[Closed] Anyone smashed up a cast iron bath?

What could possibly go wrong?

..and, why are you breaking it?

Put this into a search engine of your choice: [i]breaking up cast iron bathtub[/i]

Yes it will go with a bang - goggles recommended 😯

Ear plugs, big hammer, you'll be fine

Big hammer, cover yourself from head to toe, gloves, eye protection and just keep swinging till the bugger breaks or you are deaf 😕

Watch the shards of enamel if its like the one I did

Sledgehammer, I've done a couple. Goggles too, they don't normally go upwards, but smaller bits do come off.

Some blokes threw one out of a second storey sash window at my parents.

It smashed the concrete path it landed. In but remained intact. Good noise though.

Cover the bath with an old blanket and swing that sledge.

I would have thought someone would buy it off of you.

Put an old blanket over it and get your big hammer on the job 😀

A friend of mine has just done this s we couldn't get it down his staircase.

He used a sledgehammer and a chisel and after tracing some initial lines with the chisel is came apart quite easily, albeit in lots if iddy biddy pieces.

Eye protection and a thick blanket to cover the tub are recommended.

I don't think it's physically possible to bin it any other way?!

I'm trying to minimise costs by turning the room into a shell before new suite is fitted, whilst that thing is just sat there, glowing in a nuclear green, mocking me.

EDIT: There's been 12 posts since! Not giving it away as there will be a cast iron death at the bottom of stairs. Scoring it with a chisel first is a good idea ta.

..a bit daunted by prospect of swinging a sledgehammer into the ****er.
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Blanket,sledge hammer,dont come out til the jobs done!

broken many, ear defenders and googles essential. try to break it into about 4 bits but be very careful handling it the edges will be very sharp.

Why not get it re enamelled? You will never find another bath as nice. Don't know why people remove these??

As above, did one with my dad a few years ago definitely cover it with a blanket and wear eye protection as the enamel really flies. We used a lump hammer and chisel to get the first crack going once that is done its easy.

Oh and a pair of ear defenders would be a good idea along with wearing some good thick gloves as the edges can be v sharp. Have fun your legs will get a work out too carrying it down the stairs

Yes, we did two in one day. I had to take a huuuge cake and tea to most the street from the noise. Sledge hammer and hit it in the side - once it has started, it is quite simple.

a pick axe is what you want. hammers just bounce, you need a point load

I had ringing in my ears for hours and had the plumber pissing him self at my attempts to " tickle " it with a 32 oz hammer. As above once cracked, easy but what a noise!!!
Mate had a really nice one on an old house he tried to sell, with the claw feet etc. everyone said I'll give you £150 if you get it here. But no one would attempt to remove it due to weight. In the end it was smashed to bits and weighted in for scrap!!!

As above big sledgehammer and whack the living crap out of it,I did the one in our bathroom when I knocked through (seperate toilet/bathrooms).My initial thought was "I'll just undo all the pipework and lift it out" ,wrong they weigh a bloody ton! It took about 30 big hits before it started to crack and break up but once it's started it goes quite quickly.

Why not get it re enamelled?

Because bath is being repositioned sideways against the far wall - and it's 8cm too long, plus it's not the look I'm going for really 😉

I will start googling pick axe reviews!

Thanks STW

Yup, sledgehammer, fill it with blankets, ear defenders and give it a massive swing.

Used to drink with an old boy that was a plumbers mate when he was young. One of his jobs used to be to carry cast iron baths upstairs into houses to be installed. Apparently 2nd floor tenement flats were his worst nightmare. I can't even contemplate picking one up let alone carrying it on your back up stairs.

Nope but myself and 3 builders had to get one upstairs into my mums house when she had a free standing one put in. I glared at her, reeling at the back pain she had caused especially where the stairs go round on themselves hallway up. 🙄

I know it's a horrible colour, but have you checked it's value before you smash it to bits? There are a few rare art deco style ones that are worth something. Even if it's not worth anything you'll find someone who'll pay you for it and take it out for you and get the money back as scrap metal.

Maybe, and heck I could do with the money - however, I'd just rather rid of it. Collection/sale just seems shrouded with potential death/damage to house/hassle.

Just want rid, but thanks for the thought.

Yep. I did this. Make SURE you wear ear defenders and you want to get a fitter upper body. I filled a hire transit to the brim 10timez over gutting a 3bed house totally.

Oh and dont let your plumber have it or skip it. Weigh it in. It'll be worth a few quid.

I also had a copper storage heater cica 20's. I did a deal with the boiler fitter on this.

Theyll make out heavy chunks or iron and copper....well doing you a favour.

Dynamite?

I've done loads (unfortunately!)

My preferred method is a heavy short handled lump hammer (goggle, gloves, ear protection)

Get into the bath and start near the plug hole as that's the weakest point. Don't wonder how hard to hit it, the correct amount is always going to be slightly harder than you can manage. So just ****ing HIT it. As hard as you can !!! 🙂

You can get them into 4 or six bits fairly easily.

I wouldn't use blankets, just means it takes longer and it's not going to be clean or quiet either with or without them.

