I am remodeling the bathroom in my 1906 <br>bungalow and have purchased an antique <br>cast iron clawfoot tub. The tub probably <br>weighs around 400-500 pounds. Do I need to <br>reinforce the floor underneath the tub in order <br>to support that weight? My house is built on a <br>crawl space (there is no basement). Any <br>information or advice would be very <br>appreciated! Thanks.

Just to put things in perspective, the water in the tub will probably weigh more than the tub. For example, a tub 60" long by 20" wide with 16" of water has 660 lbs. of water. <br> <br>The location of the tub will make a difference. If it is along an outside wall, it will probably be pretty well supported as the lever arm on the joists will be short, and all of the joists will be supported on one end by the sill. If its in the middle of the house, there may be less support. <br> <br>

In my bungalow there are several places in the house where the floor is off level. This was caused by the slow sagging of the floor joists. Mostly because they put the piers too far apart back then. It is typical of the homes in my area. <br>It is hard to tell that the bathroom floor is sagging since it is so small. It is easier to see along the base of the walls in the house. Essentially the floors sag in the middle of the rooms that have a load bearing wall. I would suggest that you check the floor for level with a level to get some perspective on the situation. Then go under the house and check for piers around the bathroom. If everything looks good and you don't have more than a few feet to beams and piers you are good. If it is too far and your floor shows off level in some direction that would tell you to reinforce in that direction. Make sure that any jacking of the beams is done very slowly of a period of days to avoid cracking the walls etc.. settling happens very slowly over years and the whole house has time to adjust. Don't let anyone rush you. <br>Good Luck <br>

100 year old houses orginally had claw foot tubs, so as long as the joists and the subfloor are in good condition, the tub will be okay.

If your floor, floor joists, piers, and foundation are in good shape then your probably ok. Most of these homes didn't have any additional supports under the bath tubs and have held up. If your concerned you could have a general building contractor check it out, you don't need an engineer. It's a fairly basic formula to figure out the loads and stress. My bet is you have plenty of support for your tub. <br> <br>

I did the same thing to my bathroom and worried about waking up to the sound of my tub crashing through to the basement. But the way my tub is positioned, it crosses several floor joists and is very well-supported. If possible, you may want to check out from below where the tub sits. <br> <br>Another thing that eased my mind...I thought about all of the heavy furniture (sideboard, large chest of drawers) that my floors support with no signs of strain. Unless you have particularly weak floors in that area, I think you should be fine. <br> <br>