We are replacing our old 1970's cast iron tub as week, however I'm not sure how my DH and friend plan to remove it. Fortunately, it's only on the first floor, so it's not too far to the dumpster. I am replacing it with American Standard Cambridge Americast tub. It's not cast iron, but has a porcelain finish and weighs 1/2 of what a cast iron tub weighs. it's a deep soaker tub and from the reviews it seems everyone is glad they replaced their cast iron tub with this type.

Here is a link of how to remove. I'm interested in hearing what others suggest here.

http://www.naturalhandyman.com/qa/qatubremoval.html

Good luck!

Hi there DreamweaverMAM- I won't say it will be easy, but it can be done. 2 men should be able to handle the removal and getting the new one in. I'm pretty sure the tile surround will have to be replaced.

As far as cleaning the one that is currently in place, have you tried Bar Keepers Friend or Bon Ami to clean it? Generally these products + some good old-fashioned elbow grease will take care of the rust & water spots. Way cheaper & easier than replacing the tub!

Good luck to you!

We took a sledge hammer to ours and broke it into mangeable pieces.

@rufinorex - I have heard of Americast tubs, but have not yet really started heavily researching my options. That sounds like something to look into. I'll be interested to hear how your tub replacement goes.

@mydreamhome - Replacing the ceramic tile tub surround is a definite "must" whether or not we replace the tub. I'm not yet sure what I'd want to replace it with. It contains some mismatched tiles that were added when some of the original tiles cracked during a shower door install; and the grout is no longer in good condition. Thanks for the cleaning tips. We've been in the house for 29 years and I feel like I've tried every possible cleaning agent over the years, with little success, to get the tub clean. I do have some Barkeeper's Friend, so I'll give that a try and see what happens.

@jasperdog - From what I've been reading, it sounds like a sledgehammer is the way to get rid of the old one. I guess I'll need to do some careful measuring to make sure we could get a new one into position.

With the tile gone, it will not be a big deal to get a new tub into position. The sticking point is usually from any hallway through the bath doorway. If you are not good with the math to figure out if you can get it there, tape a bunch of cardboard boxes together in the rough dimension of a tub and see if you can rotate it around enough to fit through the door.

Acrylic tubs are much easier to transport and seat than cast iron.

Our Reno is not for another month, however I will posted once it has been completed. I read quite a bit of reviews on this tub, which convinced me to go with the AS Cambridge.

We just replaced our cast iron tub. Our gc used a sledge hammer to break it up and remove it. He needed my DH to help him get the new cast iron tub in the house but we had no stairs to navigate. I think it would have been doable even with stairs though.

Without question, the easiest way to remove a cast iron tub is to shatter it into smaller pieces with a sledgehammer, BUT, when you do, you must understand that while the cast iron will break into fairly large managable pieces the ceramic coating on the cast iron will shatter into millions of tiny razor sharp shards.

Before you begin, make sure you are wearing heavy work clothes such as blue jeans and at minimum a heavy denim full sleeve jacket, full goggle style safety glasses and heavy leather work gloves.

When I have to break a tub out I go to the goodwill and get an old bedsheet which I lay over the tub, then pound the tub through the bedsheet.. In that manner when you hit the tub the tiny shards are held inside the bedsheet, which can later be discarded with your scrap.

Be very careful when picking up the broken pieces of cast iron. The cast iron itself will be rather coarse edges and nothing much to be concerned about, but in areas where some of the ceramic is still on the cast, the broken edges of that ceramic can be as sharp as a surgical scalpel. Make sure you have good heavy duty leather gloves because those cloth work gloves are almost useless in this application.

Believe me, its not rocket science and if you take the proper safety precautions it is not excessively dangerous, but don't think for one minute that you can just go in there and show the world how macho you are,,,you may end up learning a hard lesson.

Also wear earplugs. This can get VERY loud.

Exactly what everyone else said: with sufficient protective clothing (eye, long sleeves, pants, boots, ear, gloves, etc), it's easiest to just smash the old tub to remove it. I replaced my hideous harvest gold cast iron tub with an acrylic tub (wanted a large soaker tub), so I can't speak to getting the new one in. Just keep in mind that standard cast iron tubs fit stud to stud, so it may be a tight squeeze if you're trying to leave any of the drywall intact.

Thank you for the very helpful details about getting rid of the old tub. It's good to hear that the "out with the old" part of the process is possible.