I did one recently. Not too difficult to break up with a sledge hammer.

I only got £11 weighing it in, which I did not feel was worth the 20 mile round trip (especially when you add in the puncture I picked up at the scrap yard).

Sledge hammer done mine

[i]Because bath is being repositioned sideways against the far wall - and it's 8cm too long,[/i]

Make an indent in the wall?

We've a cast iron bath, it's ace - and long enough for all +6ft of me to stretch out.

Get a 4lb lump hammer, start between the taps and bang hard, work your way down towards the plug hole still banging. Bang the full length of the bath. Then start half way down the bath where the handles would be and bang hard and bang your way across the bath to the other handle. Then repeat the process. 9 times out of ten it will split into 4 pieces.

Carried a big victorian one down the stairs (thankfully first floor flat)-possibly bigger than yours..
Thought the two or three reclamation yards I know in Glasgow would gladly have it but they didnt seem interested! Got £30 for it at a scrappy... i loved that bath as well. Spent many happy Saturday afternoons lying in it with a coupla beers listening to tunes and footy. Part of my going out routine it was!
Took

Tried to smash ours and after several goes, and partial deafness, I decided to carry it downstairs and then gave it to a local farmer to use as a trough.

Filling it with water before you start would help muffle any noise?

I feel left out because I haven't smashed one up.

wwaswas - Member
Filling it with water before you start would help muffle any noise?

Did you think that through before typing? 😯

How much do they weight? wonder how much you'd get taking it down to your local trader - £50?

When I used to do this regularly I used a big ball pein hammer.

The small contact point of the ball used to get a crack started in the cast iron pretty quickly, start from the edge of the bath and work your way across.

[i]Did you think that through before typing?[/i]

*innocent face*

Did you think that through before typing?

*innocent face*

Yeah, cos it's stupid. Sound carries through water even faster than air. Duh.

Iron filings, aluminium powder and some magnesium strip.
Ignite Magnesium strip.
Don't look at the light.

Actually, don't do this, unless you want the burn the house down.

[i] unless you want the burn the house down. [/i]

if you used sodium you could fill the bath with water and have an auto extinguishing fire?

Well crack on! 😉

Neighbours notified. HERE GOES.

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A pick axe wouldn't be my first choice. 😯

Is it too late to suggest a sledge hammer?

A pick axe ?!

Did you not read any of the advice given by people who've done it before.

Liquid nitrogen

Somebody up there ^^^ pointed out a pick was better.

One person.

The bulk of advice (and experience) says lump/sledge hammers are the way forward.

And oddly enough, they are 😉

mogrim - Member
Did you think that through before typing?
*innocent face*
Yeah, cos it's stupid. Sound carries through water even faster than air. Duh.

I was more thinking of the effect achieved when a bath full of water, and still in the bathroom of a house, is smashed with a hammer. Where would the water go? 😀

rogerthecat - Member
Where would the water go?

Well, obviously, down the plug hole, like usual! Where does it go in *your* house? Or do you siphon it out?

Duh!

My friend once asked to borrow my lump hammer
Why I asked
To smash my cast iron bath up on the forth floor .
so I says if we get it down can we have it
he says yes but no damage to the stairwell on the way down .
the bath in question is a clawfoot and a rather nice wedgewood paint job .
so three of us get it down his stairs and into the back yard
then off to get the van .
we were gone 10 mins and some bastid nicked it while we were away 👿 👿

Pick axe worked for me.

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Blimey! What a small pile of bits. There isn't much to these baths, is there?

Having done three bathrooms may I suggest that rather than try to make that wall good you simply batten it, stick up some sheets of Kingspan and re-board? The insulation will make your bathroom much much warmer.

woah! you just killed a very rare cloisterman avocado rolled lip enamel bath! I sold one which needed extensive re-enamiling and I still netted £1700!!

Did it deflate like a balloon once you put the pointy thing in it?

I SAID "DID IT DEFLATE LIKE A BALLOON ONCE YOU PUT THE POINTY THING IN IT?"

Ears still ringing much?

Bear, this house you've purchased, is it a squat per chance 😉

Having done three bathrooms may I suggest that rather than try to make that wall good you simply batten it, stick up some sheets of Kingspan and re-board? The insulation will make your bathroom much much warmer.

Thanks; that sounds promising, but I'm on my todd without much budget, so albeit short sighted, I think I'm better off just getting it skimmed?

this house you've purchased, is it a squat per chance

Not that bad, but still bad!

oldnpastit - Member

rogerthecat - Member
Where would the water go?

Well, obviously, down the plug hole, like usual! Where does it go in *your* house? Or do you siphon it out?

Duh!

Not if you smash it whilst it's full, Der! 🙄

Pick axe worked for me.

A steel fence post would have "worked"

But using the [b]right[/b] tool makes any job easier 😉

nealglover - Member

A steel fence post would have "worked"....

pick axe is definitely the way to go. you only have to hit it once instead of trying ridiculous ways of deadening the sound as you pound away at them with a lump hammer. once they have a serious crack it's child's play