bath too long - please help!

[vodkabarbie]

Is there any way to trim an acrylic with glass fibre bath without
destroying it?

We are refitting our bathroom and bought a 1700mm bath. Our current bath
is 1685mm, but we were assured that they were all pretty standard and sold as 1700mm .... as you can guess the new one doesn't fit and 15mm is too much to take out of the walls. The external wall is already chased down to the brick and the internal wall is very fragile, crumbly and thin

We can't take the bath back as we've fitted the feet etc and this
invalidates the returns policy, so the options seem to be junk it and but
a new one, or potentially try to trim it at one end....is this feasible
and how would you go about it?

Our bathroom is putting me off DIY for life! any suggestions?

 

[scatmanjohn]

Whoops.

Whoever told you that 1685mm baths are sold as 1700mm was fobbing you off.

A small selection of 1685mm and 1700mm baths can be seen on the link below

http://www.samsplumbingsupplies.co.uk/products-baths.html

I would be returning it to the shop and letting them know that you are not best pleased with the info they gave you.
Tell them the least they can do is exchange it for you.

Forget trimming it down.

 

[JPC]

ho ho ho

get a plumber in.

if u think u have done all the wall chasing u are prepared to do then i would suggest a new bath

u could try cutting the bath down i suppose if its going into 3 walls and u plaster/tile it in situ..

i would use my small grinder

 

[JohnD]

I've had that too - my bathroom has been built to the exact size of the old bath. Like you I chased the outside wall to the brick, and later plastered/tiled to a slope to the bath edge (otherwise the wall is too close to the tap heads); I also cut a slot in the studwall at the other end.

In my case I had to shave the studs down with a sharp chisel as well, and it was easier to put a new section of WBP in instead of plasterboard (it will bend a little bit when screwed down hard with countersunk screws), you need a good sealing strip with a flexible fin if you do that, as water is likely to get down the gap, don't rely on a silicon bead alone as the bath will flex a bit.

 

[Nige F]

1685.......is that 5 foot 6 inch ...or a gassy foreign lager ..........ho ho ho ......Yes, it`s an Imperial measurement bath .......The shop should know that they are available still

 

[vodkabarbie]

thanks guys...
The internal wall is made of a kind of breeze block, basically when you take the render off (as we've done for space for pipes etc) it just crumbles...concern is if we chase out a wide bit of the render the whole lot will come down :-/

Any reason you suggest a grinder? Will the bath be particularly hard to cut? We'd have to hire one...

We can't get a refund or return on the bath but I'm wondering whether to sell it second hand and get the correct size...can't do that if it's chopped about :-/

 

[sidecar_jon]

Well you can cut glass fiber with a hacksaw easy enough, a grinder will be awfully dusty!

 

[andy.budgell]

Take it back!!!!

 

[joe-90]

You are covered by your statutory rights. It must be 'fit for the purpose for which it is sold'. They gave you duff info hence it wasn't fit for the purpose - so threaten them with Trading Standards.


joe

 

[Steady]

If the old bath fitted and it was only 15mm longer than this one then you should get it in! Just chase some more out of that breeze block wall-it's not going to fall down unless you use a sledgehammer -forget about the 'render' or plaster falling off -that can be easily made good and bathroom fitting inevitably involves some plastering . Just DON'T cut off the end of the bath! It will weaken it and they're not very sturdy to start with.

 

[Expertboy]

Why dont you fit a lintel in the wall above the bath and then you can take out the bricks below to fit the bath in, all you have to do then is fill in the gap after the bath is fitted and re-plaster and seal

Easy !!

 

[JPC]

yeah....nice and easy .....

 

[Agile]

Whilst the wall will probably colapse if you use a hammer and bolster there is a possibly solution!

Use an angle grinder to cut a slot for the lip of the bath. The grinder will not "shock" the wall and should do the job pretty quickly!

Now the professional builder answer! Admit to yourself that YOU were the one to make the mistake, you knew the length of the bathroom and you knew the length of the bath you bought. Put the new bath in the skip and buy the right one! Its quicker than bodges like cutting up walls!

If you wanted to get in a mess like this you should have hired a professional to do it for you!

Tony

 

[Nige F]

. Our current bath
is 1685mm,FIVE FEET SIX INCHES but we were assured that they were all pretty standard and sold as 1700mm I`m more than "assured" I KNOW that`s not true ............ as you can guess the new one doesn't fit I Guessed that and identified it as Imperial The external wall is already chased down to the brick That`s how they used to be fitted
bathroom is putting me off DIY for life! any suggestions?

Ask a plumber who knows that baths used to be Imperial sizes and that they don`t correspond to 1700 metric ones BTW which "shed" did it come from? PS. you CAN still get them

 

[vodkabarbie]

Hi guys
Just to let you all know, we decided to take a risk on the internal wall and very, very carefully chased it out as much as we dared, then gently managed to ease the bath in....it was tight but at least we've had success without chopping and possibly ruining our nice new bath
Thanks for all the advice!
We got the bath originally from Bathroom Heaven - all outr suite and fittings came from there - to be fair everything else is perfect. Fingers crossed we don't have any more problems!