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Cast Iron Baths!!!

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Discuss Cast Iron Baths!!! in the Plumbing Jobs | The Job-board area at PlumbersForums.net

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GQuigley67

GQuigley67

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ripping these out now on average twice a week, they weigh a bloody ton ! smashing them with a hammer to break them in 2 is hard work also haha so I'm here to ask the question for the older guys, I've heard a few guys claiming they used to lift them in as one themselves, I think half of one is heavy, so did any of you guys lift them in as one when installing ? I'd imagine it would have been a nightmare and take at least 2 reasonably strong guys to take it upstairs into the bathroom.
 
Some of the older guys tell us stories of carrying cast iron baths upstairs on there own!

Sod that, it's 60 seconds with the ear plugs and mash hammer, out it comes in 5 bits, tap end, bottom end, two sides and a bottom.
 
Installed a few as an apprentice an was always tweo of us , my boss at the time was a lumox of a fella as well and used to give me grief about struggling with them . Cant say ever heard tho of one person carrying them in , to much of a struggle to get them through doors etc.
 
SimonG said:
Some of the older guys tell us stories of carrying cast iron baths upstairs on there own!

Sod that, it's 60 seconds with the ear plugs and mash hammer, out it comes in 5 bits, tap end, bottom end, two sides and a bottom.
Click to expand...


5 pieces ??
always had 4
smash plug and chese up the cracks,
2 sides two ends
 
Only ever fitted 2 one when i was a lad, 1500 slipper up two flights of narrow stairs in a London town house. One in a barn conversion
 
arnold schwarzenegger maybe haha but not your average plumber, think its just a case of guys talking pish trying to act the big man, takes 2 guys to carry half of the bath to the skip !
 
Used to be up a winch with block and tackle and in through the window. Big Arnie couldn't lift one by himself mate!
Now I take a heavy hammer and a set of ear muffs and goggles. Wear goggles as a chip off the enamel could take your eye out.
 
we smash it in 2 pieces, slide it down the stairs with someone at bottom taking weight the other at top guiding it, then carry it outside, not got time to smash it into 4 pieces or need a bigger hammer to do it quicker haha
 
Older guys did it solo when we were much younger, stronger and macho,

Same as lifting cast iron wall mounted boilers 7 feet up a wall using a milk crate hopup and kitchen worktop.

Stupid but that was common practice in the good old days before arthritis and tinnitus.
 
I think he could probably lift one himself, seen a big guy in the work lift it up from one end and flip over, hes just your average fat guy, i think arnie would be able to lift it.
 
Yes! Done loads as ecowarm said like a turtle. Had a few slip as well and go down the stairs like a sledge. They were heavy and dangerous and yes you did them by yourself. Incidentally cement came in 1 cwt (50kg) bags then. A length of 3/16" cast weighed about 40kg. A wall mounted cast iron boiler or BBU could weigh near enough 75- 100kg. Health and Safety? What was that?
 
mountainman said:
Older guys did it solo when we were much younger, stronger and macho,

Same as lifting cast iron wall mounted boilers 7 feet up a wall using a milk crate hopup and kitchen worktop.

Stupid but that was common practice in the good old days before arthritis and tinnitus.
Click to expand...

old vaillants and worcesters oommph!!
 
Years ago we went through a spell of removing alot of these 1 person said my mum wants this can you take it out without damaging it, No problem I said, 3 weeks later another person said pretty much the same, I turned around and said either give a good tip or get somebody else to do it.

They weigh a bloody ton in the end we were giving the hooligan apprentice a lump hammer and 20mins alone with it.
 
has anybody seen a risk assessment and method statement for removing one?? i have read a few and if you had to follow it in the real world you would never bother turning up on site.
 
a while ago my best landlord customer says can i refurb one of his bathrooms.
well it had a massive cast iron bath so i sent him a quote and then told him he could bring the price down if he ripped out himself.
ok he says. ha ha. that was 2 years ago and he still reminds me about how terrible it was geting the cast iron bath down two flights of stairs
oh dear says i, didnt realise it was cast iron.....:smilewinkgrin:
 
Never done it myself but my old fella tells me he used to carry them up stairs on his own with a claw hammer wrapped in rags thru the overflow hole.
 
horrible things, took one out this week, and god knows how anyone pulled them up stairs on there own, it took me and a kitchen fitter + owner to get it outside, and even then a*se cheeks were clenching!
 
Took a few out, last one I was just about to smash it and the customer said '' I've given that bath to my son, he's getting it restored for his house'' so me and my mate had to carry it downstairs in one piece and without ripping the wallpaper off, sweating that day. My mates dad said when he was fitting them one man inside like a turtle with hammer through overflow hole and one man behind lifting the back.
 
