Bathroom Remodel Help

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oba97

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I am remodeling my bathroom and have a couple of questions. I have done a complete remodel in a prior home but in my current house I have a couple of challenges that I did not have in my last. here it goes...

1. My house has foam board on under the siding (no OSB) then has craft faced insulation with the paper facing the interior. when I demo'd the bath/shower wall the two exterior walls didt have a vapor barrier, just cement board screwed to the studs. I assume they craft paper was the vapor barrier. There was 0 water damage. My questions is...When I go to finish I was going to put up cement board then paint with Redguard. Is this an issue because I have kraft faced insulation? Also curious how the foam board comes into play? Does it affect my strategy?

2. I have completed my water supply rough in but am a little stumped on what to do with the tub. I am installing a Kohler 72" Archer tub with apron. I do not have access from below an very little from behind (with the wall removed). I will have zero access once the wall is installed. I have read a lot and it sounds like most will measure a lot, test fit numerous times then glue all the plumbing together. At that point they just set the tub on top of the drain when ready to install. I think that sounds manageable but I am planning on putting down a mortar bed per instructions and to help level ( I am .5" low on the drain side). I am concerned that I will get all my plumbing roughed in then when I add the mud I will not be able to get the tub down far enough to meet the drain flange because of the mortar.

I hope the above makes sense.

Any thoughts or comments would be much appreciated.
 

Jadnashua

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Some consider taking a razor and slicing the vapor barrier on the insulation if they're going to add another moisture barrier in a shower area. Depending on the type of foam, it may not be much of a vapor barrier.

Without an access panel, you don't have many options to install the tub...you need to measure carefully and ensure things line up when making the final install of the tub.
 

oba97

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does the tub feet normally sit on the mud? The instructions dont say anything about keeping it away from the feet.
 

Terry

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does the tub feet normally sit on the mud? The instructions dont say anything about keeping it away from the feet.

That depends on how level the floor is. If you have a level floor, sometimes you can just drop them in. Other times, I'm using a backer board on the back wall, setting down piles of mortar and shimming where needed until the mortar sets up. Which doesn't take hardly any time at all.
 

oba97

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I'm not sure what you mean by using a backer board on the back wall? What are you actually shimming, the feet or the apron? I am fairly level side to side but have about a 1/2" drop from the back end to the drain. I can put 1/2" plywood under the front two feet to get it level but then the back two feet raise up because the tub pivots on the back corner of the apron.
 

Terry

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The board on the back wall.
 

oba97

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Gotcha. This tub (6' Koehler archer) doesn't require one but I guess I could install one just to help with leveling. I could level by putting shims under the apron and the mortar would end up supporting the weight once solid.
 
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