American Standard Studio 60 x 30-Inch Integral Apron Bathtub With Left-Hand Outlet - AMS-2973202

Left-hand outlet. Stand at the front of the tub facing the apron, and the drain and overflow are at the left end, so your rough-in waste line has to come up on that side. If the plumbing in the opening is already stubbed on the right, this is the wrong part number and you want the right-hand outlet version of the Studio instead. On a remodel where the wall is closed up, confirm the existing waste location before ordering, because outlet hand is not something you can flip in the field.

Alcove. The Studio 60 x 30 has an integral three-sided tiling flange, which means it is built to tuck into a standard three-wall recess with the finished apron facing out. The flange runs the back wall and both ends and gets nailed or screwed to the studs, then your backer board and tile lap over it. Drop it into a corner or a deck-mount frame and you have a flange with nothing to fasten to on one side, which is where leaks start.

A 60 by 30 inch alcove is the standard residential and multi-family tub opening in North America, so the Studio 2973202 is a like-for-like swap in most apartments and hotel baths built to that rough. Measure the stud-to-stud dimension at the ends before you demo, not the old tub itself. Older buildings sometimes have a 60 by 32 or a shortened alcove, and either one changes what you can set in there.

Change the drain, not the tub. The Studio accepts American Standard's Deep Soak drain, model 1640305, which sets the overflow higher so the tub holds more water in the same 60 by 30 footprint. That is the practical option in a remodel where the alcove framing and the rough-in are staying put and you cannot go to a deeper tub body. Order the 1640305 alongside the tub, since the standard waste and overflow will not give you the same depth.

The tub bottom is pre-leveled, so it sets on the subfloor without a mortar bed to true it up in a recessed install. That takes a step out of the job and keeps the flange line square to the studs. Level the subfloor itself first, though. Pre-leveled means the tub is flat, not that it corrects a floor that isn't.

No framing or separate skirt panel. The apron is integral, molded as part of the tub, so the exposed front comes finished in the same surface as the well. You frame the alcove, set the tub, fasten the flange, and the front is done. That is the difference between this and an undermount or drop-in tub, where the visible face is deck and skirt you have to build and tile.

The flange is an integral 1 inch, three-sided water-retention lip. It fastens to the studs at the back and both ends, then cement board or the surround panel goes over it and the tile laps down past it, so water running down the wall lands inside the tub instead of behind it. Do not caulk the tile to the tub edge and skip lapping the flange, and do not cut the flange off to gain width. Both are how you end up with rot in the wall cavity.

The bathing well has a textured floor surface to reduce slipping, which is what you want in multi-family, hospitality, and any unit you are turning over repeatedly. The rest of the surface is high-gloss and wipes clean, so housekeeping and turn crews are not scrubbing a matte finish. Note that the texture is in the floor of the tub only.