How to Add Claw Feet to a Tub

An old bathtub placed outside becomes a landscaping addition to your lawn once you plant flowers or plants inside. To add a decorative touch to the bathtub, install claw feet on the bottom. Purchase claw feet from a home and garden supply shop, or find them on broken bathtubs at yard sales or junk yards. A few tools from around the home and a few supplies from a hardware store round out what you'll need. The procedure, with minor differences, will work for a new bathtub that you plan to install inside the home as well.

Several 2-by-4-inch boards
Grease pencil
Tape measure
Portable drill, 1/4-inch metal drill bit
4 toggle bolts, 1/4-inch diameter
4 toggle nuts, 1/4-inch diameter
Pliers
Silicone sealant tube
Plumber's putty
Plastic putty knife

Instructions

- 1
  Place 2-by-4 boards on the ground beside the tub. If the tub is to be used indoors once outfitted with the claw feet, place the tub on the floor of the garage or in the driveway prior to placing the boards beside it. Tilt the bathtub so that its side rests on the boards, lifting the bottom of the tub into the air so you can access it.
- 2
  Place a claw foot against one corner edge of the bathtub. Make a dot onto the bathtub through the hole in the claw foot with a grease pencil or regular pencil. Measure from the rim of the bathtub to the dot with a tape measure. Measure from the edge of the bathtub to the dot with the tape measure.
- 3
  Place a dot on the other end of the bathtub, which is on the same side as the first marked claw foot and at the same measurements.
- 4
  Drill a hole through one of the dots with a portable drill. Smooth out the interior edges of the hole with the rotating drill bit.
- 5
  Place a claw foot against the bathtub so that the hole you drilled lines up with the hole in the claw foot. Place a toggle bolt through the hole. Place a toggle nut on the end of the toggle bolt from the inside of the bathtub. Screw the toggle nut on with your fingers. Tighten the toggle nut with the jaws of a pliers.
- 6
  Apply silicone sealant from a tube over the nut and around the toggle bolt on the inside of the bathtub if it is going to be used outdoors. Let 10 minutes pass before continuing. Apply plumber's putty after the silicone sealant has set -- if the bathtub is going to be used indoors -- over the nut and around the toggle bolt with the edge of a plastic putty knife. Let the putty set for the amount of time specified in the instructions before continuing.
- 7
  Attach a claw foot to the other side of the bathtub in the same manner as was just done. Remove the pieces of wood after the 10-minute wait for the silicone sealant has passed if the tube is to be used outdoors; otherwise wait the amount of time specified in the instructions that come with the plumber's putty before continuing.
- 8
  Repeat this entire procedure with the pieces of wood, two claw feet, portable drill, toggle bolts, nuts and silicone sealant and plumber's putty on the other side of the bathtub. The bathtub can now be placed in a desired area outdoors or taken into the house.

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