People have been living in Khrushchev for more than fifty years. Your author is no exception to the rule. I also understand the beauty of small baths and small kitchens. According to the projects, these houses were built for 20 years of operation, maximum 30. But the system of construction of Soviet comfortable housing for "free" has broken down in the country. The market economy has come and the Khrushchevs have not just disappeared, but continue to "delight" the eyes of ordinary people.
And the installation of cast-iron bathtubs in such apartments looks absurd. The service life of which reaches 50 years or more. In fact, they are more expensive than steel, stamped from a sheet of metal and covered with enamel.
Steel baths
In order to find out why in the USSR they put cast-iron "barrels" in bathrooms, you need to understand what properties steel baths had, the advantages:
- Lightweight, one plumber could easily move such products
- Simple installation.
This is where their positive properties end, in the rest there are only disadvantages:
- The steel was easily deformed from the overweight of the owners when taking water procedures.
- The falling of solid objects led to the chipping of the enamel, which immediately spoiled the appearance.
- High noise, when typing in water, as if the pressure of the liquid knocks into a steel drum.
As you can see, there are a lot of disadvantages to such a bath.
Cast iron baths
In contrast to steel, they have a number of advantages:
- The weight of Soviet bathtubs varies from 100 kg to 170 kg, the installation of such a plumber is difficult. But when installed in its place, it is already quite difficult to displace it. What was important when connecting to a cast iron sewer. By the way, I talked about her here.
- The heat capacity of cast iron is quite high, because the wall thickness reached 10 mm. Therefore, it was pleasant to be in it, the water did not cool down so sharply. For the same reason, the noise of such a bath is minimal when drawing water.
- When heavy objects fell, the enamel resisted the impact well, the cast iron under it was slightly deformed, which did not lead to chips. Unlike steel.
Great baths were installed in Soviet times! But why? Was it really the concern for people and their comfort that worried the ruling elite, and not the high pace of construction.
The answer to this question was given to me by Father, who also worked as a plumber. At one time he was "lucky" to work on such construction sites:
- "Steel bathtubs constantly came with defects, frequent chips from careless handling in warehouses and construction sites. And then the difficulties in renting apartments. A cast-iron bath is another matter. At the time of the construction of the floor, they immediately threw heavy plumbing into the bathrooms with a tap. It is difficult to spoil such a product. In addition, when servicing apartments, cast iron products last many times longer, especially in hostels. Such a mentality, you can spoil your own, carelessly. And cast iron was installed for centuries. Steel products are so-so. Temporary solution. "-