Cast iron bath

[Phil]

Is the best way to remove a cast iron bath by yourself with an angle grinder? Its just a normal fixed bath with panels, nothing fancy.

I've been lucky so far as I have avoided them, basicly what is the best method from bathroom to scrap merchant?

 

[jpm]

Is the best way to remove a cast iron bath by yourself with an angle grinder? Its just a normal fixed bath with panels, nothing fancy.

I've been lucky so far as I have avoided them, basicly what is the best method from bathroom to scrap merchant?

Smack it with a lump hammer and break it into quarters,wear saftey glasses too as they splinter

 

[Phil]

I know cast iron is brittle and I'll definatly be trying the lump hammer first but I've heard it just bounces off?

 

[stevetheplumber]

start on the end near the overflow then taps slrdge hammer is best, if its upstairs dont hit downwards as it can pop the nails on a plasterboad ceiling

 

[Phil]

Thanks for that.

 

[newbie1]

wear ear defenders as well

 

[NickH]

Its tough going but it will definately break ok, like steve says just be careful not to crack the ceiling below, and watch your hands on the shards of enamel, like razors.

 

[Bernie2]

Hmm!

We carried them up in the old days and carried them down. The lump hammer works okay, but what a mess and what a din. Try wrapping the head of the hammer in cloth or covering the bath in sacks to stop the vibration.

 

[GreenArmy]

As above, use sledge or lump hammer and definitely wear safety goggles and ear defenders. When i was an apprentice i ended up at the eye infirmary with a shard of enamel lodged in my eye that was causing blood to squirt from my eye (luckily the white of eye) (honestly i was working in a blind mans house when i done this and thought i would end up the same). Smash into quarters and take care whilst carrying out. Ive done hundreds of these so dont be scared of it. If its your first time it can be a bit daunting but after a few its easy.

 

[jonathanb]

Give your local scrappy a ring as they are usually as tough as old boots from lifting big floorstanders onto the back of their flatbeds and get him to come get it. If you are strong like me (ha!) then give him a hand otherwise get him to bring his mate then no deafness and crap to clear up from smashing it up - looks much more professional also.

I have a great scrappy, he comes and helps take out the old boliers and gets all the metal- rads and old copper and old valves etc..I keep my clean scraps and the odd cylinder. He also comes back at the end of the job and gets all the carp also, debris fom the job,rad/boiler packets old tiles you name it, which all goes into a big skip at his yard. He never lets me down and it is a good agreement, no money changes hand and he scores of all the good stuff and I don't worry about waste licences and skips etc..

 

[NickH]

Hmm!

We carried them up in the old days.

I've heard a few of the old boys claim to have put a cast bath over their backs and walked up the stairs, cant be true surely.

 

[stevetheplumber]

I've heard a few of the old boys claim to have put a cast bath over their backs and walked up the stairs, cant be true surely.

there were a lot of very small cast baths around in those days mostly in mansion flats those you could lift single handed but you needed someone to guide the back up the stairs They were very narrow and with a couple of blankets round your shoulders and a rope through the tapholes you could walk like a tortoise
when i was young i could carry a full sized acetylene cylinder but i stopped when i dropped one down a flight of marble stairs removing the nosings of of several

 

[unguided1]

I've heard a few of the old boys claim to have put a cast bath over their backs and walked up the stairs, cant be true surely.

yes its true and I still do I have found the easyist way to get a cast iron bath up a stairs is turn it over and put a lump hammer through the plug hole and grip on to it and walk it up so your like a turtle but you do need someone to guide you from behind and give an occasional helping push.
and the easiest way to tke a cast iron bath out is exactly how everyone else has described, make like quasimodo and hammer a way at it like esmereldas life depended on it, unless its an antique one then it will be well worth saving.
regards
Mike