The last time we built a tub deck our plumber set the tub and plumbed it.  This time I’m doing the whole thing.

 

A tub deck should be level, the tub should sit level, and the turned down top edge of the tub should sit just above the deck.  That is, the edge of the tub is not supposed to carry the weight of a tub full of water.  The weight is carried by the bottom of the tub, on its “feet.”

 

It also happens that the floor of this room slopes to the corner, so it is not level.  We can compensate for this fact and when we are done the tub and the floor will be level.  (The floor tile will be level.  There is nothing which I can reasonably do to correct the underlying slope of the wood floor).

 

It also happens that the drain location is right over a floor joist.  I believe there may be plumbers out there who might cut a notch in the joist to give clearance for the drain, but that is a no-no.  Those plumbers don’t work for us anyhow.  So here we raised the tub a bit with the 2x4’s you see on the floor.

 

We are using a Kohler tub and their website has drawings in computer formate which I can bring into our software and have a scaled drawing.  From that drawing I was able to see where the feet go.  I should say where they should have been.

 

After building the deck we lifted the tub in place to check the fit of things.  That is when I found out a couple interesting things.  First, the feet were not where they were supposed to be, and second, if you set this tub on a level floor, it won’t be level.  On inspection I can see the feet are added later, maybe glopped on into some glue.

 

So, to compensate I made the supports a bit off level, “better than level” some would say.  These compensations for the “better than level, plumb and square” reality of houses is so typical of what we face in residential construction.  It is one of the reasons that well made houses take more time and more money than you’d think to build.