Yes they were carried up normally by one man (or boy) with another guiding the tail. It is no old folks tale. It was done that way because it was easier but still not easy.
Put the taps on with it standing up and lift it on your back like a turtle. Kind of like a coal man with a cwt sack of coal. All the weight is on your shoulders and back. As a boy it was a kind of initiation thing. You just did it. The second guy guides you around the kites. If you try to lift it with 2 or more men up a std staircase it is a nightmare and too hard to do.
Taking them out now is harder than putting them in. You would need to come down the stairs backwards or slide it taking a few lumps out the walls.

GQuigley67 said:
we smash it in 2 pieces, slide it down the stairs with someone at bottom taking weight the other at top guiding it, then carry it outside, not got time to smash it into 4 pieces or need a bigger hammer to do it quicker haha
Click to expand...

If you need 2 of you to carry a half bath you need more proteins :lol:
Smash it into 4 with a half dozen more hits (buy a bigger hammer or see above:wink:)
 
Or you can do what I do...........try and persuade the customer to keep the bath and get it refurbed :)
 
not just me that thinks half a bath is heavy, everyone on the contract that has to move them thinks so, I certainly wont be lifting half a bath myself, not just heavy but also awkward. I can move them myself just dont fancy carrying it from the house to the van. hats off to you if you carried one of them up the stairs yourselves glad I didnt
 
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Hmm!

It was either get them up there or get the sack! It sure wasn't for macho reasons as far as I know.
 
As an Apprentice on the NCB housing estates we had new ones to fit but also loads to remove. In one empty house I got my mate to remove the sash window and we lobbed the bath onto the back yard. The yard was made of blue bricks put down in the 1920's. Our boss was rather unhappy about the noise complaints and the number of bricks needed for the repair ! My bright idea - failed again.
 
Oh the memories [nightmares] iron H&C services lead tails, lead traps, gun metal thimbles cast stacks and the worst cast baths been there done that and got the injuries but no medals and no tee shirt regards turnpin
 
tamz said:
Yes they were carried up normally by one man (or boy) with another guiding the tail. It is no old folks tale. It was done that way because it was easier but still not easy.
Put the taps on with it standing up and lift it on your back like a turtle. Kind of like a coal man with a cwt sack of coal. All the weight is on your shoulders and back. As a boy it was a kind of initiation thing. You just did it. The second guy guides you around the kites. If you try to lift it with 2 or more men up a std staircase it is a nightmare and too hard to do.
Taking them out now is harder than putting them in. You would need to come down the stairs backwards or slide it taking a few lumps out the walls.



If you need 2 of you to carry a half bath you need more proteins :lol:
Smash it into 4 with a half dozen more hits (buy a bigger hammer or see above:wink:)
Click to expand...


i know we all embelish things a bit on here from time to time, but i have carried probably hundreds up stairs in my time, as a wee skinny apprentice, im not any taller now but i aint so skinny, me inside taking the weight on my shoulders and hands on the stairs and someone holding the bottom just off the stairs for me, its actually no problem at all when you get the balance right, we thought it was great when it was only a 5' rather than a 5'6", and when we started fitting pressed steel ones we thought it was Christmas every day, smashing them out with a mash hammer as well, oh the joys, open the window to stop your ears ringing for hours (no ear defenders for us tought contruction workers) SORRY SPEAK UP I CANT HEAR VERY WELL THESE DAYS, and shutting your eyes just as the hammer hit the bath to stop getting enamel in your eyes, i remember many a time geting peppered all over the face by the enamel and the trademan laughing at me cause my face was bleeding from a dozen wee holes
 
The impact of weight is very relative to how it's distributed. I can shoulder press 100kg 10 times for 3 sets in the gym without being out of breath. But it took me and a mate everything we had to shift a very old VERY big 90kg (yes, 90kg) CRT TV into my van to take to the tip the other day. If it's broken into an awkward shape I can quite imagine carrying half a bath is more awkward than moving a whole one by being inside it.
 
You obviously had the same type of teacher as me Kirk :lol:

One man inside it was the easiest way to do it and the thought of it was harder than actually doing it. I think those who have felt the weight of one when taking it out think it is an old wives tale. I worked on a lot of council jobs as an apprentice and because i was quite a big "laddie" i got the job of humpfing them up.
To do it on your own would be a hard one. You do need some one to take the tail even if it is the woman of the house.
Ha ha i'm just thinking about that one. Changed days. I can't imagine these days shouting through
Mrs ?? could you grab the bottom of this bath and guide me up the stairs
Right son, what do you want me to do :lol:
 
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