Flooring – How to fix a bathtub that was not set properly

bathtubflooring

I think the floor was not prepped correctly. The tub creaks a lot and there is a great deal of vertical play when standing and moving around.

The tub does appear to be level, so I don't think that's the problem.

It doesn't seem to be such an issue when it's full of water and I'm sitting down- I suppose the weight is more evenly distributed.

   |w|  o  |
   |a|     |
 ->|l| tub |
   |l|_____|
   |_______|

I was thinking of:

  • Cutting a hole in the in the wall (where the little arrow is)
  • Pouring some self-leveling cement into the frame underneath the tub

It's a fiberglass tub and there is not a big gap between the bottom of the tub and the floor, so I don't really know if much cement will flow underneath the way I want.

Would a different product work better for this? Maybe expanding foam? or something else?

I can't remove the tub because there is tile lapped over it in a way I can't remove without damaging everything.

Best Answer

If you look at the underside of the tub (through your proposed hole) you should be able to tell if it was meant to sit on the subfloor or not. Some kind of wooden frame will be partly embedded into the fiberglass to help support it. If there are "skids" that should touch the subfloor but do not you can use shims to support them.

I had a shower enclosure that was not well supported underneath. It eventually cracked and leaked on the ceiling below. When I removed it, it was obvious that the enclosure was sitting on the floor in the front and hanging from the wall in the back. The reinforcements on the bottom of the enclosure were not touching the floor. I don't know if they were meant to or not.

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