I assume that by "pre-fab" tubs you mena a fiberglass tub with an integral shower surround. Ripping out the old tub and tile and redoing it is essentially a complete bathroom remodel. It requires plumbing/wall and flooring rehabilitation which is not out of the reach/ability of the DIY homeowner, but it is also the fundamental livelihood of a lot of remodeling contractors. So answering the question of "how hard is this project?" is completely dependent on the skill set/ attention to detail of the individual performing the work.

Porcelin bath fixtures are typically nicer than thier fiberglass counterparts, but there are some nice FG ones available. You get what you pat for. One caveat is that many of the one-piece tub/shower units will not fit through a standard doorway. They are installed during the intial construction with the framing /walls built after they are in place. Don't buy/pick one of these if you're not planning on ripping out some of the walls. They do make others that come in sections for remodeling existing baths.

HTH

I'm just finishing up installing a new 1 piece fiberglass unit from Aqua Glass. It did require removing the existing door and framing, but I knew that going in and the wall was not a load bearing wall making it easy. In my installation I tiled from the top of the tub/shower to the ceiling with 6x6 tiles + decorative tiles. I also installed a Basco frameless shower door. The combination of the two really dresses up a plain fiberglass unit. Lowes sells Aqua Glass and the unit I purchased was a special order item.

Link to tub/shower unit: http://www.aquaglass.com/details.cfm?ID=326032A

Link to basco site: http://www.bascoshowerdoor.com/consumer/default.htm

Thanks for the information. I hadn't even thought about the doorways!!! I doubt DH has thought about it either... I will be printing this out and showing him.

The fiberglass reinforced plastic material used to fabricate your pre-fab tub/shower unit is somewhat flexible. The floor will be sloped to a drain, and is subject to flexing when someone is standing on it. To prevent the floor from flexing and eventually cracking, grout is forced into the space between the tub and the sub-floor. The grout conforms to the shape of the cavity, and then sets up hard. When this is done correctly, the floor of the tub/shower will not flex.

A lot of the fiberglass units today like Aqua Glass come with a sturdy frame underneath with leveling boards. No mortar required under the tub and no flexing.

AquaGlass and others make 2 or 3 piece replacement units for remodel jobs. I used a 2 piece A-G, caulked the seam with high-quality silicone and it looks A-1. It saves the hassle with getting it through the doorway.

These things look and feel really cheap, IMHO.

I am trying to talk DH out of it, but he has himself convinced. I told him that the doorframe will probably have to come off, and his response was, "well if I'm already ripping out the tub and tiles, who cares about the doorframe?" He also thinks this job can be completed by two people in ONE DAY. I think he is dellusional.

If he means start to finish, (demo, installation and reconstruction of all the finish surfaces) in one day, then I think he has pretty unrealistic expectations. Especially for someone who's never done it before.

I hope this isn't the only bathroom in the house.

Good luck

Perhaps you can post the followup under household disasters.

Ha-ha! I probably will be posting the follow up under home disasters!!! And, yes, this is the ONLY bathroom in the house. I think a more realistic time expectation would be a week.

I just completed an installation of one of these things and it took the better part of a week. I measured all the doors and hallway before I started so I knew from the beginning that I would have to tear out the frames, However I did not consider that I was putting in a 5' shower into a 5' wide bathroom so I ended up tearing out a wall into the bedroom and sliding this thing in and out a half dozen times to hook up all the plumbing because there was no access from the plumbing side. I used a bag of concrete under the tub to provide stability and to decrease the likelyhood of cracks developing over time. If you can do it in a day, call Guiness (the world records people). Wear gloves when handling this thing cause the glass splinters will eat you up. Good luck.

Ditto lourock. We made plans ahead of time to take showers at a friend's house during our remodel. Our shower was out of commission for 3 days while we remodeled. I would recommend the 2-piece units to save the doorframes coming out.

If you like taking baths, I would give the shell thing that he wants to buy a test sit. We had them in our old house and since they need to fit inside the existing tub, the resulting tubs were tiny. I love taking baths so this was an issue for me. I think they look okay though...especially if you are covering up something kind of yucky.

-Stella

Depending on the location of your toilet, it may have to be pulled as well.I did a project like this in an older mobile home, and being a one person operation, it was easier to pull the commode than to try and fight lifting the tub shower unit over it at an angle.If you have to pull the thunder jug, dont drink a whole lot of coffee before starting unless you have a few trees around!

o.k., stupid joke, but if you decide to pull the toilet,get everything ready for the new unit,(plumbing re routed, any wall prep, etc.),pull the toilet,slide the unit in place, and immediarely replace the commode. It only needs to be out of commision for a short time.

