London builders: bathroom in wood. Part two.

Bathtubs with this structure look more than stylish, and, as a rule, keep to the strict minimalism. Most commonly they are a part of designers' collections, where besides them are present a wooden wash basin, receptor, wall panels and accessories, which allows to create a completely finished image of a bathroom space as a whole.
The third and most popular type of wooden bathtubs radically differs from all the preceding. In the first place their main feature is not a stylish modern bathroom design, but something quite the contrary. They are deliberately archaic, cottage style, which attracts none the less, and sometimes even stronger, than the quaint but a little cold minimalism. These are really direct heirs of those same primitive small tubs and bathtubs, in which in all continents and all history the mankind have been bathing.
The bathroom production technology for these bathtubs is at the same time simple and complicated. On the one hand, they are direct descendants of a cask, because they represent a bottom and sides, made of separate boards, fixed by copper or brass bands. The tightness is reached mainly by precise adjustment of all elements to each other, and use of modern sealers is only an auxiliary factor. The method of waterproof wood processing here is approximately the same as with casks.
The form of the bathtubs of this type is usually circular or oval, which is determined by production peculiarities. Tubs strongly remind their prototype, and look like supernormal casks. All in all, for example, "an ofuro" bathtub in a modern version practically doesn't differ from those in which in their times lavished samurais after battles.
By the way, bathtubs and fonts, created after a fashion and style of a cask, are equipped by hydro and air-massage, which makes them even more attractive. And it's in the first instance not a designer's whim or a stylish decoration of the interior, but rather a pragmatic thing, devised to be constantly exploited in a usual regime. But don't indulge a vain hope - bathtubs-casks are not that cheap.
Drawbacks and unquestionable benefits.
Feelings, bestowed by bathing in tender and natural ancient hugs of a wooden bathtub, are incomparable. It's really the thing for which it is worth to take certain expenditures, sacrifices and efforts. What can be matched with a pleasure of touching a polished rich wood... The delight is intensified by a subtle aesthetics of the event. The aura emanated by a live wood block, can't be imitated or faked. Contrary to the wide-spread opinion, it's now technically possible to build in a wooden bathtub hydro and air-massage systems, and also to equip them with chromotherapy appliances. Nevertheless, a number of rather strict restrictions do exist.
As we know, the functions of bathtubs in our houses are often not limited to their direct purpose and are somewhat widened, i.e. people not only bathe in there themselves but wash their four-legged friends. So well, in case of a wooden bathtub it's absolutely out of the question.
One must choose cosmetics with a special thoroughness. Caring and cleaning a precious article should be done strictly in accordance with manufacturer's instructions. Properly, for major hygienic procedures, one should better have a separate shower-cabin, and leave the bathtub exclusively for pleasure and relaxation, and as far as possible not use it severely. Strange as it might sound, it's too good for its direct purpose, that is, for simple bathing.. .
There is no telling, that now wood together with cast iron, acrylic and steel is a usual material for manufacturing bathtubs. It's still another item, it's chic. But a wooden bathtub cannot be considered a special exotics, a rare exclusion from common rules, like it was several years ago. And if only recently there existed only one or two models, and each was a unique rarity, now producers of costly bathroom fixtures have formed a sufficiently big offer, and in various bathroom style solutions at that. This, of course, is expensive, and will be always expensive, but where there's a wish to possess a desired new bathroom design, no other obstacles exist!