Bathtub removal

[borg]

My brother-in-law decided to remodel one of his bathrooms. He plans to remove the tube and make the tub location into a shower. The house is all of 50 years old and I believe the tub to be original. I assume the tube is cast iron, not steel. Eitherway how can I remove the tub? I thought we might rent a chop saw and cut the thing out. Any ideas? Thanks

[VALENT]

I dont know about that chop saw idea. First make sure the water supply lines are off or disconnected before one gets hit and creates a real mess. The tub is probably just attached to the walls near the top of the tub. A little prying should get it moving for you. As far as removal- its gonna take a lot of grease--elbow grease. Some furniture mover dollies will help a whole lot in getting it out of the house.

[borg]

The problem is getting it out of the old location. I need to break/cut it into at least a couple of pieces. There does not seem to be a way to get it out of the spot it's in without busting it up. Yep. Good Idea on turning the water off. I will do that.

[montytx]

You have 2 choices: 1 to remove it and have 3 men put it on a dolly. THey weigh 250 or so. THe other and I say this with caution is to take a sledge to it. If it is a normal cat iron it will break like a iron pipe does. IT will take several hits to get it started. But I dont recommend that.
You likely will vibrate loose nails in the surrounding sheetrock. A chop saw is a very slow way of doing it. Ahother idea might be to drill a line of holes with a good metal bit then wack it with the sledge.

I have taken out many, and we always take them out in one piece. BUt I have broken a few up outside.

[giddonah]

plasma cutter.

[Tom R]

Safety glasses and a sledge hammer is how I always do it, - - but I don't have to worry about damage because I'm always guttin' the bathroom anyway. It actually breaks up pretty easily.

[joelpat]

I've seen the sledge method on TV and it didn't seem to be any problem.

[rabadger]

When I did an old bathroom the last thing to come out was the cast iron tub. Once the drywall, plaster and door were removed we were able to get it out all in one piece. It sat in the front yard for three hours then sold for 25.00.

You might think of a sawzall with a short blade or two.

[borg]

OK. Looks like I will try the sledge hammer first. Thanks for the suggestions.

[montytx]

Sawzall wont cut it unless you have a iron blade. We have used them to cut into old cast iron DWV pipe and it is painfully slow. Takes about 20 minutes for a 4" pipe. THe poor saw is just about melted.

[TnAndy]

Don't forget hearing protection, EH ?

Like banging on a 55gal drum from the INSIDE !

[Tom R]

Good point, TnAndy, - - I forgot to say that.

[montytx]

Ahh take it like a man. Arent all carpenters deaf and missing 2 fingers by retirement?

[VALENT]

WAT? WHT DID YU SAY? Sory abot th type-os. Its hrd to typ wit only 6 fingers. I havnt evn retried yt.

[borg]

It's done. The double jack worked. Initially the porcelain cracked off, and we tried to drill some holes in a line as Montytx suggested. Didn't seem to want to crack along the line of holes. I'm sure we just had the holes space too far apart. Anyway it wasn't a real big deal, and we accomplished the removal. The pig busted up. Thanks all for your suggestions. This is now another of my favorite sites. :lol:

[montytx]

Good to hear. Can you still hear?