Small 54" tub spacing, Huge problem

[Biondi]

I have a 4.5 foot wide bathroom spacing, but I'm trying to install a 5 foot bathtub. Any ideas on how I can cut into the frame and make it bigger? Really need help.

 

[hj]

Without knowing what is on the other side of the walls, that is an impossible question to answer, but it will involve taking some space from another room.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Biondi]

It's in a mobile home... There are rooms on both sides and the walls are 4 inches thick.

 

[Jadnashua]

Are you willing to move the wall? If not, you probably have a 54" tub. NOt very comfortable unless you are a child. I'm fairly tall, and find even the common 5' tub way too short for comfort, and found room to put in a 6' one...a 6.5' one would have been even better, but I didn't want to move a load bearing wall. FWIW, tubs generally are available at 6" increments, starting at 4.5'. You'll have lots fewer choices when you move away from the much more common 5' one, though.

 

[Biondi]

This is what's behind the wall at the base of the tub. How would I cut through those studs without making weakness?

 

[Jadnashua]

Generally, you'd need to make a bump-out...IOW, a new wall, floor-to-ceiling, large enough to allow the new tub to fit in. That can be a bit problematic waterproofing that recess, but it can be done.

 

[Biondi]

Any other ideas than the bump-out, that would be way too much work for me.

 

[Biondi]

Without knowing what is on the other side of the walls, that is an impossible question to answer, but it will involve taking some space from another room.

Can you look at the picture I uploaded.

 

[Terry]

They also make 54" tubs for those spaces. I don't know who would fit in those. Mainly for showering I guess.

 

[Biondi]

Yeah that's what came out of there is a 54 inch... That's too small. Looking for suggestions to make a 60 inch fit

 

[Terry]

Yeah that's what came out of there is a 54 inch... That's too small. Looking for suggestions to make a 60 inch fit

The wall needs to move then.

 

[Jadnashua]

You can't just cut the bottom of the studs out, plus, that would just tuck the end(s) of the tub into the walls, and you may not have room to actually use the longer tub's interior. You have to move either the whole wall at one or both ends, or create a bumpout. If you're lucky (or maybe not!), there might be a closet there, and you could just make the closet shallower and maybe use shelves verses hangers, or have several coming out from the back wall, like how they display things in many stores. Plus, if you just made a pocket in the ends, how would you get the tub in place?