It may have more to do with what jobs are on their schedule than what your lawn looks like. If they were slow, then the $400 job could have just been keeping people busy.
They might just be busy. Or maybe it’s a different guy doing the bidding. It can’t hurt to call them and ask about the pricing. Mention the previous work they’ve done, how you’ve been a happy customer who would like to keep doing business with them but just don’t understand why the cost is so high for 8 man-hours and a couple bricks.
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Is that half-covered number under his shirt sleeve 16? He has PUSSY tattooed on his arm in code?
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I’m going to replace a bathtub. Walls and floor are tile. Something like the video below - only replace with another tub (he’s putting in a weird shower pan). Anyone ever do this? How much did it suck?
Why is that weird? It’s a super standard, generic fiberglass pan.
Are you just replacing the tub or the whole surround? If it’s just the tub, filing in the one row of tile you had to bust out can definitely be a pita.
If you’re pulling out a cast iron tub, that can suck. You basically have to smash it up in place with a sledge hammer, turning the entire bathroom into a blizzard of porcelain shards. You’re going to bleed. Wear safety glasses.
You need 5’ clear not just where the tub goes, but also in front of where it goes too so you can get it positioned to slide in. In many bathrooms that means removing a lot more drywall than you might be anticipating.
Worst part imo is connecting the drain if you can’t get at it from below. Lots of awkward positions in tight spaces trying to make leak-free connections when your hands are cramping up.
Not sure how to rank the whole project on a general suckage scale. I do a lot of bathroom remodels, so it’s just another job to me. But I’d rather build a deck.
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a fiberglass shower pan the shape of a tub and I’ve seen thousands of houses (I did real estate appraisal for about 6 years - peak was over 100 in a month). :shrug: Maybe I’m just forgetting some. Speaking of bleeding and forgetting - I did bash my head on the ladder sticking out of my truck pretty good today.
It probably won’t be that hard to slide out.
What’s the other side look like? I bet there’s a wall there that you’re going to remove drywall from.
And if that’s cast iron lol at sliding it out. It weighs like 300 pounds. Bust it up with a sledge and take the pieces to the scrap yard. Nobody wants a used tub.
I wasn’t thinking of trying to get it out without damaging it. I don’t know what it’s made out of, but feels like cast iron is right and it’s probably original from 1950 or so. I just mean there shouldn’t be too much drywall to bust out. The other side is a short wall and also only sticks out a couple inches past the tub. I’m not too worried about drywall though, just want to keep as much of the tile as I can. Bottom row in a different color/style will probably look ok.
OK, yeah if the other side looks about the same as that you shouldn’t have too much trouble getting the new one in. Sledge hammer is definitely the right tool for getting the old one out. They aren’t exactly easy to smash up, but easier than you might expect. But seriously, wear safety glasses.
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I’m pretty good about eye, ear and breathing protection. Not perfect or anything, but better than most guys on a jobsite.
I haven’t done it yet, but it’s my upcoming project…
If you take the drain and/or overflow out, there’s a way to tell if it’s cast iron, either by the sound it makes or by where it thickens at a certain point. I can’t find the link right now.
If it’s cast iron, get thick leather gloves in addition to eye protection (and a police riot shield if you can get one from the protests), because there will be shrapnel bouncing around like a shooting gallery.
Do I need to saw out the tiles? or chisel? Think chiseling at the grout line is likely to crack the tiles above? I have a grinder that would work, but…big mess.
What about laying something like canvas over the tub and sledgehammering on that?
My bathroom involves taking everything down to the studs, moving toilet and vanity, electrical, moving a wall, etc., so it’s been a while since I watched tub removal videos on YT, but IIRC, one person chiseled the bottom row of tiles, and another used an oscillating blade on the grout, then chiseled. And one person did use a tarp over the tub as they banged on it.
Once the bottom row of tile is out you should be able to knock off any remaining grout pretty cleanly. You’d probably do more damage with a grinder.
Also, I clicked around a bit more on the video above. The guy used cutoff wheels for fiberglass? Sawzall and a cheap wood blade, dude. Much faster and easier.
Also also, don’t use cutoff wheels in your grinder for anything else, either. They’re crazy dangerous.
I got a cutoff wheel to cut through some metal and was so horrified that this wheel spinning at roughly the speed of light was being held on by some flimsy bolt that I didn’t even put the grinding wheel back on the thing when I was done.
The biggest danger with them is that they’re so thin. If you take it a couple degrees off axis and it binds, it shatters. When things spinning at 11,000 RPM shatter, there are shards. They go places.
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I’m not 100% sure what a cut off wheel is, but I think I’ve seen them. I use a diamond wheel thing for cutting stucco, but it’s a solid metal disk and I think not what you’re talking about. I think it would do pretty well on tile/grout. But it makes a ton of dust - I just do it outside.
If the cut off wheel is what it sounds like - almost like really thick and stiff sandpaper - yeah, I’ve seen that and not known what it was for and it seems like a bad thing for cutting.
It’s basically the same thing as a grinder wheel, but less than 1/8" thick and used to cut through things rather than grind them down. Smaller versions are available for dremels. Big 12" and 14" ones are used in metal chop saws and gas cut off saws. The ones that fit on a grinder are uniquely sized to be very unsafe.
The ones for a dremel are also not very safe, but dremels are also kinda dumb and useless overall.
Here’s a great video of an idiot with a cutoff wheel. No guard on the grinder, no gloves, and those probably aren’t safety glasses either. Do not listen to anything this guy says and for the love of god don’t do what he’s doing in this video.
