How hard to replace bathtub?

[julvr]

How hard is it to replace a bathtub?

I am replacing the walls in the bath area, and SWMBO wants me to replace the bathtub while I'm at it. Unfortunately, I am very short of time and money (more money than time), but if it's possible to replace the bathtub in say a day, then now would be the time to do it. At the same time, I'm not really ready for a new major undertaking.

I'm fairly handy. I can plumb copper pipes, but I've never tackled a bathroom before.

Any advise or information is greatly appreciated.

John

[ben.aust]

During my bathroom renovation, I managed to get the old bath out and new bath useable within a day. When I say useable, it was not siliconed or held in place in any way - just the drain pipe connected.

If you are short of time and money - you might be best advised to forget it. Bathroom renovations tend to be expensive and time consuming.

[SQLit]

SWMBO?

I replaced my tub with a helper, one day for demo prep and one day to reinstall the tub. New valves and new shower. The drain tried to kick our ass. A quick trip to ACE hardware bought all of the needed unknown/planned for products. The it took the better part of a week to install the finishes. I used the tub with a sponge and very little water until the grout dried and was sealed.

Tubs would be a major undertaking in my book. I installed a AS whirlpool tub.

I would never try to live in a home with one bathroom and do a remodel again.

[Jim Yanik]

[e-mail] (julvr) wrote in news:lNzzf.14717$ [e-mail]:

That's the -best- time to do it! It allows for getting the old tub out and the new one in much easier than if you're trying to keep the walls "intact".Especially if the toilet or something else is next to the tub.

Go to Home Depot and look at the tubs there,you'll get an idea of what's involved. As long as the drain is in the same place,it would not involve any plumbing.(IF the tub spout is above the tub,coming out of the wall).

Take the SWMBO,shop for prices and styles. You can even talk to one of their people about it,face-to-face.

[Bob]

You have to see the big picture here, and look to the future. Tell her "sure honey, I can do it in a day". Then take a week, and make all kinds of excuses why it isn't done. She's get so pissed that she'll never again insist on doing it her way.

[Bill Kearney]

Depends on your skill level.

Why and what kind of walls?

Is this just a soaking tub? Or is it a tub/shower setup? If it's just a soaker tub (jacuzzi, etc) then you're only talking about dropping a tub shell into a frame and handling the surface around it (usually tile). If it's a full tub/shower then you're talking about dealing with a tub with a lip around it and tiling down onto it. Again, depending on your skill level it's not all that difficult. I mean, think about it, if the average nitwit contractor can do it, how hard can it really be??

Doing it right, and dealing with the inevitable complications, is where experience counts.

[3rd eye]

If you've never done it before I'd seriously doubt you'll get the old one out, a new one in, have a drain & faucets hooked up in a day.

I did it once- but my house was gutted at the time. Like SQLIT I struggled with the drain. Buggered it up & had to buy replacement parts.

Sounds like you've already got a major undertaking.

But as you said, "now is the time to do it".

[ben.aust]

Yes it is a big job and will probably cost at least twice what you estimated. Isn't that always the way with home renovations? What's the old bath made out of anyway? Older ones (like 1970's) tend to be enameled cast iron which are really really heavy. Me and a strong helper were really struggling to get my tub out the bathroom door and out the nearest window.

[ben.aust]

BTW what's SWMBO?

[ben.aust]

Never mind I googled it. Better nip this "must be obeyed" in the bud. My rule is if she doesn't help, she aint telling me how to do it - I don't tell her how to to cook so she's not telling me how to renovate.

[Steve Kraus]

Just out of curiousity how *does* one R&R a tub? Assume wedged in by 3 walls. Does the weight of a cast iron tub alone keep it in place? But the big question is how the drain is connected/disconnected. I'm not planning to do one but reading this makes me wonder.

This house has two bathrooms back to back with the baths back to back so the drain/overflow area is not accessible from behind. I don't even know how this got installed since I presume some sort of rear or under access is needed. Or is it? Maybe it was all done from the side before the wall was closed up. The wall between bathrooms is double thick or greater. Slab floor.

[MikeP]

In article , [e-mail] says... Older ones (like 1970's) tend to be

Bust the tub up with a sledge hammer if it is cast iron.

[Bob]

My solution is to tell her "sure honey, I can do it". Then take a week, and make all kinds of excuses why it isn't done. She'll get so pissed that she'll never again insist on doing it her way.

[scott21230]

If you are replacing it with one fo those crappy fiberglass tubs, then you can probably do it yourself. If you want a cast iron tub, pay someone else to do it.

[tbl]

Wait 'til summer. You can bathe in the back yard while the remodeling drones on.

[Dave Combs]

If cast iron, just take a 10# sledge hammer and break it up. Imagine the tub is someone you dislike and it will go very quickly.

[tom&kel]

just did my bathroom. replaced enamel over iron tub with a plastic type. since mine was easily accessible from all sides(gutted walls and open from the basement )the plumbing was very easy with pvc. broke the old tub into

[ameijers]

Unless the enamel is totally shot, no way would I replace a cast iron tub with one of those crappy plastic things. A deep-cleaning with the stuff you have to buy at the janitor store, followed by a coat of wax, can often do wonders. Even if the enamel was shot, I'd probably go with a liner, if I could find someone that had tight-fitting ones for my model of tub, so it didn't get noticably smaller.

But, having said that, if SWMBO insisted, I'd get another iron tub, especially if I was doing a total gut job on the bathroom (what is another few hundred dollars at that point?) I would probably pay a plumber to install it in the bare room, just like a new rough-in. Like the others have said, getting it in the room is the hard part, since the bathroom is basically built around the tub.

aem sends...

[Frank Warner]

She Who Must Be Obeyed.

Not sure you've ever had one of those, else you'd know this already.

-Frank

[Evo]

Well that depends. How old is the house, are the walls in the tub area floated concrete, Green board, Hardy board, drywall? I'm doing one now and it's not easy. I'm lucky I have a drain access panel which makes it easier.

I cut out the old steel tub that had rusted at the drain. Spent some time carefully removing the cement and lathe so I could get the new tub in by myself, thank god it was an acrylic tub. Hooked up the drain through the access panel and reinstalled metal lathe and floated in new cement wall that were damaged. Two coats, scratch coat and then the brown coat. All is level and plumb and now ready for tile. 3 days up to now, the biggest wait is the cement work and waiting between coats. If all your doing is wall board of some kind then your time will be less. I'm not replacing the plumbing but I could, the customer says no, I warned them but its beyond me at this point. I probably have 10 hrs into it.

Good Luck,

RV