Replacing the tub

This post was written by Jason. It says Michelle because she loaded the pictures.

About 4 months ago, on a Sunday morning, I was downstairs in the kitchen making breakfast when I could hear water dripping onto the ceiling.  Having already had to fix the ceiling once due to a leak, I was not in a hurry to do it again.  I ran upstairs and got Jared out of the shower (he was not pleased).  Sure enough, I found a leak in the tub. The next day, I went to the store and got a patch kit.  The patch held for about 2 months but the crack got bigger and I decided that I was just going to have to bite the bullet and replace the whole thing.

The patch is evident just a couple of inches from the drain.

Luckily, Michelle given me a reciprocating saw for Father's day a couple of years ago so my task of ripping the old tub out was not quite as miserable as it could have been.

If you ever have to do this, be aware that there is a lip that runs all the way around the walls.  This means that I had to demo some of the drywall as well.

I finally got the tub out after sawing the darn thing in about 5 pieces.  I also had to remove a bunch of trim work to get things out.  This bathroom has bead board from the wallpaper boarder down as well as a chair rail and of course baseboards.

Plumbing.  My nemesis.  Plumbing and I have a hate/hate relationship.  I have only once had a not quite so miserable experience plumbing.  I didn't even make an attempt to do the plumbing myself.  I called a friend to give me a hand.  We (well, he, in reality) had to move everything up a few inches.  I had to cut into the studs about a 1/4 of an inch to get things to fit.  When the rough in was finally finished, I layed some plastic on the subfloor, mixed up some mortor and layed a 1-2" bed to support the tub.  It actually fit quite well and leveled nicely.  The next day, after the mortor was set, I installed the back wall and the left wall. My next job was to cut the holes for the fixtures.  This went better than I expected and with a little help, I got the right wall installed and set.  The fixtures were easy to install but the drywall was a pain. 

The trim work has been re-installed here.

To get everything plumb, I had to put shims along the studs on the back wall (I stripped the entire back wall down to the studs).  I spent more time that I would care to admit taping and mudding but I finally got it done.  The boys were so anxious to stop taking showers in my bathroom that they didn't even wait until I got done texturing and painting before taking the first shower.

All the texturing and painting is now done and the green painters tape has been removed.  I am pretty happy with the results but am not anxious to do it again anytime soon.