How to Reinstall a Bathtub

Install the tub’s drainpipes if you removed them along with the bathtub. Thread the drain shoe into the pipe tee’s vertical connection and thread the overflow tub into the tee’s top connection. Thread the open connection on the bottom of the drain tee into the drainpipe in the floor.

Place the bathtub in place and put a level on the tub. If the tub does not sit level, you need to remove it and tack new leveling shims on its base until it sits even. The floor where the tub sat before may have slightly changed, or old shims that fill in the gaps may have fallen off the tub.

Push shims into any gaps between the tub’s flange and the wall studs. Place a blanket on the top of the tub just below its flange. Drive nails through the mounting holes in the tub’s top flange, anchoring the nails into the wall studs.

Apply an even bead of caulk around the perimeter of the bathtub. Smooth the caulk with your finger. Replace the tub’s overflow drain cover and drive the retaining screws through the cover and into the overflow tube until tight.

Apply caulk to the underside of the top lip of the tub’s drain body. Thread the drain body into the shoe drain opening beneath the tub. Expand a drain key in the drain body and use a pipe wrench to turn the drain key clockwise, tightening the drain body in the drain shoe.