We are planning to remove/replace a clawfoot tub from our first floor bathroom. (Yes we have thought at length about all the pros and cons, including living with it converted to a shower in its current place. stepping down from the elevated height onto a wet tile surface is seriously not safe for us, the water is constantly spilling out/around even with 6 curtains around the whole thing. There is no where else in the house we can put a tub shower combo and a tub shower combo is our requirement. I cannot move this tub to a different location in the house. We have been in our home 9 years and I have brainstormed 100's of scenarios.)

So now to my question :)

To my knowledge we will need to open up the walls and mount an alcove tub to the studs in this room (then tile above), and there will be a small area/shelf since the room is slightly larger than a standard alcove since it was designed for the current tub (This is not an original location for the bathroom, but a space carved out of the kitchen in the 20's ish and the tub has walls on three sides like an alcove - only harder to clean). Would we also need to remove the flooring? or can we install and alcove insert ontop of the current flooring (this is on our first floor and we have easy access to the area below in the basement).

We will be hiring a plumber to do the plumbing work and working with a carpenter on the build out needs, but will be doing much of the work ourselves (because life is unfair and finding general contractors in our area is not possible right now ;) ). We have renovated a previous bathroom down to the studs, but it already had an insert we were removing.

Thanks!

Photos in a comment below.