My bathtub is plumbed above ground. Don't ask. I can get a clawfoot tub high enough by putting it on 2 2x12s, which the manufacturer recommends. (It's on the second floor, so I'd have to do that to spread the weight over the joists anyway.)

I usually take showers, would prefer a regular tub, which would require 6" support (which the old tub had), but the shower/tub combos in the home stores are taller. Plus I'd have to do something about the underside, put some kind of skirt around it. I can't imagine it looking good.

I'd really like to install it on the floor, so I don't have to step up so much (I'm getting old), have a powered drain. I take a shower once a day; I usually keep the plug in the drain and bail out the shower water to flush the toilet ('cause I'm a good citizen who lives in a desert.) so I'd rarely use it. I suspect this isn't code.

Sorry, I gotta ask. Why is the drain so high? Have you ever had a plumber over to look at it, in terms of dropping it down?

It was built that way because it was. The original bathroom was a modular fiberglass enclosure which hid all the plumbing and made it inaccessible;; I couldn't see this when I bought the place. I had to take out a wall to get access to it, necessary after a drain pipe cracked. Once I saw the mess (cracked pipes, warped flooring, warped studs, a hole 'drilled' all the way through the floor by a slow leak.) I bought a reciprocating saw and cut it into disposable pieces (Originally it had been dropped into place whole by crane; there was no way to take it apart simply by unscrewing all the pieces.) The original tub/shower was a single molded piece of fiberglass, propped up on 2 2x6s, the outside part went down to the floor.

The plumber who looked at it recommended putting a regular tub on similar supports, building a skirt around the bottom. I prefer access. I've already put in a new floor, ceiling, walls, lights, fan, and vanity, been showering at the gym.