Moving cast iron bath

[nicknoxx]

This is not the usual question asking how to get a cast iron bath out but how to get one in. We've bought an Art Deco bath which about 10mm thick cast iron. It's *heavy*. It's sitting in the garden waiting to be moved into the house. There is no way it will go up the stairs but luckily there is an external staircase that was build as a fire escape (it's an old pub).

The staircase is straight with a 90 degree bend at the top. So the question is how do we get the bath high enough to go through the doorway? We could tackle the problem with several strong blokes but there isn't much room to manoeuvre and there is a danger the enamel will be chipped.

I'm thinking some sort of hoist but there's nothing high enough to attach it too. I can post pictures tomorrow if that makes it clearer.

Many thanks in advance

Nick

[Ericp]

You stand it on its end and chuck manpower at it.

[Andrew Mawson]

escape

clearer.

The preferred method has already been established in previous discussions on this group. You build a coffer dam and float it in. Simples.

AWEM

[GB]

I'm waiting with bated breath for a solution involving an angle grinder.

Failing that, I'd have thought one of those stair-climbing sack trucks would do it.

[Owain]

Crane over the roof?

Or build a very big earth ramp.

Owain

[Tim W]

If you get enough ex Mod parachutes you could sew them together and make an enormous Helium balloon to lift it gently up to an upper storey window.

Tim w

[js.b1]

Since the fire escape is likely to be "unsympathetic" to enamel, the solution used to be take it up the staircase by turning it upside down with someone underneath crawling on all fours and a person behind and in front with a wide rope securely attached.

Failing that the other method was take out the bathroom window, scaffold outside, hoist up (if it drops do not hang onto the rope :-) and then through the window.

The only other method is re-open the pub, get the people in, the bath in and... then figure out how to get the people out again... you would need a drinks licence of course... so may I suggest using it as a plant pot in the meantime ?

Put simply you need at least 3 people of substantial size since it will weigh 250kg or so - it needs to be grappled which is to say the weight is held against the body. Nearby fire station might be able to help, and fill it for you afterwards... not sure what liquid it would be re AFFF (bubbles would last well)... dry ice... water... or some broadly similar liquid...

I guess no-one had a lighter pressed steel version? :-)

[Phil L]

It will go up the stairs and it will fit through the door, you just need a few strong chaps to make it so. Forget hoists, taking windows out, rooves off and all the other bollocks - these things were put in by one man in Victorian times. Forget about the enamel chipping - the plaster / woodwork / everything else, will give way before the enamel does.

[The Medway Handyman]

EricP is dead right. Muscle is what you need. Half a dozen WHB's.

[Nightjar]

I've broken one of those with a much lighter load than a cast iron bath. Having two wheel on the ground at each side also makes them not want to turn sharp corners.

Colin Bignell

[Robbo]

In that case the OP will need a Victorian man to put it in, some suitable lead pipe for the plumbing, and several small boys (Ooooer missus) to clean it and a maid to fill it and scrub his back as well

[Nightjar]

If you have or can add a strong enough point at the top, lay boards up the stairs and use a winch to pull it up the slope.

That shouldn't be a problem with a controlled winching, but a wooden or high density foam buffer around the rim would make sure.

Colin Bignell

[cynic]

The traditional way was to have a very strong plumbers mate who would put it upside down over his back and creep up the stairs like a cast iron turtle. Sadly all you get is wimps nowadays.

[Andy Champ]

WHB? Wash Hand Basin? Waste Heat Boiler? Waste Handling Building? I'm sure it isn't the Kansas radio station...

Andy

[Owain]

Well Hefty Blokes?

Owain

[Andy Dingley]

Welsh Half Backs

[chris French]

Well hung blokes?

[The Medway Handyman]

Well Hard Bastards :-)

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Andrew Mawson" saying something like:

Large catapult at the bottom of the garden. Even simpleser.