Replacing a tub

Okay men, it's thinking cap time! Arrrr-arrrrr-arrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! (Makes noise like Tim Allen on "Tool Time")

VERY BRIEF OVERVIEW...
Just replaced the old porcelain-over-steel tub (with the apron visible to one side) in the kids bathroom. It had rusted thru in two spots on the bottom.

Two questions...
1) Since I cut out the old tub with my reciprocating saw just fine, cleaned up the space and now need to get the new (identical style/kind) tub back in place... How do I go about doing that without busting a hole in one wall and sliding it in place like suggested on the www.eljer.com website? Is there a way to fa-nagle this tub into position or am I up the brown river of fun?

2) One of the 1/2" copper pipes in the wall (front of the tub area) has all that lovely green corrosion around a coupler used between two pipes. The house and plumbing are 26 yrs old (we bought it new) and it does NOT appear to be leaking now.
I'm sure that the answer is based on "do you wanna cut a hole under the sink in the bathroom on the other side of the wall in a year or so when it leaks, or fix it now when you can semi-easily get to it all?" Or do you think I'm safe in leaving well enough alone since it is not currently leaking?

Any and all suggestions are welcome gentlemen!
Thanks!

#1 You will have to cut out some of the wall all the way around the tub and a lot of 1 end in order to get the flange area up aginst the studs.

#2 Wipe off the pipe the green won't hurt anything. Are there any signs of leaking besides where the tub rusted out?

We just did the same. We had to cut out the drywall a few feet above the tub and in front of it (ours was in a recessed area) in order to get the old tub out. The new one went in, but it took some fenagling.
Most of these are installed when there is no drywall up in the house, so it'll be a nice tight fit.

Have fun!

If you cut the walls on both ends back to the studs it will come out and a new one will go back like it did the first time around other than this time you will have to lift the bath tub apron up on the finished floor and slide it out. Stand it up and walk it out on end.

Still praying for some way to NOT cut into studs!

plumber1 said:

If you cut the walls on both ends back to the studs it will come out and a new one will go back like it did the first time around other than this time you will have to lift the bath tub apron up on the finished floor and slide it out. Stand it up and walk it out on end.

Click to expand...

Okay, I think we missed something here. The old rusted tub is already out. I used my reciprocating saw to cut it across the middle and it came out virtually without too much problem. So I am down to bare concrete on the floor and all old tile and sheetrock is gone, just the bare studs showing on three sides. Since I have no idea which of these walls is a load bearing wall I'm a bit hesitant to cut the studs, but if I must, I will. My original question was whether or not I absolutely positively HAVE TO cut into any studs or does someone know a wall to fenagle the new tub into place?

Thanks!
Terry

You should not have to cut any studs. Why are you thinking you do? The new tub goes up against the studs just like the old one did.

A standard tub is 60" long...measure the tub and the opening. It might be a pain to get it in, but it should fit.

Note, if you are going to tile the area again, and it is a little tight, it wouldn't hurt to notch the studs a little - that would let you run the cbu over the tiling flange without it bowing out.

I think we're getting close to an answer!

Notching, I like this! Approx. how much do you think I would need to notch out?
(The ONLY reason that I was contemplating cutting any studs was to allow "swing" room to get the new one in place. And, I know I would have to replace cut sections and then nail additional support 2x4's on either sides of cut studs.)

For those of you getting here late in the discussion, here's a catch up of the problem...
A normal porcelain-over-steel tub is 60" in length and, of course, if you were to measure this diagonally, it comes out to approx. 66 3/4" with a sheetrocked bathroom that is 59" wide. To say that it is difficult to swing that 66 3/4" tub into place is putting it mildly. Since the obvious is that it won't fit.
So my question remains...
How do I get this piece of s*** into place? (Sorry, I'm a bit frustrated!)
While I never expected to find step-by-step instructions for this on the internet, I just know there is someone out there who has had to overcome the same problem before.

Thanks for the help thus far guys!

O.K. You place the tub in the hole at 45 degrees or so with the valve end of the tub down the other up and the tub pulled out from the back wall an inch or so that the high end corner will not hit a stud as it goes down. Slowly pull the tub towards the valve wall while letting the tub down at the opposit end. Once the tub is down you slide it to the back wall check for level, if it is then secure it to the studs. Try to do this without letting the tub touch the floor. 2 men.

Do you understand?

Do you have a ledger board on the back wall?

in otherwords you use the wall thickness to hold the apron area as you lower the tub down. You have to lift one end of the tub up into the air in order to rotate it into place.

This sounds like either a two person job or one where a cherry picker would help lower it in place.