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Finished Tub/Shower Not in One Day

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Finished Tub/Shower. But not in one day, Yes our tub needed it and with watching all the bath remodel commercials on TV for the past 2 years or so I decided enough and tore out this 1980’s one piece fiberglass tub and replace it with something a little more modern.

Now when I see the ads on TV I think none of them were tiled with real tile, fake tile on the wall panels, The tub company sells panels for the walls which are glued to plywood, these panels at the store sell for 3 times as much as the price of the tub!. They claim they are not plastic but they are some sort of material like plastic.

I went with USG Durarock cement board it’s what I have used in the past and yes it’s a long time consuming way with real tiles, All for less than $500 and my free labor. Now when I see the TV ads I say mine looks better, theirs look cheap! costing people 10 grand with 5 year financing, or no payments to 2025 and no interest, blah blah. They must be making a killing on these as I’ve seen at least 3 different companies that got in on this bath remodel campaign.

Well enough said here is a before and after photo of my tub and shower. By the way the glass door package by OVE sells for $700 at the big box stores, I was lucky to get this NIB for around $60 at an auction.

Old and new
Before and After

Some other photos of the “during” process which as I said on my other post took about 1 month to complete.

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One Day Bath Remodel “NOT”

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One Day Bath Remodel “NOT” More like one month bath tub replacement.

Let’s start with at some point in the 1980’s, The previous owners decided to install a one piece fiberglass tub (with walls attached), They must of had to remove the door frame completely as the doors are 24″ wide and the one piece tub is 29″ wide.

The demo I did consisted of cutting the old tub ‘in place’ removing it in sections to allow removal out the 24″ door, Once the tub was out I worked on the walls and removing all the plumbing. Also this is my 1st tub replacement!

Next after placing a level in several locations I found the outside wall was way off level as well as leaning, this was expected as the house is 236 years old.

The floor was pitched down from the wall as well as leaning to the left about a 1/2″, a closer look at the old tub showed they cut the bottom on an angle to compensate for the leaning floor.

It was a nightmare trying to get the new tub in place and level, I added some 2×4 studs to the rear wall the best I could to give me a somewhat level are to attach the cement boards, also shimming the steel tub.

The new tub is a common size at 30×60. The one piece tub was 59×29 which meant I had to remove part of the closet and door jamb.

I wanted to use tiles on the 3 sides that meet the tub, also I wanted to add built-ins for shampoos etc. The tub was priced around $200, the surrounds they sell which for lack of a better term are plastic and can cost $5 to7 hundred dollars.

More posts to follow as this took a month or so to get this tub working again, this is not a full bath remodel as I am doing it in stages as the sink was already replaced.