Home Repair forum - replace bathtub

Author

replace bathtub

brnt99@shaw.ca

2006-03-27, 8:21 pm

I am looking at renovating my bathroom, and I would like to replace my
old bathtub with a deeper one. My house was built in the 70's and the
tub has gyprock walls on 3 sides.I am relatively inexperienced
diy'er.I have looked around and bathtubs are relatively inexpensive,but
paying a contractor to install one seems to be very expensive.Can
anyone explain the inns and outs of replaceing a bathtub.
Thanks

Speedy Jim

2006-03-27, 9:21 pm

Jack

2006-03-27, 11:21 pm

<brnt99@shaw.ca> wrote in message
news:1143503129.034047.309340@v46g2000cwv.googlegroups.com...
>I am looking at renovating my bathroom, and I would like to replace my
> old bathtub with a deeper one. My house was built in the 70's and the
> tub has gyprock walls on 3 sides.I am relatively inexperienced
> diy'er.I have looked around and bathtubs are relatively inexpensive,but
> paying a contractor to install one seems to be very expensive.Can
> anyone explain the inns and outs of replaceing a bathtub.
> Thanks
>

Replacing a bathtub is major XXXXX. You need to remove the tiles and sheet
rock around it. Sometimes you need to remove studs/walls, toilet, vanity and
door just to get it out. I'm doing one now where I need to stand the tub up
to get it out. Lucky its steel and not cast iron.

scott21230@gmail.com

2006-03-28, 12:21 pm

You can break up a cast iron tub and take it out in pieces.

Jim Elbrecht

2006-03-30, 8:21 am

On 28 Mar 2006 08:08:25 -0800, scott21230@gmail.com wrote:

>You can break up a cast iron tub and take it out in pieces.

Just tried this last month.
After about the third whack with my 20lb sledge my wife started
hollering that the cans were falling off the shelves in th epantry
downstairs. I looked at the tub & saw that I had just cracked the
porcelain coating, but the iron was intact.

I grabbed my reciprocating saw-- and a blade appropriately called 'The
Torch' - and 3 blades and 20 minutes later, with no further damage to
the house, I had 2 150lb pieces instead of 1 300 pounder.

[Warning to OP-- That was 5 weeks ago and the start of what I saw as a
$700 2 weekend job. [We were *just* going to replace the tub & put in
a surround] I'm pleased with my work, but it is not quite done, and
I just went over $2000. We have all new fixtures, walls, ceiling
and floor covering-- and I even canned the crap hollowcore door that
was on the bathroom. I paint the new door this weekend and I'll be
done.]

Jim

asarangan@yahoo.com

2006-03-30, 3:21 pm

brnt99@shaw.ca wrote:
> I am looking at renovating my bathroom, and I would like to replace my
> old bathtub with a deeper one. My house was built in the 70's and the
> tub has gyprock walls on 3 sides.I am relatively inexperienced
> diy'er.I have looked around and bathtubs are relatively inexpensive,but
> paying a contractor to install one seems to be very expensive.Can
> anyone explain the inns and outs of replaceing a bathtub.
> Thanks

I replaced a 30 year old bath tub with a jaccuzzi, and this was my
first time doing it. It was a major undertaking, but not an impossible
task.

You have to take down the walls surrounding the tub, and expose the
studs. If it is a cast iron tub, break it up with a sledge hammer. If
it is fiberglass, you may be able to saw it off in pieces. It is not
worth trying to maneuver the old tub out in one peice. Save that energy
for moving the new tub in.

With the old tub out of the way, this is the time to do any plumbing
repairs.

Maneuvering the new tub will be a big pain. But I was able to move it
without anyones help. A fiberglass tub will be much easier to maneuver.
Since the tub is rectangular, and the space it goes into is also
rectangular and is a tight fit, you have to do some math to figure out
which is the best angle to come in at. I ended up having to remove some
more drywall so that I could slide parts of the bathtub between the
studs to create more maneuvering space. It was tough, but I got it in
somehow. Once the tub is in, everything is smooth sailing. Replace the
walls with some green boards, and cover it with some brand new acrylic
surrounds, and you will have a brand new bathroom.

asarangan@yahoo.com

2006-03-30, 4:21 pm

Jim Elbrecht wrote:
> On 28 Mar 2006 08:08:25 -0800, scott21230@gmail.com wrote:
>
>
> Just tried this last month.
> After about the third whack with my 20lb sledge my wife started
> hollering that the cans were falling off the shelves in th epantry
> downstairs. I looked at the tub & saw that I had just cracked the
> porcelain coating, but the iron was intact.
>
> I grabbed my reciprocating saw-- and a blade appropriately called 'The
> Torch' - and 3 blades and 20 minutes later, with no further damage to
> the house, I had 2 150lb pieces instead of 1 300 pounder.

I had the same difficulty, but the trick with the sledge is to get the
first crack in the cast iron. Once a crack appears, then the whole
thing starts to crumble pretty quickly. I was not convinced at first
that something that solid, and hard to cause the first crack, would
break up that easily.

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