I'm planning for a Greek tub though like you haven't quite got the rim figured out for our alcove. My contractor is confident when he explains how he will use kerdi, a waterproofing material around the rim but I'm not quite understanding him. I will be talking to him tomorrow and if I get a better understanding, I will let you know. In the mean time, please post anything you decide - I am really feeling a bit uncertain. Just figured out today that the tub spout needs to be 9 inches for wall mount - I want Hansgrohe for the "themostatic" option. Seems plenty of 6 inch spouts but only one 9 inch that I have found so far. I'm trying to get a confirmation with my plumbing guy now. But wanted to let you know that you should be careful that your tub spout won't be too short.

I am now very committed to installing a drop in tub in a three wall application. I too, like most others decided on this so I could tile the front. When I started thinking about the waterproofing in a little more detail it became apparent it was going to be a problem. Here is my though for waterproofing. the three closed sides. 1. Use the manufacturers tiling-in bead 2. Install cement board to top of tiling-in bead 3. Waterproof cement board with Kerdi. 4. Run Kerdi long to get 1/4" overlap onto tub and secure with Kerdi Fix while filling void between tiling-in bead and Kerdi with Kerdi Fix. 5. Install tiles leaving 1/4" gap to tub and fill gap with 100% Silicone Tub at 3 walls My though for the open wall is this. 1. Frame pony wall with 1/4" per foot slope at top to ensure excess water sheds to floor 2. Install small back stop on inside of framing to ensure no water can get to the inside of the framing 3. Place backer board and install Kerdi from Back Stop, over the horizontal piece and into the vertical. 4. Fill small gap between tub and tile with color matched Silicone Tub at Pony Wall: And yes, none of my doodles are to scale. Does this seam like a reasonable waterproofing solution?

I have a tea for two soaking tub, not whirlpool in the 5.5' size. my thoughts in no particular order 1) have you sat/seen the 5' size? I remember a NYTimes story about renovating a brownstone that commented that they got the 5' tea for two, had to downsize from teh 5.5 and were unhappy b/c it killed the depth along with the length. 2) the drain set up absolutely sucks. I had 2 plumbers and my father in law who is a handy man screw with it, none could get it to reliabily work, it either didn't drain and held water or, drained, but wouldn't hold water. We resorted to removing the drain and using a rubber stopper. 3) we were acting as GCs on teh renovation..... we were buying the fixtures and having a plumber install... however, he wasn't any kind of set up to get this up to the second floor master, nor manuver it around... we did that. it weighs about 450lbs + we decided that undermounting would make sense. on top of that, I bought mine off of craigslist for a really really good deal. the downside, one corner had a small chip. it could have been touched up, but I used the "savings" to undermount with granite. It really looks sweet. I'm really not sure what you're doing with sliding glass doors? as far as I can tell they don't have set up that would accomodate a shower, so I'm nto sure doors would be needed... I like the tub, but we don't use it much, we should, but don't. if I were to do the whole bath over again, I would have done a larger shoewr and skipped the tub.

Thanks for your responses, I'm sorry I didn't explain myself well. The issue I'm fretting over is really how to construct a surround with a deck for a drop-in or undermount tub when I really only have about 2 inches to use on each end of the tub. I don't see a lot (any, really) of drop in or undermount with such a narrow band of deck. I also looked for a drop-in that had a wide rim/lip to allow for the framing to support the tub without extending beyond the tub rim/lip. Does such a thing exist? I'm thinking that constructing a third, pony wall would allow me to put the 60" tub all the way in the corner with only the 3" deep pony wall on the other end. But would the three wall alcove be unnecessarily confining, given that I'm not using the tub to shower? I'll see if I can paste my floor plan to better explain. nycbluedevil: The Kohler greek tub is what is in the bathroom currently! I do like it, we're moving it to the basement for a later bath. The prior owners put it in, and if the rest of the room wasn't so poorly done (my current shower leaks into the dining room below), we'd keep it. But the tub is currently under a window and cold. I really want an air bath with heat since we're going to need to gut anyway. numbersjunkie: I've seen Zen baths before, and you're right, it solves my deck issue. I'm going to look and see if they offer more than soaking tubs.