Dear Joe,
I have a grungy old cast
iron tub in my small bathroom. It’s
scratched and gross and I can’t get it clean.
I want to replace it but I don’t have the money to redo my whole
bathroom. Is it possible to replace it
without going through the expense of redoing the whole room? Any advice you have would be great, and could
you give me an idea as to how much it might cost? Thank you very much,
Jen
Jen,
Thanks for the great
question. The short answer is yes, it is
possible. But you have multiple options
when considering a bathtub retrofit and some of them may be possible, and some
may not. It depends on the layout of
your bathroom and your budget.
As far as pricing goes, the
cost of a new tub will range from $150 for an enamel steel model to over $2000
for a high end 3 piece acrylic built in unit.
Labour rates are going to vary from contractor to contractor, as will
the quality of the installation. For
average priced material (say $1500) look to spend about the same on
labour. Now the labour should be about
the same across the board, unless you get into ceramic tile or something
custom. Make sure you use a contractor
you have experience working with. This will make the renovation process
painless and stress free. If you don’t
have a contractor you trust, get referrals from people you trust so you don’t
venture blindly into a dirty, stressful, costly situation.
Depending on the size and
layout of the bath, getting a new tub into position can be quite difficult as
most old bathrooms where constructed only wide enough to accommodate a built in
tub. The tub was installed prior to the
plasterwork being installed, thus, you now have a room that is 2 inches too
narrow to remove the old and install the new tub. Getting the old one out is the easy, if very
noisy, part. Cast iron as strong and
flexible as it is, is as brittle as glass.
Pull out your sledge hammer and bust it up into manageable sized pieces,
and haul it away. Now you have a hole
fit for a tub. The trick will be
slipping the new tub in without damaging the walls, floor or other fixtures in
the bathroom. With some strength,
patience and a little bit o’lube, you should be able to maneuver the new unit
into place. If the bathroom is really
small a new tub and an acrylic tub surround or ceramic tile surround may be
your only option for replacement. If you
have a bit more wiggle room then consider a built in tub-shower. They’re definitely more difficult to install
but they are much easier to maintain.
Whenever it’s reasonable, I
always advocate for a more cost effective, ecologically sensitive and simpler
solutions to problems like yours. There
are a couple other options you may wish to explore. Firstly, cast iron tubs are the most durable
and comfortable bathing implements ever made.
When you can save one from the scrap yard you’re always doing yourself a
service. These great old fixtures are
candidates for refinishing. There are
myriad companies out and about that do nothing but refinish old tubs and tiles. Consider having one of these guys come in and
apply a new finish to your old faithful.
Granted nothing will ever match the durability of the original enamel
but you will have a tub that looks like new, performs better than anything that
you’ll ever replace it with (except another cast iron tub) and at a fraction of
the cost. Look to spend under $1000 to
have this done. You can also find tub
liner companies who will come to your home, install a custom fit acrylic liner
and skirt to your existing tub complete with matching tub surround. Speaking from experience, this is a great
affordable option and gets you a nice clean finish, comparable to a replacement
acrylic tub at a fraction of the cost.
Look to spend under $1000 for this service as well.
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