Plumbing a claw foot tub

17 years ago

We have planned a newly manufactured cast iron claw foot tub for our new house. This is a second floor installation. There is 72" of space in a window alcove. The brand or size of tub has not yet been decided. I was surprised at the options for plumbing: floor mounted tub filler, wall mounted, top deck or interior of tub wall. Is there a best or worst method? Does a plumber look at claw foot tub installation as a nightmare? Also, advertising pictures that show wall mounted or deck mounted faucets don't seem to depict the overflow or drain configuration. I guess it's because they're selling the pretty shiny faucet rather than the functional, but oh so necessary plumbing. I need some education

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lazypup
17 years ago
For most people the main attraction of the deep clawfoot tub is to take a long soaking bath. The downside is that the water in the tub will cool and you will need to periodically add a bit more hot water to maintain your desired temperarture.

While mounting the faucett set on the tub wall is the conventional manner many people, such as myself, find it a bit inconvenient to reach all the way to the foot end of the tub to make minor temperature adjustments. With that in mind the option would be to mount the tub mixer on the wall behind the center of the tub where it can easily be reached while lounging in the tub.

The International Residential Code requires that the lowest portion of the tub spout must remain a minimum of 2" above the flood level rim of the tub. The Uniform Plumbing Code requires a minimum elevation of 3" above the flood level rim.

In your situation the wall behind the tub will have a window so it may be difficult to mount a wall mounted faucett in that location while still maintaining the code required elevation of the tub spout.

In this instance it may be desirable to install a floor mounted tub filler which would rise between the wall and the tub thus the faucett could be positioned to maintain the required elevation without concern for the window height.

You will need to make the choice of faucett style before you order your tub because if you opt for a wall mount or floor mount the tub only need holes for the drain and the overflow. If you opt for a tub mounted faucett the tub also needs holes for the water supply lines to the mixer.

The physical installation of a free standing clawfoot tub is simple. You unpack the tub, attach the legs and simply set it in place. No framing or physical attachment required however installing the supply lines, faucett set and waste & overflow is a tedius task because when finished all the piping will be exposed so it is all plated with a finished plating material that can be easily scratched or damaged if the installer is not careful.

I ran a quick search and found a site that has illustrations of the different types of faucett and drain piping required. Please understand that this is solely submitted for information and it is not an endorsement of the supplier.

http://www.shop4classics.com/clawfoot.asp?gclid=COSjrJy4vYkCFQVzSAodZxM66A

When installing a built in tub we usually use a PVC waste and overflow kit which can be purchased for about $12 to $20 whereas the Supply lines and waste & overflow kits for freestanding tubs are generally a heavy brass material that is plated with the final finish. In the website listed above you will see some waste & overflow kits starting at about $60 while on the other hand I have a 95 page catalog of high end tubs and fixtures and they show waste and overflows ranging from $60 to well over $2000 wholesale cost for the heavy gold plated ones.
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Sadly, this is an excuse I don't "need" =) This bath was suppose to be at the bottom of my to-do list.....right after the refinishing the whole-house hardwood, new windows, farmhouse shed rebuild, etc etc etc. I'm concerned because the joist undernearth the bathroom is moist and I can see white residue/mold(?). I don't think it's a sudden thing. I suspect the plumbing heading the shower is leaking. There is no way to access it from the shower. The shower is an all tiled enclosure. I guess I could open up the back wall in the kitchen to get to it, but then what? The plumbing is galvanized. Fixtures solidly on there....couldn't even remove the showerhead. To add to that, it seems like the drain area is wet too. That's a big junk of the shower area right there. I was going to do everything except the shower area (wallpaper, old tile, etc) but now it looks like a complete gut job. I'm leaning with Option 4 too......as this would give me my tub in the house and fix the problem of how to route the new exhaust fan (theres none now). There is window in the pantry, so if I did it right, the tub would be right next to window. I have to watch the Money Pit again to motivate me =)
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Jodi, I'm assuming you probably have a tub where the drillings are through the tub wall rather than the rim? There are a lot of different handshower faucets (often called "telephone" faucets because the handshower resembles an old-fashioned telephone handset) that are adjustable to fit many different drillings. These are called "swivel arm connectors". For filling-up speed check the description for "____ gal/min @ ____ PSI" (for example, 8 gal/min. @ 60PSI" - that means that if you have a water pressure of 60PSI, the faucet will (should) fill the tub at the rate of 8 gallons a minute. Vintagetub.com has a nice selection of telephone faucets with swivel-arm connectors at reasonable prices and their customer service cannot be beat; for example, here is a nice one from Strom Plumbing, which is a well-regarded manufacturer. There are deck-mounted versions as well. To comment on some of the older posts, just in case anyone goes looking for info... This lovely little overflow cover gives you an extra inch or so of water depth. You have to caulk around the rim when installing it because it leaks if you don't. Obviously it works best if you use a twist-and-lift drain or (as we did) the truly idiotproof and easily repairable rubber stopper, it doesn't work with the type that has the lever on the overflow. Regarding missing feet: Vintage Tub now makes replacement tub feet - ship them one of yours and they will cast a copy of it. deabath.com has a large stock of old feet and may be able to find a matching vintage foot; they also cast matching replacements and MAY be able to hook you up with a set of four matching feet if all your tub's feet have gone astray. Cleaning around the tub: Plumber goofed the rough-ins (forgot to account for wallboard and wainscot!) and the tub ended up being about 2" from the wall on two sides. I used a Swiffer mop frame with a microfiber cleaning cloth to get underneath and around ours, because it would lie down completely flat. I had a long-handled scrubby thing that would also go completely flat and fit well into the tight space behind the tub. It really ended up being pretty simple. Now, for hauling that durn tub... two guys, both skinny as rails, moved my iron 60" clawfoot tub up a flight of narrow stairs pretty easily using a wonderful gadget called a Shoulder Dolly. I first learned about these because all the appliance delivery people and many movers around here use them. It was cheap and one of the best investments we've made, I can't tell you how many times we've used it and lent it out to many other people.
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Plumbing a claw foot tub

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lazypup

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