I just gutted my bathroom. The joint where the tub's drain attaches to the outgoing drain is cracked, has been leaking slowly, probably for years. (I take showers, keep it plugged, bail shower water to flush the toilet, but I bang the plug loose occasionally, so some water gets through.) A 3/8-inch hole in the floor has been cut out for the trap; its bottom still touches the floor. I suspect that it has flexed a tiny bit over the last 42 years, which has caused the joint to crack. Are all tub drains the same height? I could make 1/2-inch feet for my next tub. Is there another solution? If I tie in the vent at the tub do I need the trap? If nothing else, I could use a flexible joint.

It appears you could use a "plumber".

after reading your post my very honest opinion is that you really need to bring in a licensed plumber.

Most folks don't understand the importance of traps and vents.

Some of the gases that can enter your home are colorless/odorless and can make you very sick.

a very small leak can literally destroy sections of a home. I see it weekly.

You guys have no sense of adventure.

i have a sense of adventure.
there is no standard measure from the bottom of the tub to the floor it sits on.

you can very easily raise a new tub but how you go about it depends on the material the tub is made from. (cast iron, acrylic or fiberglass)

you can even get a tub with a raised bottom. would solve your problem but you won't get a nice deep bath.

all fixtures need a trap and all traps need to be protected from being syphoned . that protection is a properly installed vent pipe.

OF course we do. It is always an adventure to go to a job and have to do twice as much work as we would have if the owner had stopped doing "stuff" about a minute before he reached his level of incompetence.

..... but then they could only work for about 20 seconds

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"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638

Might still be too long for some dedicated DIYers.

What’s wrong with being a DIY’er? I’ve seen plenty of “pro” work far below the level I DIY to. (Shoddy, not code compliant, sometimes dangerous, cover up problems, etc)

Being a "PRO" does not automatically mean the person is competent at what he is doing, which applies to DIYers also.

hj, you must have read "The Peter Principal", a book I highly recommend for all of my friends.

You conflate ignorance with incompetence. I think I can do a competent job if I get good information. Also important: this time I will leave all the plumbing exposed.

I looked at 4 clawfoot tubs by different manufacturers. All have their drains at 6¾ inches high. Considering that I have to mount a clawfoot tub on 2x12s to spread the weight over the joists, this is enough height to accommodate a trap.

I had a leak that I couldn't access without getting behind the wall. The wall on the kitchen side had been broken and repaired a few times before I bought the place, so it seemed like a good opportunity to replace it as well as fix the plumbing. I had to take out the kitchen sink and its cabinet, so this was a project.

After I took that piece out, I found a vent pipe disconnected, the drain pipe cracked and leaking in 2 places, the flooring around the toilet cracked and split (but completely dry: not on my watch did it leak), 2 studs in this load-bearing wall that had 2½ inch holes in them to accommodate vent pipe but weren't used. The studs were wobbly. The floor was unfinished. A leak from the drain pipe had corroded a hole through ¾ inch of plywood flooring (without getting my floor visibly wet, or damaging more than an inch diameter of the floor). There were dozens of nails that missed their studs. There was lots of construction debris. After I removed all of the bathroom's walls I found 3 sections that weren't insulated.

I sistered the wobbly studs, sealed, caulked, and finished the whole floor.

YOU conflate ignorance and incompetence with carelessness.

They may have known - the may have been capable - but - ? who the frak cares ?

You did, in fact, purchase the home without due diligence or a PROPER and THOROUGH inspection.

Such as determining that an 'upstairs bath' was installed above a KITCHEN wall.

Not a good practice, albeit common construction.

Suppose, just suppose, the toilet HAD been leaking all those years .....

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"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638

BOTH of you conflate the original post with what I replied to HJ about incompetent “pros” vs “DIYers”.

I’m not talking about ArthurPeabody’s work or home or bathtub at all.

And I am not questioning your abilities, only your judgement with your pipe-freezing endeavor.