Do-it-yourself Bath Installation

2023 Author: Douglas Hoggarth | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-24 11:23

• Preparatory work
• Installation of baths from different materials
• Bath fixing system
• Adjoining wall cladding
• Plumbing connection
• Decorative screen

Preparatory work

Before the bath is brought into the bathroom, the latter must be properly prepared. In order to avoid damage to the inner lining of the bowl, finishing work should be completed in the bathroom and all the necessary communications should be installed. The risk of damage is posed by solid fragments of building materials and tools that can be dropped into the bath inadvertently.

If the bathtub is installed side-by-side to one of the walls or in a corner, it is not necessary to bring the finish close to the floor, it is enough to lower the starting row slightly below the side line. In this case, the bare layer of the wall should be covered with a composition with similar properties: hydrophobicity and hardness, low tendency to organic damage. In this case, the closest replacement for tiles can be ordinary alkyd enamel for interior work, which is used to paint the apron hidden behind the bowl and the adjacent floor strip about 10 cm wide.

The tile at the junction must be laid without curvature of the plane with control of the right angle. Usually, bathroom cladding starts from this area. By the time the bath is installed, a 50 mm socket of the sewer pipe should be removed from the floor or wall to which it adjoins, and at the place where the mixer is installed - cold and hot water supply pipes. If the bath has attached electrical equipment, it is connected through a waterproof socket outlet with grounding contacts, located so that the bath after installation does not block access.

Installation of baths from different materials

Even an inexperienced person in plumbing nuances understands that installing an acrylic and cast-iron bath is not the same thing, in different cases the installation includes a different set of technological operations. The main point of support for a bowl filled with water is the floor, but the way to reliably support an irregularly shaped container on it will differ depending on the material of the bath.

Bathtubs made of cast iron and steel with an enamel coating have sufficient rigidity, so their installation is carried out on legs. Plumbing, both domestic and imported, is characterized by a similar scheme for attaching the legs: first, their upper side is inserted into a special-shaped lock on the back surface of the bowl, then the connection is strengthened by hammering in a wedge.

More or less modern products may have adjusting screws. But the old-style bathtubs do not have an adjusting mechanism, but they remain stable even on three legs: to adjust the bowl by level, one of the supports can be temporarily removed and simply cut with a hacksaw for metal. When adjusting the bath, only its side is leveled; the need for a slope to drain off the remaining water is already provided for by the shape of the bowl.

Due to the insufficient strength of modern fiberglass baths, they are installed using a special installation system. It is assembled locally: the set consists of several metal profiles, which are fastened with self-tapping screws to the reinforced bottom and threaded rods, which are counterbalanced by nuts in the profile holes at the required height and abut against the floor through the knobs.

However, this is not the main supporting system: such baths in a filled state can deform to a large extent, therefore, a plinth is usually laid out under them from a lightweight incompressible material, for example, foam blocks or extruded polystyrene foam.

Bath fixing system

In the process of taking water procedures, a person should be able to safely board the bathtub with full confidence that the bowl will not tip over. For these purposes, side baths are additionally attached to the walls. The presence of a rigid attachment also helps to ensure the safety of the sealed abutment of the side and its horizontal position.

If a set of wall mounts is not provided for a specific bath model, you can get by with widespread products, for example, reinforced metal plates with perforation, which are used when installing PVC windows. Fasteners are located at the edges of the boards 15–20 cm from the corner. Fixing the plates to the wall is carried out with an anchor bolt or a steel screw in a plastic cork, in order to ensure, in addition to the vertical load support, that the sidewall is firmly pressed against the tile. It is also not forbidden to drill the board and attach a plate to it from the inside, so you can achieve even greater rigidity.

Before the final fixing of the bowl to the wall, it is recommended to move the bath aside, turn it over and apply a layer of polyurethane foam of about 25–30 mm to the back surface. This is a very useful modification for both acrylic and cast iron baths: additional thermal insulation greatly reduces the rate of water cooling. When installing acrylic baths on a plinth, polyurethane foam is the best way to achieve a solid support on the plinth over the entire area, while the bowl should be kept at least half full while the polyurethane foam cures.

Adjoining wall cladding

To prevent water from leaking into the unventilated space under the bathroom, the abutment to the walls is carefully sealed. This can be done in different ways depending on the profile of the side, the material and the method of wall decoration.

One of the simplest options is an overhead skirting board, which is glued to the side of the bathtub and the wall using liquid nails or polyurethane foam. After the full hardening period of the adhesive has expired, the remaining gaps are sealed with acrylic sealant or sanitary silicone, the remnants of which are immediately wiped off with a damp cloth.

If the side of the bathtub is tightly adjacent to the wall with a gap of no more than 3–4 mm, the skirting board can be omitted. In this case, it is much easier and more aesthetically pleasing to seal with plastic PVC or rubber white sealant for sealing gaps between slopes and plastic frames. The composition is applied to the junction corner with a thick flagellum. To make a beautiful pairing, it is enough to cut off the corner of the rubber spatula and stretch it over the applied sealant. In this case, the spatula must be abutted against the bath so that irregularities do not form on the surface of the sealant in the places of the tile joints.

The highest quality and most durable abutment can be achieved by trimming the groove in the tile, or by initially raising the starting row to the board height. In this case, when adjusting the bath, the legs are twisted until the edge of the bath rests against the ledge of the finish, the fastening of the sides to the walls is purely nominal. The formed corner joint is sealed by analogy with the previous sealing method.

Plumbing connection

After the bath is installed and secured, and the abutments are sealed, it remains only to install a drain siphon and an overflow system. Most modern products of this kind are supplied assembled or have detailed assembly instructions.

The overflow mesh is usually mounted on a central bolt. On the back of the bath, you need to attach a receiving funnel, in the sealing groove of which a rubber ring is inserted. The decorative mesh on the inside may not have a ring; it only remains to position it correctly and tighten the fastening screw.

The siphon itself is assembled completely by the time of installation with the connection of a corrugated hose. The funnel is sealed here both from the back and from the front, the fastening method is the same as for the overflow system. The only exceptions are internal funnels with a mesh, which are screwed into the receiving socket of the siphon, and you must use long-nose pliers or a special key from the kit.

When tightening the main drain grate, it is necessary to hold the assembled siphon so that the hole for connecting the overflow tube looks strictly towards the side of the bathtub, on which the receiving funnel is installed. Completion of the installation - connecting the overflow tube to the siphon and the corrugated hose to the drain hole, where a rubber grommet may be required.

Decorative screen

In conclusion, here's one important hint: if you are planning to install a decorative screen, it will require an upper frame attachment point. Do not be too lazy to add mortgages under the sides of the bath before it is finally fixed. Since the visible edges of the flanges cannot be drilled for mechanical fastening, all that remains is glue fastening. It will be more reliable if the timber or support profile is glued when the bathtub is turned upside down, pressing down with oppression for the setting period.