Help, please! The steel bathtub in my house has rusted through, and I need to replace it before I start to repair the tile in my shower! The walls around the tub are tile, and I'd like to be able to re-use them when I recover the walls. I'm pretty good with hammer, saw, putty knike and all that, and I'm not afraid to get into this, but I've never replaced a tub before. What's the procedure and what can I expect to run into? Thanks in advance for any/all help. - Chris

 

Chris: the tub is obviously a cast iron porcelain coated tub, and weighs just under what a truck does. You most likely won't be able to reuse any tile in the shower area, as you will break every other one taking them down. It is at this point you sit down and determine yourself to do a total demo of the tub/shower area and be done with it. Remove all the tile and backer, which is probably sheetrock anyway, back to the studs. Now, the tub is another story. You will probably have to break it into pieces in order to remove it. When you get to that point a heavy sledge hammer, eye protection (and other body parts as well) will be required. Once the new tub is in place, you can install proper vapor barrier, cbu and tile, and not have to worry about it for a long while.

 

Thanks, chandler. As for getting the new tub in place, since the bathroom is only 60" wide (the width of the tub, by remarkable circumstance!), I guess it's just going to take some wiggling from upright to horizontal to make it happen? The close quarters and not wanting to tear up any more drywall or framing than I HAVE to is my greatest concern... Thanks again - Chris

 

You may have a cast iron tub as Chandler suggests or you may have a porcelain coated steel tub. If it is rusting through I suspect the latter. You may easily determine which by just knocking it with your hand or foot. Cast iron will feel and sound solid whereas steel will feel and sound tinny.

If you have the cast iron then breaking it into pieces with a sledge hammer is the easiest method of removal. Be sure to wear heavy clothing covering all areas of your body, do not have exposed skin on your arms. Wear heavy gloves and a full face shield. The porcelain will crack and fly off in all directions and the cast iron will do the same.

If the tub is steel then you may use a smaller hammer and break off the porcelain in a line to allow you to use a sawzall to cut the steel tub.

Chandler is correct about trying to save any of the existing tile, it is a waste of time.

As for installing the new tub...if the room is only the width of the replacement tub then you cannot bring the new tub in vertically and lay it down, it just won't work. If this is your situation then you will either have to remove an interior wall or it may require that you remove the exterior (assuming the bathroom is on an exterior wall) wall and slide the new tub in that way. This happens far more often than you might think.

You might consider installing a shorter tub that would allow you to bring it in through the door in a vertical position and allow it to be laid down. You probably would need to special order the shorter tub.

 

remove the door , pull the toilet and if possible take the vanity out to get working room

 

Thanks to all! So far, except for removing the tile and determining how far out to cut the sheetrock, it's been pretty straightforward - the old tub slid out of the recess by walking the back (non-plumbing side) up the wall. The new tub should slide in just as easily, then I will have to determine what to cover the new sheetrock with. I may still need help, but thanks for all so far! - Chris

 

NEW TUB IS IN! Had to remove a little more drywall to get it to slide in (from upright to horizontal, starting with the plumbing side to the floor), but the drywall needed replacing anyway. So, five new sheets of drywall and some panels later, we should be able to shower in it, right? Anyway, it's going better than I would have thought. Thanks to all for the help. 'Til next time - Chris

 

Assuming that you will be tiling the walls backerboard is a better choice than drywall. At the very least use the green water-resistant drywall.