On Wed, 10 Mar 2004 21:48:42 -0600, "Spoon2001"
wrote:

Our house was built in 1937. Our upstairs bathroom has cast iron drains.
They are laid into notches in the floor joists, from above. The joists are
covered by a subfloor, cement, and tile. After already doing a lot of
plumbing renovation, we discovered more bad leaks in the cast iron drain
pipes and the lead shower pan, among other things. The only thing that made
sense to me was to replace all the cast iron with PVC.

The plumber advised that we needed to take up the upstairs bathroom floor -
tile, cement, and subfloor - and take out the cast iron from above.

The shower stall has tile laid on to a cement base. The cement is poured
into a wire mesh (lath?). We just replaced the hot and cold supply pipes,
and the shower fixtures. The pipes are behind the lath and accessible
through the wall of the closet that is adjacent to the shower.

For repair of the shower stall, the plumber suggested using a diamond saw to
remove only the tiles at the bottom of the shower stall, sufficient to
remove the leaking lead shower pan and install a new pan. He thinks that
only that portion of tile needs to be repaired. The carpenter wants to
follow a more radical approach. He wants to take all the tile out of the
shower, remove the lath, replace the lath with cement board, and put all new
tile in the shower. He thinks that once the tile and cement lath is cut to
remove the shower pan, it will not be possible to create a good base on
which to lay new tile only at the bottom of the shower. He's arguing that
the old tile is faded, etc. and making other arguments for redoing the
shower completely. Who is right, the plumber or the carpenter?

As for the bathroom floor, the carpenter suggested laying strips on the
floor joists so that we can lay a new floor flush with the floor in the
bedroom. He suggests a vinyl rather than a tile covering. The carpenter
disagrees. He thinks we ought to replace the the cement and lay tile again.
Who's right, the plumber or the carpenter? What is the cost of a
reconstructing the floor with vinyl as opposed to cement and tile?



It's beginning to sound like maybe replacing the whole shower with a
new one-piece stall might be looking attractive. The old pipes
would still have to come out, as you said. Whatever you do to the
floor at least you won't have to tile the shower.
Joe