Remodeling my second floor bathroom will involve removing a large cast iron tub. The tub is probably much too large and heavy to be removed on one piece and will have to be broken up into small pieces.
How do I do that? Is cast iron brittle and easy to fracture with a heavy hammer? Should I score the tub with a diamond saw before I start to beat on it? Is there a danger of the stucco exterior cracking as the result of my hammering??
TIA
Eric
The tub will shatter. If it does not, use a bigger hammer.
Just wondering if ones man's trash is another's jewel.
Antique claw foot tub, yes, ordinary old enameled cast iron "built-in" tub, no.
Remove the tub from it's position before attempting to break it up, i.e. pull it away fro the walls. Only hammer on it in a horizontal direction i.e. do not hammer downward on it. Reposition the remains as needed to continue the horizontal hammering. Wear full safety goggles (not just glasses), ear protection and full long sleeve clothing as well.
I don't know about jewel, but possibly useful intact - block up the drain and it wouldn't be bad as a livestock trough, say.
When I eventually get rid of one of ours I think it'll go in the shed (with a lid) as a holding tank for rainwater, so I can have some running water up in the adjacent 'shop. That's assuming I can get it out without busting it :-)
Problem with freecycling something like that I suppose is that you don't know that whoever turns up for it is going to be careful removing it from your house :-(
cheers
Jules
Add a face shield to that list. WW
I have a large range of hammer sizes in my tool kit. :)
The BFH is the way to go. I would try draping the spot you were hammering on in a blanket.
As for recycling it? Until one of those things is removed to outside the house, it is nothing but a big headache. I only salvaged one and will never, ever try to do it again.
Harry K
a pickaxe would be a better choice. the point would work far better on brittle objects.
These folks are overstating the dangers of breaking this up. I did wear real safety glasses when I broke up mine but it was not that exciting. Once I got the first crack in it I just kept gnawing away on the edge so I had small enough pieces to put in a drywall bucket and haul out to the curb. A "scrapper" drove by and hauled the whole mess away within a day. Once you get it started you use a sledge hammer and you don't really hit it that hard. Pretty much you just let gravity swing it. This is over 300 pounds of metal and getting it out on one piece would be very hard. I think mine was set before the walls were framed. It was butt ugly 60s pink with rust spots so saving it was not even considered.
Put on some safety goggles or glasses with side shields and wail away with a sledge hammer, 8-10 lbs minimum. It may take several hits before the 1st piece breaks off, but once one chunk breaks off it will be fairly easy to break up the rest of the tub. No scoring or other cutting will be necessary if it is a cast iron tub.
If by chance you have a steel tub, it will bend or dent when you hit it with the sledge. However, steel tubs weigh a fraction of what CI tubs do (they are much thinner) so it shouldn't be too tough to carry out. If you do have to cut up a steel tub, use a sawzall or angle grinder.
The BFH is the way to go. I would try draping the spot you were hammering on in a blanket. ======================================================
Excellent! Years ago, when in remodeling, we used a sledge & always draped the tub with a tarp. Those tiny pieces are shrapnel when flying. One worker thought it was being a sissy using a tarp. After 9 stitches below his eye, he thought otherwise. He was lucky not to lose his eye.
Not true. Read my other post.
Yeah, but how will he get the livestock up to his bathroom?
You can't rely on other people for that.
Completely disagree. Not a matter of using a bigger hammer, it's a matter of delivering the same energy to a SMALLER contact area. Use one of the older style picks. It doesn't make a lot of flying fragments, and it's very easy to follow the fracture lines around and make big pieces into as small as you choose.
The BFH is the way to go. I would try draping the spot you were hammering on in a blanket.
As for recycling it? Until one of those things is removed to outside the house, it is nothing but a big headache. I only salvaged one and will never, ever try to do it again.
Harry K
DITTO that..Bust it up with a sledge hammer...
My project replaced the ugly thing with a one-piece fiberglass tub/ shower unit during a remodel. The out/in was accomplished with a chainsaw that pretty well opened the entire wall ceiling to floor to the outside. Two very good tools when remodeling: BFH and a chainsaw (but don't use one in a basement under a fire detector - ask how I know :))
Harry K
Where was he standing in relation to the tub and the hammer? Did someone else hit the tub and drive something toward him? When I broke mine up all the shrapnel (mostly just porcelain chips) went into the tub and I was standing outside. I had a wall open so I could start at the end and it came apart in about 15 minutes without me really working that hard. You can see the tub in the lower left.
When using a BFH, be aware of your backswing.
Ask my former toilet how I know that.
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