Jennifer T
New Member
I've lurked here for years, but this is the first time I've posted. I'm an avid DIYer. I'm not afraid to do the work and the necessary research. I've done tile, laminate floor, full kitchen remodel and recently a guest bathroom remodel. On this last venture, I did hire a tile guy to do the shower surround and floor as I felt I did not have the necessary skills for it to look good or the back to complete the job. The new experience I had for the guest bathroom was roughing in the plumbing... which was completely within my ability.
We (my husband and myself... my husband does all the heavy lifting) are now working on the master bath. The problem I'm having is sunken roman tub, which has to go. I decided I would try to figure this out, and if I mess things up bad enough, I can hire a professional. I'm thinking this is another new experience within my grasp, but I have some questions. I've poured over the posts here and couldn't quite find the answers... so here goes
What I want... standard drop-in bathtub, new valve/faucet and a granite splash guard/deck
My Plan...
We (my husband and myself... my husband does all the heavy lifting) are now working on the master bath. The problem I'm having is sunken roman tub, which has to go. I decided I would try to figure this out, and if I mess things up bad enough, I can hire a professional. I'm thinking this is another new experience within my grasp, but I have some questions. I've poured over the posts here and couldn't quite find the answers... so here goes
What I want... standard drop-in bathtub, new valve/faucet and a granite splash guard/deck
My Plan...
- remove the tile on the walls to get access to valve/faucet and re-plumb so that a new fixture is mounted on the tub deck
- remove all of the tile on walls and put in cement board/moisture barrier so that granite can be installed as a splash guard (and not floated out from the wall)
- Knock out the necessary material to create room for running the drain pipe to the existing center drain
- for the tub deck, remove whatever tile necessary with the intent of creating a solid deck (3/4” ply, cement board, etc.) and sturdy framing as necessary (will need to dry fit tub to determine if framing is needed)
- The height of the tub (Kohler Archer), appears to have the correct height that I could pour a mortar bed in the bottom of the roman tub for it to sit in. I would knock out tile to make sure the mortar bed had something to adhere to
- The windows limit the height of the tub but I think I have the 17 ½” necessary for the tub I selected. I can knock out a little material (tile first, a little concrete if necessary) in the floor if necessary to get it to fit.
- I will hire someone to install the granite
- the roman tub has a center drain with a p-trap, and the new tub will have a left drain. Do I plumb the drain to the existing p-trap, or install a new p-trap directly under the new drain, removing the old p-trap and just running pipe to connect it?
- Continuation of previous question: the drain comes out 90 degrees from the tub, so there would be a 90 degree turn in the drain pipe (i.e., if you look at the diagram, the p-trap of the roman tub center drain goes toward the shower). Just wanted to ask if this was a problem.
- Do I need to concern myself with water-proofing or installing a liner or anything with the roman tub that will be hidden under the new drop-in tub and granite?
- I trust you will point out any questions I should have asked but didn't
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