Bathroom: Tub Installation

With the plumbing complete and inspection approved, we laid down two sheets of new plywood and screwed them into place. Next was the tub installation, which we planned to do ourselves. We purchased an American Standard porcelain-enameled steel tub. The neat thing about this tub is that it's lighter than cast iron (by a LOT), but more rigid than a fiberglass tub. The enameled finish provides a similar look and feel to a cast iron tub.

After: installed tub.

To install the tub, a 2 x 4 is screwed into the studs of the wall horizontally. This ledger board is what the back of the tub rests upon once installed. It took us two hours of fiddling to get the ledger board installed just right. With a bit of research, we determined that we should lay a bed of mortar, which would prevent the tub from flexing and give a more solid feel. This approach reduces the slightly hollow feel/sound you experience when getting in and out of the tub. Seemed easy enough. The last video we watched before gathering our courage stressed that we should not get the mortar too wet. It was after 9pm when we setup the wheelbarrow and mixed the mortar in the garage. Nick mixed the mortar and then filled 5 gallon buckets that we hauled upstairs and dumped on the plywood sub-floor. The quick set mortar gets hot as it dries and again we found ourselves dripping with sweat. Nick quickly squeezed a thick bead of silicone on top of the ledger board and we worked together to lift the tub and bring it straight down on the mortar. This is a one shot deal. You can't move the tub around too much or you'll create air space and ruin the perfect bed underneath. As soon as we set the tub on the mortar it was apparent that we had made a grave mistake. The mortar was too dry!

We lifted the tub back off the mortar and Nick walked away. I could almost see visible steam coming out of his ears. "What do we do?!" I panicked. Nick was too upset to even respond. The quick set mortar was QUICKLY setting. It's very heavy and I knew that if we didn't get the mortar up quickly it would be impossibly stuck to the floor and very difficult to rectify. I ran to the basement and grabbed the flat bottom shovel. I chipped away at the side of the mound and got the shovel underneath. I pried at the sides and broke off manageable chunks. They were almost too hot to handle, so I propped the big pieces against the wall. We scraped the drying silicone off the lip of the tub and off the ledger board. For all that work, I could have sat on the floor and cried. We showered and went to bed. The next evening we tried again using good ol' slow setting mortar and a wetter mix. Everything went as planned.