I have a cracked acrylic bath that is leaking - so, should I
a) Try to fix it?
b) Get a new bath?
If b) any recommendations (or otherwise) for bath suppliers? Is there much difference between a £120 acrylic number off the net or a £200 acrylic ideal standard?
Any advice appreciated!
Wouldn't bother trying to fix it.
There is a difference between cheap ones and dear ones, not just price though.
What you want is a fully encapsulated bath. The standard type are the ones with a piece of chipboard stuck to the base and a bit of 6mm ply round the taps. This type are crap.
Fully encapsulated ones are much thicker, they have the re-enforcement board fully moulded into the base and taps with the acrylic.
I highly recommend a vitra optima. They come undrilled for taps usually. When you drill through, you'll notice the core that come out is about 25mm thick! Expect to pay around £140ish for a standard 1700 x 700, £200ish for a shower bath.
Although I think the vitra is 1675mm so chick it will fit first.
The thickness of the acrylic can vary a lot between cheap and dearer baths. See if you can get the spec of the thickness before you buy over the net.
I've fixed them in the past, if it's in a place that's fairly accessible, (i.e. not round the wall side or underneath the reinforced base, but I was lucky)
Glass fibre repair underneath, then used a plastic repair kit (one of [url= http://www.plastexexpress.co.uk/ ]these[/url] I think) on the inside, crack v'd out first then profiled bsmooth with a dremel. Didn't look perfect, but definately serviceable and not too noticable.