For those of you that use them. How long are they lasting on average. Before any problems with the porcelain.

We have always used the Vikrell / Fiberglass Bathtubs and wall kits.

They have held up well. But seems to be going out of style and want to try something different on this next property.

So a tub and tile the walls.

Know cast iron is best but at over 300 lbs hard to work with.

I've got a number of them, steel with enamel on top. They seem to hold up well. I like them better than the fiberglass ones, particularly when I have a heavy tenant.

We have Americast tubs in our house (metal with enamel on top) and have been disappointed in the durability of the finish. It scratches easily and the manufacturer recommends against using even something as mild as Soft Scrub on it (which we only realized after several years of using Soft Scrub.)

RR78,

We do not use fiberglass because people sit on the toilet and lay their cigarette on the tub, leaving a melted burn mark. Even the nice fiberglass tends to look faded with age so we are now resurfacing them with epoxy.

Existing fiberglass tubs eventually flex and crack on the bottom (people are getting larger!)

We use the metal tubs from Lowes (gotta open the box and look at EVERY corner for dents BEFORE buying it!) and ceramic tile.

The tile takes an extra day or 2 but lasts forever, usually just white 4" tiles because they are timeless, inexpensive, and easy to clean.

A metal tub will last me just about forever. How long it will last with a tenant depends upon how determined the tenant is to chip the enamel.

Well, my ex beach house was built in '64, I bought it in '96, property was demolished in 2015. It had two steel (iron) tubs upstairs. I recoated them about 2009 in a big remodel. So they lasted 51 years without trouble.