replacing garden tub in doublewide

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Steve-WA
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Joined: Thu Mar 15, 2012 11:04 am
Location: Western Washington, Puget Sound

1990 Guerdon: Renter tells me today that there is a crack in the bottom of her master bath garden tub. I can't get in til Monday to measure and evaluate if a bondo repair is appropriate, but I am supposing the worst, and will likely plan this as a half a bath remodel, doing the tub, and a tile surround, and likely the floor covering.

Garden tubs are expensive pieces of crappy plastic, and unless I can find a white elephant replacement, she will likely get a metal tub as wide as I can find, but maybe I can construct a deck and do a drop-in. Never done that before, but seems pretty basic. I want a good soaking tub, but no jacuzzis, so big is the idea here.

Blah blah blah - - - the question is, for those that have remodeled to replace a garden tub, what has worked for you to balance economy and good looks?

Remember, this is for a rental, so durability and economy are my linchpins. I can get a standard 60x30-ish metal tub with apron for under 200, and with tile and such, maybe another 200. Call it a preliminary budget of $500. But I'd like to find a wider tub. Leaning toward building a box and installing a drop-in tub; maybe a koi pond . . .
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Greg
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It depends of if it is a full size 60" tub or the smaller Mobile home 54"tub. No mater what Don't waste your time trying to patch the tub or you will also be patching the floor under it.

Greg
"If I can't fix it, I can screw it up so bad no one else can either."
Steve-WA
Posts: 180
Joined: Thu Mar 15, 2012 11:04 am
Location: Western Washington, Puget Sound

Was in the neighborhood, dropped by the Habitat for Humanity store, and they had TWO drop-in, 60x42 tubs. Got the one with molded armrests: $50. Next week, will be building the box, adjusting plumbing locations as necessary, and adding 12" floor tile over the box and at least 2' up the surround, if not the whole thing. Money will be in the faucet - seeing some deck mounted like this one that have a hand-held shower nozzle -

I'm getting pretty jazzed about this project. Should be WELL under budget, and will be an attractive retreat feature. AND I can do it with the tenant (single mom) in place, 'cause theres another bathroom!

She's gonna LUUUUV her landlord!

Well, not like that . . .
ponch37300
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Joined: Tue Nov 11, 2008 6:12 pm
Location: wisconsin

Steve-WA wrote:Was in the neighborhood, dropped by the Habitat for Humanity store, and they had TWO drop-in, 60x42 tubs. Got the one with molded armrests: $50. Next week, will be building the box, adjusting plumbing locations as necessary, and adding 12" floor tile over the box and at least 2' up the surround, if not the whole thing. Money will be in the faucet - seeing some deck mounted like this one that have a hand-held shower nozzle -

I'm getting pretty jazzed about this project. Should be WELL under budget, and will be an attractive retreat feature. AND I can do it with the tenant (single mom) in place, 'cause theres another bathroom!

She's gonna LUUUUV her landlord!

Well, not like that . . .
Some advice from someone that has remodeled a bathroom or two. Before you get all excited about coming in WELL under budget you need to open things up. If the tub has a crack and been leaking you will not come in under budget. Leaks in tubs mean sub flooring got wet and is junk. Also means that the insulation in the belly got wet and is junk. Tile in a mobile home isn't the best choice, they move to much and will cause cracks, plus the extra weight.
Steve-WA
Posts: 180
Joined: Thu Mar 15, 2012 11:04 am
Location: Western Washington, Puget Sound

appreciate the input, I'd like to think that I have a good plan, but since you spoke up, what would be your recommendations?
a) as an alternative to a drop-in, and

b)what to cover the box with instead of tile?
ponch37300
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Location: wisconsin

It's not that I think your plan is bad, I'm just saying that usually when you dig into these things there is a lot more that will need to be done than originally thought, especially in mobile homes. Also since you said the current tub is cracked, if there was any leaking you are probably looking at replacing floors and insulation in the belly along with other stuff. Could need new drywall on the walls, sill plates, the list goes on that you won't know until you open it up and see what the damage is. Being a rental, and especially with a single mother you will want to make sure there is no mold or water damage. That is all I was trying to say. That "well under budget" might turn into well over budget. Without seeing the bathroom layout I don't have any advice on what tub to use.

As for the tile, the problem with these homes is the move and flex a lot. Tile and grout cracks easy. There are a couple options here that I can think of. One would be to do your tile. Just make sure you prepare it right, tile is the easy part-it's what's behind the tile that makes or breaks the job. If it was me I would use an uncoupling membrane such as ditra which you can get at home depot. Just make sure to follow the directions on where to use modified and where to use un modified thinset. Otherwise do a cement board or densshield or similar product and then make sure it is waterproof, tile and grout are porus and not waterproof. For grout, if you build the tile backing solid you can use grout on the side and top but at the corner where they meet I would use a matching caulk. You can get this matching caulk at some home stores or a tile store or online. The reason for this is it will give some flex and won't crack like normal grout would.

