DIY Steel Bathtub Mortar Bed

Steel tubs offer you a much longer lifespan than iron tubs, but don't forget to care for them.

Your bathtub experiences certain levels of stress while you take a bath because of all the weight on it. Even if you aren't a large person, the amount of water filling up your tub, and especially the change in temperature due to the hot water hitting steel, starts to make your tub expand and contract constantly. Along with this effect, your bathtub also sinks down lower towards the ground, warping the metal slightly to a point that the tub seems to move slightly from its original position after some time.

Things You'll Need

• Mortar
• Wood
• Trowel
• Size measurement tool

Instructions

1. Measure the length and width of the top side of your bathtub with a tape measure, and with chalk draw a layout on your bathroom floor of where the tub will sit.

2. Lay some wood about 4 inches thick around the side of the layout you drew. Use some carpenter's glue to stick the wooden pieces together at the joint.

3. Mix the mortar compound according to the manufacturer's instructions on the container you purchased.

4. Tip the container you mixed the mortar in over the area that is surrounded by the wooden beams. Pour until you get a large paste on the floor and spread it out with a trowel. Keep repeating this process until you reach a height of about 2 inches. You don't have to be precise. You have now finished your mortar bed and may install a steel bathtub on it.

5. Leave everything as it is for a day once you have installed the bathtub. After this 24-hour period beat the wood out of your cured mortar with a rubber hammer, or a metal hammer with a piece of plywood on the front of it.

Tips & Warnings

• Purchase a more flexible temperature-resistant mortar instead of regular mortar. Temperature-resistant mortar does not expand and contract to the level that regular mortar does, resulting in less cracking and a longer lifetime.

References

• TMPorterLtd: Mortar Bed Laying