Bath Fitters comments?

[dgk]

I have a small bathroom that needs to be redone. One of my coworkers is very happy with the job that Bath Fitters did for her and her son, although at $6,000 - $7,000 it wasn't cheap. But it is a lot cheaper than ripping out the old tub, and it won't take weeks. I'm in NYC and things are expensive, especially renovations. I can't even find a contractor to give me an estimate on the job.

Anyway, she says that they do all the work except the floor. I can handle that part but ripping out tubs is not really my area of expertise.

I realize that this is a franchise but I've not found a whole lot of complaints considering how many of these things that they do. There was a thread in this forum about six months ago and only one person had anything bad to say.

[scott21230]

Bah humbug. Just replace the tub with a new cast iron tub, it's a better long term fix and will be more reliable (doesn't need special parts that are more prone to leakage). That and for the price you quoted I don't see why you can't do it right and get the tub replaced.

[professorpaul]

I had them do mine in a 35 year old house a couple of years back. I was quite please with the results. Unfortunately, after a year or so, the liner in the tub settled a bit, and pulled away from the surround, which was caulked with silicon rubber. Cut it out with a razor blad and re-caulked. Their sales pitch was a bit heavy-handed, but the strategy was just what I needed. My job ran to about $3800 for tub insert, surround, and removal of old tile, etc. It did take them a day longer than they had estimated, due to more damage from water behind the bad tile. However, they honored their price.

[dgk]

It claims with a lifetime warranty. I guess I need to check if that is for BF as a whole or just the franchise; certainly a franchise can close but BF appears to be nationwide.

My understanding is that it will cost twice as much to remove the tub, which involves a complete gutting of the bathroom. If you know anyone in NYC who is willing to redo a bathroom, including replacing the tub, for anywhere near $7,000 please post a contact.

What parts are more prone to leakage? I thought this just involves putting a shell around the existing one. I can see that becoming loose or needing some repair but I don't see it being unreliable. If you know anyone who had problems please let me know about them.

[dgk]

The tiles have been falling off the walls in bunches. I've put them back but it's a sign that the time has come. Besides, they're a hideous orange-pinkish color.

Shouldn' t the repair have been covered by the warranty?

[ameijers]

If the tiles are falling off the walls, you NEED a gut job anyway. That means the substrate is mushy, and probably rotten, maybe even including the studs. Liners are for solid tubs with solid surrounds (on backer board or mudbed, not drywall or greenboard), where the porcelin is just flat worn out and stained, has gouges that are rusting, tiles has black grout, etc.

aem sends...

[dgk]

The tiles are stuck to cement of some sort, and the stuff used to stick the tiles to the cement is just shot. I've been using some sticky white stuff from Home Depot to put them back up. The cememt seems fine, certainly not mushy.

[SeaKan]

we had bathfitter redo our bathroom in February/March, 2006.

They put in a tub liner, did the surround in the tub, and put in a "dome" over the top of the tub. We went further and had the wainscoating put around the rest of the bathroom. we had hideous pink tile. Our home is

1950's, and to do a complete remodel would have been 15k, and we have only one shower. Thus, Bathfitter made sense.

Took them one day. had to come back and redo the diverter. But no real problems. I was satisfied. A bit pricey for what they do, but they are the leading standard.

[Stubby]

Roughly, what did Bathfitter charge? TIA

SeaKan wrote: