At war with a bath!

[obmitty]

Hi, I just bought a new house, and I'm fitting a new bath.

In my old house I was constantly at war with the bath trying to stop it leaking. this was mainly due to some joker tiling the room before fitting the bath, but also because there was a slight movement in the bath when showring which gradually wore away all the sealents I ever tried.

The new bath also moves a tad when standing on its frame. How can I stop this? Its really hard to reach the other side of the bath and secure it any other way!?

Many Thanks

 

[masona]

As the bath is already in, the bath should have a timber batten under the rim(?) if so, you could try using battens upright at a sight angle then screw it to the bottom floor, won't be easy though! Then fill the bath up with water then re-sealant, when dried empty water

 

[Richard C]

Sorry if I’m stating the obvious to you but are the bath support feet (assuming it has them!) directly over the joists? Fix the supports to the underside of the bath in locations that are directly over a joist; sometimes this isn’t possible with all of them & you should fit 4” x 2” timber noggins between the joists to provide extra support or the floor will flex. Screw though the joist at right angles into the noggin with at least 4 x no 12 screws each side to make sure they are securely fixed. I assume you have tied the bath to the wall!

 

[obmitty]

Assume nothing!

This is the first time I have fitted a bath, my book says nothing about tying the bath to the wall, simply screwing the feat in place, though it does mention screwing an extra beam between the feat and using this as a base (not pulling up floor boards).

Thanks for the tips so far.

One of the problems is reaching behind the bath to do these jobs!

 

[ColJack]

get yourself several cans of expanding foam filler and just squirt it round the back of the bath..

it's a messy job but might work..
it should "glue" the bath to the wall and stop it moving..

if it works, let me know... I have to do my bath at some point...

 

[Richard C]

Assume nothing!

This is the first time I have fitted a bath, my book says nothing about tying the bath to the wall, simply screwing the feat in place, though it does mention screwing an extra beam between the feat and using this as a base (not pulling up floor boards).

Thanks for the tips so far.

One of the problems is reaching behind the bath to do these jobs!

With a cast iron bath, there wasn't too much of a problem as the weight meant it would pretty much stay where it was without anchoring. Fibre glass & steel baths are, however, much lighter & need to be tied to the floor & the wall otherwise they will move around. The bath fitting pack usually contains slotted brackets especially for this purpose - slots are necessary, vertically to allow a little give as the bath fills as up as it will always move slightly unless it’s on solid concrete. One wall tie at opposite corners on the outside is all you need.

Hopefully you won't have to pull up the floor boards, just make sure the feet are positioned over the joists. You can span the joists over the top of the floor boards if you have clearance under the bath & the support feet allow enough adjustment to get a 4” x 2” in there; you could drop this to 3” & it will probably be OK but I wouldn’t go less.

 

[iaith]

As some people have already said, a good wooden frame will help, also if the floor boards that the feet are resting on are a bit springy, raise the legs and put a larger piece of wood under them.
As for securing the bath to the wall use silicone, loads of it , one or two tubes, (somebody suggested expanding foam, I'm not too sure about that). but loads of proper good quality silicone will work, plus the two angle ties supplied with the bath of course.

good luck.

 

[crapday]

measure the distance from the floor to the underside of the bath rim and screw a length of timber to the wall, the rim of the bath should sit on that and not move. I also put 2 lengths of timer spanning the two feet to spread the weight.

 

[obmitty]

Cheers everyone, lots of good information here.

However, had a look around and I don't seem to have an 'angle tie' with my ebay bath!

What are they, just little metal brackets or something?

 

[Richard C]

However, had a look around and I don't seem to have an 'angle tie' with my ebay bath!
What are they, just little mettle brackets or something?

Now there’s a surprise! All you need are 2 angle brackets, around 25mm wide & at least 3mm thick, lengths to suit, with a hole in one side (screw to the timber which should be laminated under the bath edge) & a slot(s) in the other side – mark & screw to the wall; use at least No.10 screws or it will be too flimsy.

 

[Steve]

Forgive the slight hi-jack, but this may be of benefit to others . . .

Is the "correct" way to fit a bath actually to built a framework around it, so the rim of the bath sits on top of the frame? Then tile around it? I'm sure I've seen Mike Holmes do this . . .

 

[keyplayer]

due to some joker tiling the room before fitting the bath

I must say it is actually much easier to tile and grout the bath area before fitting the bath, that is all bar the bottom course. Reduces the risk of damaging the bath as well.

 

[obmitty]

Sure, that makes sense, I just meant he tiled down hbehind the bath instead of up from the bath....

The other problem unless you measure up is that you will have your cut tiles in direct vision instead of at the top of the wall.

 

[obmitty]

In the end I managed to fit some tension bolts through the bath frame, three in all, and its solid as a rock. I've now put the first layer of high quality silicon sealent all along the edges. I will then tile on top of this leaving a space between the bath and tiles of about 3-4mm which I will fill again with sealent. hopefully this will work! Any tips?

 

[Richard C]

In the end I managed to fit some tension bolts through the bath frame, three in all, and its solid as a rock. I've now put the first layer of high quality silicon sealent all along the edges. I will then tile on top of this leaving a space between the bath and tiles of about 3-4mm which I will fill again with sealent. hopefully this will work! Any tips?

Make sure you fill the bath right up to the overflow with water BEFORE you apply the silicone bead & leave full until set. This replicates the weight of you + water & helps prevent tension in the silicone bead when the bath moves under the weight. Baths always move on timber joists & silicone is not good in tension so the bead can quickly split away from the bath if you don’t do this.