[AndyPanda]

I have purchased an older (1870's) home where the previous owner has done a hack job of installing a bathroom downstairs. The downstairs is right at ground level with no crawlspace at all. (like if it were a basement where the foundation and floor are all concrete - except in this case the concrete floor is exactly at ground level)

It appears that they broke through the concrete and dug down enough to do the plumbing for the tub drain but there is no concrete (just dirt) underneath the tub. And the house was infested with rats. I've managed to trap and clear out all the rats but I have determined that they have been getting in by tunneling up under this bathtub .. and new rats will come back in until I get this fixed.

It seems obvious to me that the solution is to tear out the bathtub and get this done correctly - but without any crawl space underneath the house, how do you do a concrete floor underneath a bathtub so you still have room to attach the tub to the drain?

Until I have time to rip out and redo everything, I've been tempted to mix up some soupy concrete and pour it in there under the tub (through the access panel) so it will run down in the rat tunnels and at least stop the rats from tunneling in until I have time to redo the whole bathroom. How terrible of an idea is that? :vs_no_no_no:

 

[AllanJ]

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[AllanJ]

When you remove the bathtub you can carve away the dirt underneath to pour a new concrete slab section a few inches lower than the existing floor.

It is very common to install a bathroom in a basement where pipes need to be installed under floor level and there is no crawl space.

Pouring soupy concrete down there will probably be a waste of time and effort and concrete. It will make preparing the area for re-installing the tub later much more difficult. If the concrete does not cover the entire surface (hit or miss and luck) then rats will dig new tunnels over to the voids in the concrete.