See this is why I post here, I hadn't thought about where the toilet is located either. At this point I think it would be easier to rip out our entire bathroom and re-do the whole thing at once instead of this horrible tub scenario. This is why I find the project confusing. He is ripping out our old tub and tile, so it won't be one of those "cover up" tubs, but it will be all one piece (or two pieces). Would it make more sense to install a new tub and tile? Would this be a lot more expensive?

Well, they (DH,BIL,FIL) are doing the tub today... I've escaped the house for the day, wonder what I will find when I return *shudder*!

Good Luck!!

Okay, it's pretty bad. I was really not happy when I got home yesterday! And I just KNEW it was going to be like this, and you all warned me...

There is a layer of white dust over EVERYTHING in the entire house from ripping out the old tile. The tub is in, but the walls that go around it are not. Now they are also replacing the window in the bathroom too... my guess is two more days, at least. I am at work not, wonder what I will find when I get home today????

Relax, take a deep breath,meditate, feng shui, kung fu,whatever it takes,settle down as it will get done.The one day and it will be done was unrealistic,(as you are now aware of),and it probably wont get done by tommorow.If you can suggest to your husband to get everything functional before worrying about the cosmetics, it will give you a chance to be able to utilize the tub/shower. This isn't always possible,but might be an avenue in your case being your only bathroom.I wouldn't lay a lot of pressure on as well,as mistakes in plumbing are usually found after the fact meaning tearing out work that was just completed.Work slow,safe,and triple check everything. It will get done and you will have your bathroom back and you will both laugh about the experience later.My wife and i turned our two baths,(back to back), into 1-1/2 baths,making one bigger.I was able to keep one toilet functioning until the other could be placed,and got the shower going asap,(two days), but everything looked like a war zone with demolition and all.The floor was ripped up to take care of re-routing and replacing old water lines, moving drains,etc.I concentrated on keeping it as functional as possible.My wife,god bless her never complained about having to walk on planks to get to the toilet and shower.I did this project in the evenings after work and on the weekends. It was the middle of december,so it was a little cold with the floor ripped up,(crawl space below),even though we are in the desert.Covered the floor with plastic when not working there.The feral cats we had around at the time would come in and make the rest of the house look like a war zone as well.It wasn't easy, but we survived!

How did this end? Are you still married? Are you still using the outhouse? Please tell.

How did this end? Are you still married? Are you still using the outhouse? Your story sounds very familiar. The demo is done and the tub comes out tomorrow. My wife wants to put in a fine looking cultured marble shower but I want something custom and tiled. Now that I have destroyed the bathroom to make way for the new one my bargaining leverage may be improving.

Andrew

Hey, I just had the only bathroom in the house remodeled. It took one week to have a toilet and sink then the following week to have a tub to use. It was hard but worth it. I am soooo thrilled to have the bathroom we have now. We installed new floor, beadboard panels, tub, tiles and sink as well as updating the plumbing. Now in third week, the left things are to install baseboards and a ceiling to floor shower curtain.

We were fortunate to have DH's mother living close to use her bathroom, I also washed up at kitchen sink, and borrowed friends' toilet during days.

There were diffcult moments but we are still married. :o)

Here is a link that might be useful: Bath Redo

We used Aqua Glass Tub (18 and half deep with tiling flang), it is Eleganze. There is an error in the Album, it was listed as American.

I realize this is an old thread, but I wanted to share my experience. We are on the tail end of a bathroom remodel and used a two piece, pre-fab tub with walls. Things went pretty well until we realized that we couldn't actually get it into position. The bathroom was the exact width of the tub, which meant no wiggle room to manuver the wall into place.

We actually ended up tearing out part of the wall in the closet of the guest room. Not a huge ordeal for us, because we live alone and had an extra bathroom, but it was something we hadn't thought about beforehand.

But once we got it into place, the rest of the install was a breeze. Now if I we can only find time to install the toilet, the bathroom will finally be complete!

sunrochy, I hope the pictures just aren't showing it, but I didn't see a vapor barrier on the stud walls behind the CBU. A vapor barrier is required behind the CBU and should extend down over the tub flange.