I would like to get through a week, just one week, without having to make the kind of decision about home improvement/auto repair that I am not smart enough to make and which when I do make it leaves me feeling like an incompetent boob and a born sucker.
Let me give you a tip nobody gave me when we were buying this house.
If the house you’re considering buying has a shiny and new looking bathroom and one of the things that makes it look so shiny and new is a bath tub liner, immediately demand that the sellers knock two or three grand off their asking price.
This is why. At some point after you’ve taken possession of the house that liner is going to pull away from the wall a tiny bit and develop a leak. Water will seep in between it and the side of the tub and become trapped underneath. Stepping on that trapped water will feel like stepping onto a water bed but more to the point it will cause the tub liner to deform and pull farther away from the wall so that more water gets trapped underneath while water also now starts getting on the other side of the old tub and onto the floor underneath---the puddles forming directly below in your basement will tell you when this has begun to happen.
This is a common problem with no common or easy fix.
You might---might---be able to remove the drain, slip the nozzle of your shop vac in there and vaccum the water out. But you risk cracking the drain shoe which you can’t replace without taking out the whole tub. Your only other option is to rip out the liner, and when you do that you will find that the reason the former owners installed the liner is that they didn’t want to pay to replace or reglaze the old scratched, rusted, cracked, or otherwise damaged bathtub.
And that old liner cannot be put back after you’ve drained the trapped water. Ripping it out requires ripping it up. You need to special order a new liner which takes over a week to arrive and install, at a cost of upwards of a grand.
If you’re lucky you’ll discover that the old tub only needs reglazing, which you can get done for around 500 bucks, but your tub will be out of commission for several days, and if you only have the one bathroom…
The quickest solution is to just assume the worse and call in the remodellers to put in a new tub. They can do that in a day but you’re probably looking at spending between two and three grand.
Which you’d feel better about spending if you knew you’d actually put that money aside when you talked the former owners down on their asking price.
I’m just relating what I’ve learned from some Googling and from spending the last couple of hours calling plumbers and local handymen to ask about getting the problem fix.
Now, I already feel like an incompetent boob because I did not catch the problem in time. But I expect to more incompetent and boobish in the days to come because no matter what decision I make it will seem like the wrong one, even if I decide to have the liner taken out to see what horror lies beneath and strike lucky and discover that all that needs to be done is to have the tub reglazed. I won’t feel competent or smart, because now we’ll have to go several days without a useable shower and bath, but I won’t feel quite as big an incompetent as I expect I will feel if I just take the easy route and call in the remodelers who will tell me after they’ve removed the old tub that it wasn’t really in all that bad a shape.
I’m praying that that the next phone call I make will be to a home repair genius who will say, “Oh that’s an easy fix. I know just how to do it. Take me a couple of hours. Boom boom done. Two hundred bucks.”
Ha!
You’ll notice I’ve already ruled out putting in a new liner, a decision I’m already regretting.
At any rate, I have to go make my calls, after which I’ll collapse in a heap of despair and self-reproach, so that post you’re all waiting for me to write on the mythological inconsistencies in the portrayal of Athena’s daughter in Percy Jackson and the Olympians will have to wait till later. Sorry about that.
Ah man how I do feel your pain. Only succor I can offer is this: consider your area Craigslists, and architectural salvage places.
Whatever your final replacement tub dimensions may be, if you are in driving distance of any major metro area(s) theres an excellent chance somebody is selling one in fine-to-new condition that will fit, for 1/3 - 1/10 of what it'd be new. Remember also that building out & tiling a bit of tub deck at the aft end of a tub that may be slightly too small for your space is a perfectly valid (and cheap!) option as well.
Uhaul flat deck trailers work great for hauling heavy tubs. :)
Craigslist and building salvage have saved my bacon more times than I can count, in the three years I have been working on my own little character building enterprise. Hang in there.
Posted by: Zach | Tuesday, February 23, 2010 at 11:43 AM
Installing a tub isn't that difficult; you should be able to get it done in a day. At any rate, the liner has to be removed, and the sooner the better. Then at least you will know what you're dealing with. And drill some holes up from the basement to get rid of any standing water--that's a problem that you can't afford to ignore.
Posted by: Ken Muldrew | Tuesday, February 23, 2010 at 12:48 PM
The guy who says he can do it easily and cheaply is bound to be lying. If that were true you could do it.
When I redid my bathroom in my last house I ripped it all out and bought the least expensive whirlpool tub that fit in a normal tub space from a home improvement center. Be sure to climb in one at the store and see how it feels. I had it delivered. Gods, I loved that thing.
Then I moved and have the liner situation. Been getting up my nerve to face the big project again. This has no troubles so far, but I pine for that deep tub, and to a lesser amount the jets. It really didn't cost that much, it was $400 ten years ago. Have not priced them lately.
I am suffering from a case of "oh the thought of it", and I think I need something to go wrong with the current setup to spur me on. I *almost* feel envy for you. ;-)
Posted by: muddy | Tuesday, February 23, 2010 at 02:06 PM
Zach, Ken, muddy---you guys busy this weekend?
Posted by: Lance | Tuesday, February 23, 2010 at 02:32 PM
Now see, there's the big difference - I married a guy who knows how to build or repair anything, an artist with a contractor's license... I mean, could it get any better than that? Wait. Did you notice I said "knows how to." Does not actually fix anything,just lets the broken things hang there for months, years... but knows how. - If you want the phone number, I know he'd be happy to be on your speed-dial adviser list. Because he sure does know how to do this stuff.
