I am remodeling a bathroom and thinking of adding a claw foot tub. I know these are popular, but I am wondering, how do you keep from cracking floor tile under the feet? The tub is a couple of hundred pounds (cast iron), add 40 gallons of water and a 200 pound person, seems like a lot of point load on 4 small feet, especially if the floor flexes a bit.

thanks
Fred Emmerich

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MB-less

If you dont know the answer to this...you shouldnt put in a cast iron tub...pure and simple.

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CHILCUTT~
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If I knew the answer I would not need to ask the question. Do you have an answer or just like pointing out the obvious?

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MB-less

All mine are on wood floors. I have the same question as you. You might experiment with a piece of tile. Put it on a solid surface. Point load it with the same weight as it would see from the tub and see what happens.

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If the tile is set correctly I don't think it would crack it. We always have had Cast tubs but they always were on wood floors. recently I bought another for a project that looks like this:

Pedestal Bathtub

I had an old cast iron footed tub in a place I used to live in. They had to knock out a wall from the outside and lift it out with a crane because it was too heavy and large for even the stairs...it had been installed so long ago that they remodeled the place around out back in the day (built in 1800s). It wasn't pretty. Err on the side of caution for sure - and do you need it to be cast iron? I am not well versed in plumbing but perhaps there is a cheaper and lighter alternative (kind of like pedestal?)

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My options are open, I was just curious. I know you could tile around the feet but that might look crappy.

thanks

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MB-less

How about metal "coasters" or pads. Monel polishes up a bit and won't rust or corrode. You can buy a piece from McMaster.
edit- I just checked the price of Monel and it's gone up quite a bit since I last bought a sheet. Maybe aluminum instead, or Corian.

The tub will not crack a quality ceramic tile. Remember that back
in the day, they put these on lino.
If you do decide to put in a claw-foot- take into consideration the plumbing drain & fixtures that will be required. ie: All chrome-or brass.And that these will need to be re-located *before* you install the tile.
*Also (this is very important!).. leave a wall out, so you can simply carry the tub in. "They dont go thru doorways/make turns easily.

Have fun & I hope you dont have any bad back issues.

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CHILCUTT~
The secret to a long life. Is knowing when it is time to leave.

As long as you have a solid floor that can bear the weight, your tile is laid correctly (no air pockets and a solid bond between tile, subfloor and floor) you should be find. If there is nothing to compress or flex should be fine.

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You need a SUITABLE tile, properly installed.

"Tile," covers a huge amount of territory.

I do maintenance and small remodel for a woman who had her upstairs bath tiled. I then put the claw foot tub back in place, plumbed it up again - there has been no cracking. This was a smallish tub, I've definitely seen claw foot tubs bigger.

The sub floor is OK but not extraordinary. Who knows? Come to think of it, another client has a bath floor with cracks just from the weight of human footfalls, but this is cheap tile, looks like the cheap variety anyway, and the floor feels extra flexy.

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The spousal unit put in a clawfoot tub when remodeling the master in our last house. However, it was on a slab, so floor flex was not really much of an issue. Sounds like you are on pier-&-beam or 2nd story?

Be sure to select & price out the fixtures before committing. It's quite a bit more money. Because all the plumbing is exposed, it all has to be finished in chrome/nickel/whatever, and the price is accordingly higer.

While every realtor will tell you that a tub in the master is a must for resale, it seemed like such an extravagance, since I think I can count on one hand the times I have used a soaking tub in our homes over the last 15 years.

To this day, those Cialis commericals still make me ponder . . .

Had a claw foot tub in my apartment in NY. The tub was on ceramic tile from the 1880's on a 2" thick bed of mud on 3/4" wood T&G boards over 2x joists.

I just put one in in a clients house sitting on old D fir T&G flooring.

As long as it gets full bearing the tile should be fine. I dont think I'd put it on handmade terra cotta tile though- it might not be dense enough.

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