tub replacement help

[jeremytl]

Our house is an old farmhouse with one bathroom. The tub I think is original to the house- 1965. It is so crudded up and drains poorly that my wife and I finally decided to replace it. Especially with a new baby and the tub looking so disgusting, the project is now on fast-track...

The tub is square shaped, standard 5 feet wide and has the 5 piece wall coverings.

I had a plumber come look at it to give me a quote. He said it is an old iron tub and would have to be jacked up out from underneath the house. It sounded right b/c I have no idea how else you could pull or lift it up out of the corner.

The new 4 piece tub sets at the big box stores are not an option because the area for the tub is only 28.5 inches deep and they are all 32 inches deep or deeper. Basically we never arrived at a price b/c there are so many variables at this time. What do you think we should do?

[frenchie]

I had a plumber come look at it to give me a quote. He said it is an old iron tub and would have to be jacked up out from underneath the house. It sounded right b/c I have no idea how else you could pull or lift it up out of the corner.

Considering the weight of cast iron tubs, the more common technique is to smash it up with a sledgehammer & remove the pieces. Careful of the sharp edges, though.

The new 4 piece tub sets at the big box stores are not an option because the area for the tub is only 28.5 inches deep and they are all 32 inches deep or deeper. Basically we never arrived at a price b/c there are so many variables at this time. What do you think we should do?

I assume you mean "wide"? Good luck finding a tub that narrow, the narrowest nowadays are 30. What you should do, depends on your exact setup. Can you make the endwall a bit wider?

[Guest]

Many times you can lay plastic over the tub to contain the shrapel when the porcelain is hit by a sledge hammer.
Eye protection should also be worn.
The you can carry out the broken sections.

When I was young, I remember my mother trying to get my father to remodel the bathroom. Well, she got tired of waiting, and when he was at work one day, she demolished the entire inside of the bathroom! Boy was he surprised that night!

[hj]

I have NEVER had to "smash" a tub, but know many people who did. They also did not like having to cleaning up the mess afterwards. I also have never had to "jack the tub up". By using brains instead of brawn, it is very easy to remove the tub in one piece. I do it by myself and I am 75 years old. The only problem comes in if it is a second floor and has to be taken down a stairway. One advantage of removing the tub intact, is that you then know HOW to get the new one in since it has to go in JUST like the old one came out.

[Cass]

Do you use a 4 wheel dolly?

[Cass]

Many times you can lay plastic over the tub to contain the shrapel when the porcelain is hit by a sledge hammer.
Eye protection should also be worn.
The you can carry out the broken sections.

When I was young, I remember my mother trying to get my father to remodel the bathroom. Well, she got tired of waiting, and when he was at work one day, she demolished the entire inside of the bathroom! Boy was he surprised that night!

You will also need or should have hearing protection.

[jeremytl]

The plumber that looked at the tub did not recommend busting it apart. He said one could do damage to unforseen pipes in the walls and not know it at the time. Its just not a good practice. Anyhow, thanks for the ideas. Busting it up in place is not an option.

The endwall cannot be made any wider.

The way I thought the dimensions worked was:

Standing in the bathroom facing the tub, from right to left is width
ceiling to drain height
from your chest in to the wall, depth

[dcelite]

Right to left (long ways) = length
skirt to rear wall = width
floor to rim = depth

I have'nt seen one less than 30" wide. Are you measuring from the finished wall material to the edge of the tub or are you allowing for the fact that the tub is up against the studs?

[hj]

No, I use a two wheel hand cart. 28" tubs go back to the early 1960s, before FHA mandated that the minimum tub width had to be 30". Prior to that the "builder" tubs were 14" high by 28" wide.