Another option would be to use a sheet of laminate. Build your frame and the sheet it with plywood. Then use contact cement to put on your sheet of laminate. Here are some examples, http://www.menards.com/main/search.html ... Hierarchy=

I might be concerned about all the added weight if you do a bigger tub and also tile, water weighs 8 pounds per gallon. So if your tub is 60x42 overall dimensions I will guess it is around 52x34 or so inside. Say you fill the tub up 18" with water. This gives you 31,824 cubic inches of volume and divide that by 231 which gives you 137 gallons of water. Now you have 1100 pounds of water. I personally don't know if this will be an issue or not with a mobile home but it is something to consider since a garden tub is much smaller.
Steve-WA
Posts: 180
Joined: Thu Mar 15, 2012 11:04 am
Location: Western Washington, Puget Sound

the plan is hardibacker, and the corner edge will be bullnose to bullnose, and I was planning on grouting the seam. If it cracks, I can always caulk it later. But I will research ditra . . .

After considering our exchange, I have decided to add some extra blocking to support the joists under the tub area, possibly as many as eight spots - I want to distribute weight two across the short way, and three or four across the long way - depends on the direction they are running.
ponch37300
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Joined: Tue Nov 11, 2008 6:12 pm
Location: wisconsin

Anytime two differetn planes of tile meet you use caulk like this, http://www.homedepot.com/Flooring-Tile- ... reId=10051. If you use grout it will crack, the caulk is cheap and in your case you will only need one tube.

Also you should only need bullnose on the top, run the side up with full tiles and the bullnose from the top will cover the side. Here is a window ledge but gives you the idea, http://www.google.com/imgres?start=144& ... :100,i:220.
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Greg
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[quote="ponch37300"]
As for the tile,  the problem with these homes is the move and flex a lot. [/quote


It's times like this that I wish we still had the Archives. A few years back there was a member that was awaken in the middle of the night by what they though was a gunshot, they looked all around and found nothing. The next morning in the light they found a floor tile had exploded during the night.

Greg
"If I can't fix it, I can screw it up so bad no one else can either."
ponch37300
Posts: 622
Joined: Tue Nov 11, 2008 6:12 pm
Location: wisconsin

Greg wrote:
ponch37300 wrote: As for the tile,  the problem with these homes is the move and flex a lot. [/quote


It's times like this that I wish we still had the Archives. A few years back there was a member that was awaken in the middle of the night by what they though was a gunshot, they looked all around and found nothing. The next morning in the light they found a floor tile had exploded during the night.

Greg
That sure would be something to witness. I personally would never put in tile in our mobile home. A properly done tile job will add hundreds of pounds to that area. 90% of a good tile job is the things you will never see behind the tiles.


What are you going to put between your framing and the hardi backer?
ponch37300
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Joined: Tue Nov 11, 2008 6:12 pm
Location: wisconsin

Here is a perfect example of an "un noticed" crack and the damage it did, https://www.mobilehomerepair.com/phpbb/v ... f=6&t=9474. This was point above, when you said you were going to be well under budget. If you have a crack that has been leaking you can almost bet on having additional damage underneith when you start opening things up.
Steve-WA
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Joined: Thu Mar 15, 2012 11:04 am
Location: Western Washington, Puget Sound

All done - how do I post a photo? Not obvious to me
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Steve-WA
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Location: Western Washington, Puget Sound

Thank you
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chablis
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Don't count on being underbudget, even if you get the Habitat store tub. ABS and plastic tubs are notorious for deteriorating badly and invisibly, until the big crack springs. Additionally, you really have to open up stuff and see what's under the surface finish stuff: When we started redoing our bathroom, there was mold running about four feet up the shower wall! Naturally, all that crap got ripped out and thoroughly treated with bleach.

Vis a vis tile: Our other bathroom has a fairly extensive amount of wall tile on the wall, with no cracked tiles or grout. The house was built in 1995. I figure any flexing that was going to occur, has done so, and the substrate has stood up to the shifting. However, when I went tile shopping for the master bath, the tile salesman said to avoid putting tile on larger areas of the floor of a mobile home. He has successfully tiled walls, including shower surrounds and backsplashes, in larger mobile homes, but does not recommend the use of ceramic or porcelain tile on the floors. It seems that the bulk of the shifting occurs on the floor, on a horizontal plane.
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