I've been preparing to replace the tub in my guest bathroom, the tub has been out of level since I bought this house, and it has always retained some water in the back, which had also always been somewhat discolored. For context, the walls had previously had tile up to the ceiling. I've been trying to read and watch as much prep material in advance as I could, but in all of the material there had always been 2x4's behind the tile and some sort of backer board. As I'm pulling down these tiles, what I find instead is brick wall. In summary, I haven't been able to find any resources describing prepping brick walls for a new tub and tile. I don't know how I ought to attach the tub to the walls (if that's even something I ought to do in this case) or how to otherwise prep the wall to receive waterproofing and tile. Any materials or advice offered would be greatly appreciated!
I set tubs all the time for work.
Prep the walls by making them plumb and flat. Furring strips w greenboard or hardiboard, or just use construction adhesive to bond the board to the walls. What's the opening size? 60x32 ish or are you going w a larger soaking tub?
Fiberglass tubs get screwed to the wall through the tub flange, or with clips they provide. Depends on manufacturer. Cast iron tubs don't get screwed to the wall, they have screws holding them down that are screwed into the wall right above the edge of the tub flange. Pre drill holes of using a fiberglass tub.
Are you dead set on tiling walls? A fiberglass 3 panel surround might be adequate.
Tub gets set in a bed of mortar. Even the ones that say they have a foam foot and don't need it. Put a sheet of plastic down on the floor, then lay your mortar bed on top of the plastic. The plastic means the tub and mortar set together but the mortar won't bond to the floor and be a major headache to remove in ten years. The mortar gives a good footing and the shower spraying on the bottom of the tub does t sound hollow and cheap. It also prevents breaking the bottom out of the tub.
I have all the answers you'll need. Just ask.
Pretty sure it's around 60 x 32, the tub that came out was standard in size, and I don't intend to change that.
I'm not absolutely dead set on tile, but in general I do like the way tile looks, and I'd like the final product to look nice.
Thank you so much for the pointers, I'm probably going to bug you for details in the near future
DM whenever you feel the need. I'll help however I can
Given the brick situation of my bathroom, how would you go about controlling the leveling of the tub during installation?