Move tub 6-12”?

[nereo]

Wondering how practical this might be:  In our new-to-us home we had a tub installed as a condition of move-in.  Weren’t there to supervise the installation and the plumber didn’t put the tub exactly where I want it to go.

It’s a claw foot tub and the drain in the tub is exactly lined up with the (new) drain in the floor.

Now I’m wondering if I could install a new, larger tub as the one they put in is 4.5’.   Problem is the drain would then be not in line with the hole i(drain) in the floor.   I’m not adverse to raising the tub 6-8” to give more working space below.

[lthenderson]

The short answer is yes, you can probably move it to where you want and get it to work. It all comes down to aethetics and getting the right plumbing fittings. This is one of those cases where a picture would be worth a thousand words. I don't think I have ever seen a claw foot tub where the tub drain lines up exactly over the drain pipe going through the floor. In most cases, there is a right angle under the tub drain that allows the water to go beyond the tub and connect with the drain stack that is hooked to the overflow drain. Similar to the picture I found below.

[nereo]

Hmm... yes, photos would help (attached).  to be work the new tub would need to be at least 6" towards the intake valves.  Given that they are rigid I'm guessing I'd need to replace them with flexible hoses.

[lthenderson]

I'm not a plumber but I'm guessing what you are asking could probably be done but I think it would look terrible in the end and look like an obvious mistake. I think if it were me, I would look at moving all the pipes/drains over six inches as well. Do you have access from below?

[nereo]

No access from below and that flooring is ceramic tile (sadly it’s discontinued and we cannot replace). That’s why enclosing the tub is an idea.

[lthenderson]

If you are enclosing the tub, then pulling out the tile and opening up the floor would definitely probably give you the room needed. But I think you probably can do it with the correct fittings without doing that too but again, I am not a plumber and hate doing plumbing projects like that. It always takes me lots of trips to the store to get all the correct fittings. Good luck. Hope you post an update when you are done.