Original Tub Back In Place

Yesterday was a busy day at my house trying to prepare for the start of plumbing and electrical rough in.  My father has returned, so I expect things will start flying at a rapid pace now.  Getting the massive cast iron tub out of my kitchen and back in its proper place was the focus his first day back at the house.  Prior to this I had to address the under side, which showed a lot of rust in areas.

One of my favorite new tool gadgets is my Ridgid JobMax.  I have three heads for it now and was able to the impact driver head equipped with a steel wheel brush to scrap the flaking rust. After a wipe down I then applied a coat of Rustoleum Rust Kill.

Before the tub could be moved we had to place cement board on the bathroom floor.  I’ve been studying how to do this for weeks, but knew if I did it wrong the repercussion could be severe, so I waited for my father.  Turns out the process went exactly how I thought, but where he was most helpful was with the intricate cuts, so I had flawless seams and no gaps.  The one thing I would have done wrong actually had nothing to do with the floor, but adding support ledge for the tub to rest on.  I knew to do the long side, but he had me attach to the ends also.  I also would have used 2x4s, but given I had extra pieces of 2x10s lying around he had me use that.  Between the quadrupled cisterned joints underneath, the ledge, and cement board that HEAVY cast iron tub is going nowhere.  I can’t wait to get it reglazed.

With the floor down it was time for “my guys” to return for the heavy lifting.  With the help of Uhaul 4-wheeled and appliance dollies my cousin Cameron and his three friends were able to wrangle the heavy beast out of the kitchen and back in its bathroom home. I didn’t get a lot of pictures and no video of this process as I played spotter and navigator to make sure they stayed safe.