Bathroom remodel question

[Orbison]

I'm removing one of those 1-piece fiberglass shower enclosures. The fiberglass is probably at least 1/8" thick & reinforced at the edges/corners. The enclosure is nailed or screwed to the wall studs. The trick is to do shallow cuts just through the fiberglass to avoid damaging any studs or water lines behind it. I'm considering buying a spiral/rotary cutout saw or recip saw. A cutout saw would be relatively easy to control & I could adjust the depth of the cut, but I'm not sure how well it would work on fiberglass. A recip saw would definitely do the job, but it would be hard to control the depth of the blade.

Anyone here every do this kind of project? Any recommendations for what tool would work best? (all of the above? sledgehammer?)

Thanks!

 

[Maximo]

What about a hammer and a nice thick pair of gloves?

 

[Batman]

I think since you will be doing some drywall patching anyway, i would break away the outer edges of drywall to get at the fasteners along the edges of the fiberglass. Once loose saw the fiberglass just enough to remove from your home. I think this would be a more manageable mess to deal with...

 

[Maximo]

Are you certain that it is screwed in and not just caulked to the wall?

 

[Orbison]

Batman - I'll be trying to damage the sheetrock as little as possible because the new shower panels may just cover the resulting opening. The shape of the front of the enclosure is such that it will be better to do the inside demo first, I think.

No, Max. Until I open things up I won't know for certain. At this point I'm just trying to figure out the best tools to use for cutting the fiberglass, because I'll have to cut it up to get it out of the house.

:text-thankyoublue: