Bath Glossary: Types, Parts, and Essential Bath Terminology

Bathtubs serve as a focal point in bathroom design, providing both comfort and practicality. They are also among the most expensive items to install, with a wide range of complex designs and often more complex features. Therefore, it is essential to fully understand the terminology before taking the plunge on your bathtub choice.

This glossary is designed to help you make a well-informed choice by covering key bath-related terms and providing the vocabulary you need to confidently select your bath.

Common Bathtub Parts

INTRODUCTION

Bath Feet

Supporting components attached to the underside of a bath that carry its weight and elevate it off the floor.

On freestanding baths, bath feet also serve as a common decorative feature, particularly for roll-top style baths.

Rim

The upper edges or lip of a bathtub that runs around the tub opening, forming the boundary between the inside of the bath and the surrounding room surfaces.

Grip Handles

Safety aids mounted at the rim or sides of a bathtub to provide a secure handhold and assist users with entry and exit, as well as changing position in the tub.

Bath grip handles, while not present on every bath, are available for all styles to improve safety and confidence, especially for people with reduced mobility or balance.

Overflow & Overflow Pipe

A small opening near the rim of a bathtub that acts as a backup drain, channelling excess water to prevent spills if taps are left running or drains become clogged.

Internally, the overflow pipe is connected back into the bath's waste. Once the water level reaches the overflow, it is diverted down into the same trap and out through the normal waste pipework

Bath Trap

The pipe section under a bath that holds water to seal out sewer gases/odours from the soil pipe while allowing wastewater to drain.

Bath Deck

The flat, horizontal surface of a bathtub, running above the rim and, usually, with a broader one side, forming a ledge for deck-mounted fittings like taps, fillers or handsets.

Waste

A fitting that allows used water to drain away from a bath into the drainage system.

There are several types of bath waste available, each offering its own closing mechanism, such as: 

• Click Clack - A push-to-activate waste that ‘clicks’ down to seal a drain, and ‘clacks’ up to open the drain, allowing used water to drain away.
• Plug and Chain - A traditional-style waste with a stopper attached to a metal chain, pressed down into a drain to seal when required to fill with water.
• Pop Up -  

OVERFLOW BATH FILLER

Important Fitted Bath Jargon

End Panel

A panel that covers the "ends" of a bathtub - the short, exposed section of a bathtub - concealing and protecting plumbing, frames, and pipework.

Bath end panels give the bath installation a neat, finished look.

Front Panel

Also called a side panel, a bath front panel is the long panel that runs along the exposed length of a bathtub, concealing and protecting plumbing, frames, and pipework.

Frame

The supporting structure built around or under a bathtub that carries its weight, keeps it level, and provides fixing points for panels, tiles, and cladding when adjoining to a wall or the floor.

Single-Ended

A bathtub structured to accommodate a single bather, with the head at one end only, and taps, overflow, and waste typically positioned at the opposite end.

The "tap end" is usually squarer and more upright, while the “head end” is sloped for back support, making a single-ended bath essentially a one‑person, one‑direction tub that also lends itself well to use as a shower‑bath. 

Inset 

Also known as a drop-in bath, an inset bath is designed to be built into a frame, platform, or recess so that its outer sides are concealed, and only the inside of the tub and its rim remain visible. 

Corner

A bathtub specifically shaped to fit into the corner where two bathroom walls meet, with two straight sides at roughly 90 degrees and a front edge that is usually curved or angled out into the room. 

Bath Screen

A glass panel attached to a shower bath to prevent water splashing over during showering.

These typically fall under two categories: 

• Fixed Screen - A stationary glass shower screen to provide splash protection.
• Folding Screen - Multi-panel glass shower screen that concertina inwards or outwards, providing splash protection.

Important Freestanding Bath Jargon

Roll Top

A traditional style bathtub with a curved, rolled rim edge.

Boat Bath

Slipper Bath

Back-to-Wall

A bathtub with one straight back edge sat flush against a wall.

Terms

Handing

Capacity

Double Skinned

Tap End