jgrimes227
New Member
- Messages
- 13
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 0
BACKGROUND: In dealing with some frozen pipes, I came to learn that the Renovation Contractor (Eggleston Carpentry of Alexandria, VA) who remodeled the Bathroom in the home we purchased last year, had left an overhang space upon which the hi-end Kohler cast iron tub and supply and drain pipes were situated, UNINSULATED. Consequently the tub itself is ice cold, the water supply pipes to the tub and the toilet freeze, and the drain freezes. All this was un-noticeable from the crawlspace – everything looked hunky-dory because the under floor area of the bathroom was well insulated and parts of the area were concealed by what was ¼†plywood screwed to the bottom of the floor joists. Only after the pipes actually burst (and the ice pressure on the supply line to the toilet actually forced the compression fitting off the end of supply line – with a huge amount of water dumped on the floor in a very short period of time) and “Discovery†full-on priority did we find the uninsulated cavity that was fully exposed to the outside – finding it was by following the wind!!!!! Oh, the Toto toilet had been installed incorrectly as well – to the extent that the back of the toilet where the stop-valve is located, was jammed tight up against the wall so the valve could not be reached without removing the entire toilet. (Seems to be an archetypical case where a contractor, doing a job for aged and somewhat addled couple, just couldn’t keep his greed in check and just went all out screwing these people with shoddy work – there’s more but will save for another day.)
MY QUESTION: The Tub is a drop in with a surround that the Contractor failed to provide an access panel for. So what is in behind the surround is somewhat of a mystery. While I am under the floor putting insulation on the pipes, and fiberglass insulating this space I found, I thought that I would drill some holes in the floor upon which the tub rests from underneath and empty a couple of cans of flexible drying “Great Stuff†or some such insulating foam into this empty space. While the flexible version (blue can?) of Great Stuff purportedly remains flexible so that it does not exert the outward pressure that the non-flexible stuff does, I still have some nagging concerns about it – and thus turning to the collective genius of fellow members on any concerns or ideas they may have. I would gladly use fiberglass, but there is not now a practical way to put it between the tub and the surround now that it is all boxed in – except by using an expanding foam up through the floor underneath.
MY QUESTION: The Tub is a drop in with a surround that the Contractor failed to provide an access panel for. So what is in behind the surround is somewhat of a mystery. While I am under the floor putting insulation on the pipes, and fiberglass insulating this space I found, I thought that I would drill some holes in the floor upon which the tub rests from underneath and empty a couple of cans of flexible drying “Great Stuff†or some such insulating foam into this empty space. While the flexible version (blue can?) of Great Stuff purportedly remains flexible so that it does not exert the outward pressure that the non-flexible stuff does, I still have some nagging concerns about it – and thus turning to the collective genius of fellow members on any concerns or ideas they may have. I would gladly use fiberglass, but there is not now a practical way to put it between the tub and the surround now that it is all boxed in – except by using an expanding foam up through the floor underneath.