Removing a bathtub

What's the best way to do this? The tub is not acrylic or cast iron it's something in between that can be chipped. We have to remove the tiles first, is that difficult?

Steel, acrilic, & fiberglass tubs can be cut with a sawsall or removed whole. The cast iron tubs can be removed with a long handled sledge hammer and renoved in 5 gallon buckets and large pieces. Wear hearing, eye, and lung protection while doing it. You may want to get the full, clear, face protector sold a Low*s.

You have to remove one or two rows of tiles all the way around, as well as the board the tiles are glued to. If they are hard to get tiles, and you want to re-use them, you'll want to use a grout saw to carefully remove the grout between the tiles and then gently pry each tile off using a 5 in 1 tool.

If you don't care about saving the tiles, you can bust out the tiles with a hammer and chisel and just saw through the wall. Be careful around any plumbing. If you are planning on re-doing the whole shower area, you can just demo it all out and start over.

You can try to remove the old tub in one piece, but you may need to remove the toilet and other stuff that might be in the way. You need to disconnect the tub drain as well.

tub

Why are you removing it? If you are replacing it then remove the necessary wall structure and lift the tub out, because you will have to do the same thing to get a new one in.

We're removing the tub because it's at least 18 years old and has some chipped areas.

I like the idea of removing everything else first and then getting to the tiles and tub.

If you're tearing everything out anyway, leave the tub for last. You may just have that 3/4" planking underneath that has gaps in it. If the tub is out, a lot of dust and debris will fall between the gaps. There SHOULD be clips holding the tub against the studs so these will have to come off, you will need to remove the drain basket using a drain removal tool or you can stick in the handles of a pair of groove-lock pliers and then use a screwdriver wedged between the handles for leverage. You will also need to disconnect the overflow as well. If there are no screws visible you'll need to pry off the cap to expose them, otherwise, just undo the screw(s). There will probably be a bead of caulking where the tub meets the floor, cut this out with a utility knife to make lifting the tub easier.Once all this is done, lift the tub up a bit at the opposite end of the drain first, this will loosen the whole thing and then just slide it out.