What Is a Bathtub Skirt Track?

Mobile Home Bathrooms

• Mobile home bathrooms differ from other bathrooms in many ways. To begin with, they maintain no permanent connection with a plumbing network that constantly supplies water. They also offer significantly less space than a bathroom in a home. This lack of space leads to increased moisture levels. Mobile home bathrooms have fewer opportunities for protection from moisture than home bathrooms because they lack the space for multiple layers of material, such as wall panels and multi-layered shower bases. For these reasons, there are very specific devices that appear only in mobile home bathrooms, including bathtub skirt tracks.

Bathtub Skirt

• A bathtub skirt constitutes the siding material on the face of the tub that does not abut a wall. Skirting only appears on tubs with material that surrounds the tub. For instance, a freestanding, claw-foot tub has no skirting, just the sides of the tub. However, a prefabricated acrylic tub usually has a basin, or tub, surrounded by a rectangular block of plastic. The rectangular face of the tub constitutes the skirt. The skirt provides moisture protection for the floor and protects the tub from impact damage. Ornate skirts, such as the ceramic tiles found on hot tubs, add aesthetic value to a bathroom as well.

Bathtub Skirt Track

• A bathtub skirt track consists of a long, thin recess in the floor of a mobile home bathroom. The skirt track typically installs in the floor as a separate piece of material with a furrow in it that sits at the edge of the floor area for the bathtub. The bottom edge of a bathtub skirt fits into the skirt track, sinking into it to a distance of a few inches. This helps stiffen the skirt and help the tub stay firmly in place. It also prevents water from leaking under the tub and staying there, potentially damaging the floor.

Why You Don't Need a Skirt in the Home

• Residential bathrooms don’t usually need skirts for numerous reasons, not least of all because the flimsy tubs used in mobile homes rarely appear in a permanent home. Floors in your home can support more weight, so you can use much larger, heavier tubs there than in a mobile home. Residential bathtubs are also surrounded by more stable walls, typically composed of thick sheets or layers of plastic or ceramic. These materials generally require no support. Furthermore, areas around residential bathtubs are supplemented with concrete, protective coatings and sealants.