Posted by: Victoria | Tuesday, February 23, 2010 at 06:42 PM
How are you fixed on keeping the mortgage up-to-date? There's always the "walk away" strategy!
(Talk about being underwater...)
Posted by: mac macgillicuddy | Tuesday, February 23, 2010 at 06:55 PM
Not much I can add to the discussion, Lance, except:
Do not, under any circumstance, get the tub relined. You mentioned you wouldn't but the previous owners did it knowing full well they were selling and didn't want the bother of doing the job right.
Also, the thing you'll want to prepare yourself for is how well the liner was attached. Most liners can be peeled away and the tub refinished, no problem, if properly installed.
If not, that could create a problem in refinishing the tub.
Refinishing can be done pretty quickly and fairly cheaply, more cheaply than even a new lining.
Posted by: actor212 | Tuesday, February 23, 2010 at 06:59 PM
Lance, I wish I could help. I'm only a few hours away I think? But my furnace just died, the heat exchanger exploded and filled the house with soot. When they brought the new furnace it turned out the propane hot water heater was illegally installed and that had to change as well. Also part of the cellar stairs had to be ripped out to get the furnace in. I cleaned the ground floor and now deciding whether to go upstairs or clean the cellar.
Clean the cellar. Those are words I never thought I'd need to say. Shopvac maybe. Sort. But everytime I go down for a tool to fix something I come across while cleaning I come back up sooty. Everytime I wipe my nose, sooty. Pat the dogs, sooty.
The only thing to be grateful for is that I never had a duct into my bedroom, so that's not bad. Btw, concentrated orange cleaner works well on soot, but takes paint off. The repainting is going to have to wait until summer.
Maybe this will make you feel better, this whole house is trashed. I hate soot, I prefer the mud.
Posted by: muddy | Tuesday, February 23, 2010 at 08:08 PM
Don't beat yourself up about this. Nobody can spot these things. Trades people get fooled all the time. Our work experience teaches us some things to look for, but there are no rules. We speak with 20/20 hindsight. Not really helpful. Remember, what failed here is the transition from the wall to the liner. New tub, new wall, new transition. No way around it.
Posted by: pj | Tuesday, February 23, 2010 at 11:29 PM
You're going to write about the Percy Jackson books? Cool!!
Reglaze. If you put in a new tub, you're going to have to fix the floor and wall as well.
Posted by: Gwen | Tuesday, February 23, 2010 at 11:58 PM
I'll my my two cents and say rip out the tub, and sooner instead of later. Not to sound too doomsday about the whole thing, but your bigger problem is mold, which can even get you blacklisted and unable to sell, and water weakening the structure of the floor. The good news is it doesn't have to cost as much as your seem to think. I'm not that far from you ( I think) and I just had my bathroom gutted and refitted, including new tub, toilet, sin, flooring, vanity and mirror plus all fixtures, paint, and molding for 5000 all in and I didn't skimp. I could give you the name of a good guy if you're close enough to the albany area who does great work and is honest and reasonable. Face it, it's time.
Posted by: stingraylady | Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 08:04 AM
If you're going to put in a new tub, why not think about really building the bathing area you want (and can afford, of course). Perhaps you always thought tile or stone covering the whole room, or more of it, would be really neat? What about a walk in shower versus a tub? If you go that route (staying within a reasonable budget to avoid those issues), maybe at the end of the day you'll be really happy about the new bathroom. And, we might get to hear about the whole process--always fun for us readers. If I lived up there in the nawth, I'd come over and consult for free.
Posted by: Beel | Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 11:18 AM
Or you could ignore the bathroom and watch Grey Gardens, which will either make you feel better about your living circumstances by comparison, or alternatively, much worse because you'll know just where this is all heading sooner or later.
Posted by: gypsy howell | Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 04:53 PM
Hah we all have those stories, you know how much I know! Well when I was doing the walk through on Chateau Melrose I was ACTUALLY WITH the House Inspector and saw the defect and it STILL didn't register! He plugged a probe into the upstairs bath outlet and found it was not grounded. We went to the basement and SAW ROMEX cable coming out of a new circuit breaker panel all going upstairs. So HE&I "assumed" the outlet was wired wrong in the bath! He NEVER tested any other outlet in the house, didn't have time, it was 1991 and houses were selling 3 a day back then! I come home with our first $5,000 computer for the "new" business. Plug it in and POP totally fried without EVER even TURNING it ON!!
All that nice ROMEX went up through the house to the attic on the 4th floor and was stripped and WRAPPED And TAPED around Knob & Tubing wiring from 1900! THAT IS WHAT was powering the whole house! IT all had to come out and 5,000 feet of new ROMEX had to be installed in every room in the house.
Talk about not working down the asking price. I stood there and saw he meter fail and missed that one!
Just be sure you carefulliy inspect the wood flooring under the tub for ROT, so you don't come sailing down to the basement one of these days with the new tub!!
I'd look at Craigslist for a used tub they are out there.The money you save on the used tub can go to a tiler to slap tile all around the join to the wall. I can just imagine what lies between the liner and the old tub, I bet it Throbs under ultra-violet light and is already planning a campaign to move to the kithen sink via the DWV system....Stargate here we come!
Posted by: Uncle Merlin | Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 11:25 PM