Squeaky Tub

Heyseed

Member
I have a one piece plastic or fiberglass shower/tub in my main bathroom. It flexes and squeaks when you stand on it. I'm guessing they didn't bed it properly when they built the place 25 years ago. I have been thinking of drilling some access holes at the outside front floor edge (after taking off the base molding) and spraying some expanding foam under it. I figured I would fill the tub with water first to hold things in place. Anyone tried something like that?
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I've never done that, but I have an observation about your plan. If you fill the tub with water before filling the void underneath with foam, won't that leave the tub floor in a state of tension when the tub is empty? (I'm not familiar with the adhesive or elastic properties of expanding foam, so maybe this wouldn't be an issue.) If the foam is applied under an empty tub, then the weight of water plus a person would only impose compressive force, which the tub has been handling successfully for 25 years without, you suspect, support. I'd be disinclined to unnecessarily introduce a new type of force to an old tub, even though it may seem insignificant.

Stan
 
By the way, about 40 years ago, my brother-in-law and I bought a house just about that size in Des Moines, WA and had it moved 14 miles to a vacant lot we owned in southwest Seattle where it was backed down an embankment about eight feet below street level and set on cribbing. Then we poured a footing where 95% of the concrete had to be moved from the transit mix truck chute to the perimeter forms by wheelbarrow; then we built a concrete block full foundation under it. That house didn't have a chimney, though. I sure used to work hard for not very much money.

Stan
 
I would be very careful about the foam. I come from a family of plumbers. Years ago my brother andI put up fiberglass shower walls and ran out of glue went to the supply house and bought a couple tubes. Job done looked good, homeowner happy. About six/eight months later get a call there is something wrong with the walls. Ended up the glue we used was NOT compatible with the fiberglass and it soften them to the point you could put your finger thur the walls..right where we used the glue.

Make sure the foam will work with the fiberglass!!!

Check the front edge of tub and see if you can get plastic shims under the skirt. If not ,can you get to either or both ends and put as much sand under the tub as possible.

I would not fill the tub with water until you have the bracing in place.
 
Hey Stan, This house was moved a half mile. The contractor graded a ramp and poured the footers then backed the house in. Same thing with the cribbing while the block basement was laid. Good thing was that because of the process they added extra rows of block. My basement is 8'3".
I was living in the place when it was moved, craziest move for me. Only took breakable things off the walls and lay tall furniture on the floor.
The Chimney was a crapshoot, but it made the trip just fine. Contractor did the moving, I did all the finish work.
 
I'll be watching the answers, got a 4 foot fiberglass shower that flexes and the drain squeaks. Bought it at a plumbing supply store and asked about what to put under it and was told I didn't need to, think I asked a plumber too, but I been wondering about foaming it.
 
If the basement ceiling is open joists, I would measure carefully and drill holes through the sub floor into the space that was just big enough to allow the nozzle through. This might need an extension of the nozzle with vinyl tubing to keep the can upside down, but you would be sure to put the foam where needed. I would use maybe three cans and cover most of the tub bottom to assure the whole was supported, Jim
 
I used expanding foam under a fiberglass tub. It was a new installation on a remodel.

Very difficult getting the tub in place as it went across the full width of the room. I ran 3 pieces of 1/4' vinyl tubing under the tub, secured them to the floor with tape equally spaced from one end to the other, brought the tubes up inside the wall on the faucet end. Then I put a full can of wide gap expanding foam in each tube.

That was about 6 years ago, so far it's very solid, no problems. My only concern would be getting it out, that could be a problem!
 
I know it is too late now, but Aqua Glass says to use concrete under a tub and shower base.
 
I bought a house that the fiberglass shower drain kept working loose and leaking into the basement because of the amount of flex in the floor of the shower.
To solve the problem I installed gallon baggies of damp mortar up thru the rough in hole for the drain. Just stuffed them in until the void was full.
Back when I was a builder, we installed the fiberglass shower or tubs on a stiff bed of cement to prevent this from happening.
 

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