How to get rid of old bath

MarcusMaximus

Doing a bathroom renovation so have to shift our old cast iron bath, which must weigh close to half a ton. There isn't the space in our small bathroom to swing a sledgehammer and I'm not very big anyway(!). I imagine an angle grinder or reciprocal saw would take absolutely ages to cut through the thick iron. Getting someone to move it would be problematic due to not having much/enough room to manoevre. So I'm wondering if anyone could advise the best way to do this?

Here are some photos to give an idea of what we're dealing with. Thanks!

geographica

what’s below the window outside?

MarcusMaximus

There’s a boiler house roof under the window, about 5ft down. However the window only opens on the top and it has specially fitted double-glazed panels which I’d rather not lose. Would you suggest taking the glass out? Not sure how the bath could be taken out that way though.

It would fit through the door on its side so if there was some way to get it onto a heavy-duty dolly we might be able to move it out. However we’d still face the problem of orientating it to get it downstairs, presumably upside down..

CelticRambler

Remove all the sticky-out bits, tip it up on its end to get it through the door as you suggest. Then instead of trying to get it onto a trolley, find some tough glossy cardboard, or a couple of squares of hardboard, and put the glossy sides together. Wiggle the bath onto the double layer and it'll slide and twist quite easily from there on.

If the stairs is wide enough and you don't have a turn to negotiate, you should be able to slide it all the way down, upside down, but be very careful : when it goes, it'll go fast!

baxterooneydoody

That bath is far from half a ton, they're about 120 to 150 kilos at most, I know because I've fitted and taken out more of them than I care to remember. A long handled club hammer with a little bit of bad mind or a sledge hammer is the easiest way out of it. Or 2 capable men to manhandle it out and down the stairs, remember it was 2 men that got it up the stairs the first day so it's possible

magicbastarder

if it's cast iron, and there's not much to damage in the bathroom that you want to keep, and it's too awkward to move - much as i hate destroying things; it's probably brittle enough to have at with a lump hammer.

and don't forget, it'll be cheaper to dispose of as scrap metal than as rubbish. from a quick google, cast iron is 10c per kilo, so that'd be worth ten or twenty quid if you can get it to a scrapyard, which is a lot better than paying someone to take it away.

LukFwd

Had the same problem a few months ago and went crazy at it with a lump hammer. Did the trick. I’m not exactly Rambo so it took a while but got there in the end.