my entire life. I step out onto a bathmat or rug and dry off there. There is some drippage but not that much and that's what the mat is for anyway. I tub-bathe at least once daily and I very rarely splash in any quantity, though - perhaps you should install grab bars around your tub so you can get in and out without drowning the bathroom. At the very least, use Kerdi waterproofing membrane on the floor as well as in the tub/shower area!

Mold and mildew issues can be mostly mitigated by installing a GOOD ventilation fan and USING it. Put it on a pushbutton timer (Leviton makes a very nice one), that's easiest, since you can just push the button and forget about it. Caulks have also improved in recent years, with anti-mildew agents in the formula to help prevent the growth of the "creeping crud". Polyseamseal makes a "mildew-proof" (I put that in quotation marks because it's really just mildew resistant, but you want to look for the "mildew-proof" label) caulk in several colors.

You don't want to hear Bill's lecture about showers and drop-in tubs. Suffice it to say it's a bad idea. I also think it's a poor idea to have a drop-in tub and a tiled deck because of the sloshing and splashing you were emphasizing - that's a lot of places for potential leaks. Because of that, there is a type that is a lot smarter for you to have, sometimes called an "oval in rectangle" because of the integral deck. I think would make the most sense would be to use something like the Kohler Lakewood tub, installing it at one end of the bath (since, after all, you have the perfect 5' wide space) as an alcove installation. The Lakewood is an oval whirlpool tub with an integral deck and tile flange, and attached apron for ease in getting in and out, as well as circumventing another potential place for water infiltration. The Lakewood's pump can be placed away from the tub to reduce the noise problem. Tile the walls to the ceiling in the tub area and think about a high-ish tiled wainscot (with Kerdi behind it) in the rest of the room. Seriously consider, if this is the only bath, using a standard tub/shower faucet setup; you can replace a conventional showerhead with a handshower mounted on a sliding bar. A shower curtain to go on a tension rod can be stashed in a linen closet for when guests will be visiting.

A few other tubs that also fit this installation (once I started really hunting, I was surprised at how many whirlpools were appropriate for this installation method):
Kohler Pristine; a three-wall alcove installation with tile flange, but no apron front so would need to have a tiled apron.
Kohler Dockside, ditto, with inline heater
Kohler Terracina, which is probably the most practical possible setup although not necessarily the most aesthetically pleasing.
Kohler Windward, oval alcove with tile flange and apron
Maax Oxford, optional apron & tile flange
Maax M 4260O IFS-TO
Aquatic Carmel; optional factory-installed tile flange and optional skirt
Americh Bel Air, ditto
Americh Beverly, ditto
MTI models Mirage (a pretty awesome setup, and nice looking), Sumter 2, Sinclair 2, Charleston 1
Jacuzzi Nova and Luxura (not as nice an oval)

OK, that's enough shopping for you, you're on your own after this. :-)

johnmari,
I would like to hear Bill V.'s lecture on why I should not use a drop in tub without a intergal tile flange. I am going to install the Porcher Ardennes cast iron tub. The reasons I want this tub is because it is cast iron, has a great lumbar support, I can tile the front, and most importantly, it is only 27" wide. I am going to use a universal tile flange kit with this tub.
Donna

Here is a link that might be useful: porcher tub

Hi Donna,
I like the look of drop-in tubs in a tile deck better than the integral decks, but they're not meant to double as showers. (If you think about the installations you've seen in magazines, etc., there is always a separate shower somewhere else in the room/house.) Most of the time the tub deck doubles as a bench in the shower or something like that. It might be possible to shower in them if you installed a curtain on both sides to funnel all the water into the tub. Johnmari's suggestion about temporarily putting up curtains with tension rods is brilliant.

IMHO, you should get the Porcher you want, and nix the shower altogether. Maybe in the next few years you can carve out space for a guest bath with a freestanding shower. Without the shower, you could get rid of an alcove wall if you have it, which would visually open up your bathroom and let the beautiful tub take center stage. I doubt you'll hear any complaints from guests when they've had a luxurious soak in your bath--and if they prefer showers so much they can't bathe once or twice a year at your house--well, then you could always suggest a hotel. :)

-Amy

Amy,
I am a city girl. I have a 840 sq.ft. condo with one small bathroom. This is my one and only bathroom. I put this tub in another condo and it's seems to be just fine. I'm going to take a picture and post it later today.
Donna

I guess it's my showering technique that's really in question! When I shower (with any type of shower - including the one we have right now that doesn't have a shower curtain and is about to be torn out), I don't get much/any water out on the floor. Our shower stall is pretty big (about 36 X 42) and I point the nozzle sort of toward the back of the stall. And, when I've showered in our current bath/shower installation (no curtain), I sort of do the same thing - and the water goes down the drain.

I realize that the lip of the drop in tub, however, will make things more complicated. However, the width of the new tub is so much wider than what I'm used to - I'll have to aim the shower carefully, but right now, with my current system, hardly any gets out onto the floor (until *I* get out on the floor - and with long hair, there's quite a bit of water that is involved, it's dispersed throughout the entire local environment...)

But's the water that gets between the wall and the tub that's the problem, right? I think I'm seeing the problem. I'm thinking I don't need a shower in that room.

This is the Porcher I installed in another condo. It's been in for ten years. I don't know if it's leaking, how can you tell? I want this same tub because I like the look.
Donna

{{gwi:1448406}}

The problem with installing a drop in tub in a shower situation is that the "seal" that keeps the water from getting inside your walls is only as good as the caulk it's formed from. Caulk gets old, separates, and water infiltrates. It's an inevitable progression. It WILL happen, if not sooner, then later. When you have a tile flange, the very fact that the wall surface overlaps that tile flange is enough to keep the water that splashes onto the tub deck from penetrating your walls and draining back into the tub. The caulk with an integral tile flange is an extra step. It's just like properly installed roof flashing. Properly installed roof flashing will stair step and overlap and not allow water infiltration. Just glomming on some roofing tar at the change of plane will probably hold for a little while, but sooner or later without the proper flashing underneath when that roofing tar dries out and cracks, you're gonna have a roof leak.

Donna, if your bathroom is 10 years old and the caulk has never been replaced, then I'd bet it's already leaking somewhere. An after market applied "tile flange" is simply a fancy word for a glued on edge, and once again, you're at the mercy of the quality of the glue and caulk to prevent moisture infiltration because you don't have any way of having gravity help you with it like you would with a tile flange.

live_wire_oak,
Can I have the tub recauked to prevent leaks? Do I only have to recaulk around the tub surround? If the caulk looks good should I still recaulk?
I have seen other tubs, but they don't have a nice lumbar support like this one does. Also, it's only 27" wide, the others are 32".
Donna

bump

Hey, Donna, you and I have the same concerns (Saw your beautiful home on the other thread - you're a woman after my own heart, design-wise).

We've decided to go with a hand shower, which is to code in a bathtub installation where we live. In tearing down the old bathroom, we were pleased to see very little/no water damage - there was a tile flange about 3/4 of an inch tall attached to the chicken wire and mortar stuff they put the tile on. Apparently, it's done its job all these 40 plus years. This was a bath/shower combo with no deck - the tile came down over the flange, the flange went under the tub, the tile came down the wall to a thin line of caulk which seems to have actually held the moisture in (was probably recaulked about 10 years ago).

My initial questions had to do with why showering is considered so much *wetter* than bathing - given how I bathe! (And when I shower, I try to use as little water as possible.)