Understanding the Different Parts of a Bathtub

I have a wife and two daughters, all with long hair. I’ve also spent decades working in the plumbing industry, so I’m the one called upon when the bathtub drain gets clogged. Due to all that long hair, it happens quite often. If you’re anything like me, you’ll try anything to keep the drains clear while avoiding leaks.

Long gone are the days when families shared a single wash basin, heating pots of water on a stovetop or a fire and washing up once weekly on Saturday. The genius of modern plumbing has given rise to regular bathing and, hopefully, better-smelling people.

If you’re reading this, you undoubtedly know how to use a bathtub. But new homeowners might not be familiar with all the parts of that tub. When something goes wrong, it pays to know what does what so you can walk into the home center and buy only what you need to fix it.

Different Types of Bathtubs

Older homes may have a cast-iron bathtub that stands free from the wall in a bathroom. The cast iron is coated in enamel, almost always in white. These tubs are typically referred to as clawfoot tubs, because they feature small legs to raise the tub from the floor. Often, they’re ornately decorated.

Most modern homes, on the other hand, have tubs seemingly built into a wall or a corner of the bathroom. Sometimes these are steel tubs again coated in enamel, but more often they’re molded from acrylic or polyester materials. These materials give designers latitude to build in ledges and trays for soap and shampoo.

Molded tubs often feature panels along the side. This gives it a finished look while sealing the floor beneath it from getting constantly soaked from overflowing water. It also makes the tub easier to clean.

Some of these acrylic or polyester tubs contain upper panels that extend much higher than the bathing surface, meant to enclose the area for showering. Often a newly-built home will have a one-piece tub and shower enclosure, but these are unwieldy for a do-it-yourselfer to install once the rest of the house is built. Replacement tubs often have shower panels that must be screwed into place, then sealed with caulk for waterproofing.

The Different Parts of a Bathtub

Tub faucet

This is typically mounted behind the wall above the tub spout, usually with four paths for water to come and go. It has inlets for hot and cold water. There’s one outlet for the tub spout to go down from the faucet, and another extending up to the shower head.

Hot and cold water mix within the tub faucet behind the wall, providing warm water to the tub spout or the shower head. The controls extend through the wall, allowing the bather to choose an appropriate water temperature.

Tub spout

The water must enter the tub somehow, and that’s the job of the tub spout. Water is mixed by the tub faucet and flows out into the spout.

Most tub spouts come with a lever or other control known as the shower diverter. As the name implies, the diverter blocks the water from flowing through the tub spout and directs it up to the shower head.

Overflow

Typically directly below the tub spout, a drain overflow provides an opening for excess water to leave the tub without landing on the floor. It’s mounted a couple of inches below the top of the bathtub. As the bather moves within a full tub, water may splash into the overflow and down the drain.

Drain

You’ll find the bath drain at the lowest part of the tub, allowing all the water to be removed at the end of the bath. This drain features a stopper built in that seals the drain pipe, allowing the tub spout to fill the bath.

This tub drain flows directly into the drain pipes within the home. The stopper mechanism is often the point where drain clogs occur, because they often feature crossbars or other impediments to the flow of water where hair can catch and build up.