Gio Bella Freestanding Bath Mixers

Ten products, and they are not all the same thing. Six are floor standing bath mixers from Gio, across three ranges: Genova, Torino and Malta. The other four are listed under the Gio Plumbing name and cover the same job from a different angle: two chrome stand pipe sets, one of them with a handshower bracket, and two floor mounted bath spouts, a round at 960x290 and a square at 885x290. Read the listing before you order, because a spout and a mixer are not interchangeable.

The Decision You Cannot Undo

A wall mixer can be moved later with some tiling and some swearing. A floor standing one cannot. The hot and cold supplies have to come up through the floor at a fixed centre distance, in a fixed spot relative to where the bath will stand, and that work happens at rough in, before the screed goes down and long before the tiler arrives. Once the floor is finished, the mixer is where it is for the life of the bathroom.

So the sequence matters more than the tap does. Decide the exact bath first, mark where it will sit, then set the pipe position off the bath rather than off the wall. Get it wrong by fifty millimetres and the mixer either fouls the bath or stands too far off it. Have the bath and the mixer both on site before anything is set into the floor.

The Three Ranges

Genova, Torino and Malta each carry two of the six mixers, and those range names come from the range field on the products rather than from reading the titles. Each of the three lists a black version. The Genova also lists a chrome, both Torino mixers are round, and one of the Malta pair is listed as square. If you are matching a mixer already fitted elsewhere in the bathroom, work from the range name rather than from the shape, because all three ranges run across basin mixers and shower mixers as well.

What Else the Bath Needs

A freestanding bath is not finished by the mixer alone. The bath waste and the overflow set sit on Gio plumbing and wastes, which is also where the stand pipe pillars are listed. The matching basin and shower mixers from the same three ranges are on Gio Bella taps, and if the shower is over the bath the roses are on shower heads. The full range is on Gio Bella.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a freestanding bath mixer?

It is a bath tap that stands on the floor next to the bath instead of being mounted on the wall or on the rim. The supply pipes run up through the floor into the base of the mixer, so the whole column is visible. They are used with freestanding baths, where there is no rim to drill and no wall close enough to take a wall mounted spout.

When does the plumbing for a floor mounted bath mixer have to be done?

At rough in, before the screed is laid and well before the floor is tiled. The hot and cold supplies come up through the floor at a set centre distance in a set position, and once the floor finish is on, that position is fixed for the life of the bathroom. Have the bath and the mixer on site so the plumber can set the position off the actual bath.

Which ranges are on this page?

Genova, Torino and Malta, two mixers each. Those names come from the range field on the products themselves, not from reading the product titles, which matters on this brand because several range names appear inside other words. All three ranges also run basin mixers and shower mixers, so a bathroom can be matched right through.

Are the bath spouts and stand pipes the same as a mixer?

Not necessarily, and this is the thing to check before ordering. A mixer combines hot and cold and controls the flow at the unit. A spout may be an outlet only, fed from a control valve somewhere else, and a stand pipe set is the pair of floor risers. Open the individual listing, or ask us and we will confirm what is in the box.

Can I fit a freestanding bath mixer in an existing bathroom?

Only if you are prepared to lift the floor. The supplies have to come up through it, so in a finished bathroom that means breaking out tiles and screed in the right place, running the pipework and making the floor good again. If the floor is staying, a wall mounted bath mixer or a rim mounted set is the realistic option instead.