Straight Talk On Bathtub Refinishing

Jan 13, 2012 by Frank Scherer

Bathtub refinishing services and kits have been around for decades and it’s the lagging housing market that has more people today taking a new look at them. Folks who in the past would’ve simply purchase a brand-new tub for a home that they were planning on selling are now refinishing instead due to lower profit margins on home sales.

Even so, real unbiased information about the actual process is hard to come by, with so much of it that you can find online really only describing it in vague terms. A new surface coat accomplished with a kit that contains four or five packets and containers of materials with names like blender, surface coat, and calcite remover.

So then in real terms just what is it exactly that you’re paying for and what kind of results can you expect from one of these kits? Also just what is a “surface coat” and once it’s on will it last? Then what about savings because the figure that most of these ads for these kits put forward is 50%. That for half the money you’d spend on a new job you can have your old tub looking just like new.

What Is a Bathtub Refinishing Surface Coat?

Your bathtub is one of two types. It’s either a cast iron tub with a baked on enamel surface coat that really can best be described as a type of glass finish. Powdered glass that’s sprayed on and then bake in a high temperature oven until it melts on the metal surface. Or you have a fiberglass tub that’s made from a polymer resin that’s applied over a fiberglass fiber mat on a mold. The same way they make small boats.

A polymer describes two or more ingredients that are mixed together that react to become a hard substance. Auto body filler for instance is a polymer because you mix the hardener with the resin to create a reaction for it to harden. So then where does a bathroom refinishing surface coat “fit in” here because it’s neither baked on nor is it a polymer?

The simple answer here is that when you buy bathtub resurfacing kit the refinishing surface coat that you’ll be applying is paint. It’s as simple as that. So there’s nothing “magic or special” going on here. Rather it’s just a high-grade paint that’s very similar to the paint you’d find on automobiles or marine grade paint that’s used to paint the hull of the boat.

So then why don’t the marketers of these kits describe it is paint? The reason here, is that they want you to believe that it’s some type of “special surface coat” that’s similar to what’s already on there. The hard glass finish on a cast iron tub or a hard polymer resin finish if it’s fiberglass bathtub.

So Then What Will It Look Like And How Long Will It Last?

Once again here the folks who market these products tend to be vague in their description of the final results and how long they’ll last. The truth is that if your tub is old and in bad shape it will for sure look better after it has a new surface treatment. However, if you have a newer tub that has no chips or flaws in the surface and are merely looking for new color then you might be disappointed with the final results of a bathtub refinishing job.

It’s not that the surface coat products in these kits are a low quality product because they are in fact what can best be described as a high quality automotive or marine grade paint. Rather it’s just that a polymer resin or baked on enamel finish is more glossy and durable. Then as far as service life goes, these painted on coatings can last for decades and even longer, just as long as the surface is prepared well and you don’t take anything in the tub that could scratch it.

Stop and think about it for a moment. The paint on your car or truck holds up pretty well and it can take a real beating out on the road. A bathtub, on the other hand, sits in the sheltered security of your bathroom and really only comes in contact with naked bodies and water, so all things considered it just isn’t taking much of a beating.

So you can expect the surface coating from one of these bathrooms refinishing gets to hold its luster about as long as you can expect the paint on a new car to look new. About 10 years or so and then from there about another 10 years in the gradually dulling of the finish. Keeping in mind here that cars can be waxed to protect the paint from oxidation while you can’t wax a bathtub.

Now it’s also worth noting here that do-it-yourself bathtub resurfacing kids come with a roller that you apply the paint with and you just aren’t going to get a “premium finish” with a paint roller. To get a nice glossy finish like you have on your car it has to be sprayed on, and this is why bathtub resurfacing companies that come to your house and do the work for you always use a sprayer.

It’s the same with anything in your home that has a nice even, smooth glossy finish. Cabinets, furniture, appliances, even ceramic tiles. All of them have surface finishes that were sprayed on. A roller will always leave tracks.

So Why Not Spray Your Surface Coat On?

“Part if what determines your bathtub refinishing cost is exactly what you need to have done and what kind of bathtub you have.
A simple re-glazing can cost as little as $200, while a full refinish on a cast iron tub can cost into the thousands of dollars.”

So if whether a surface coat is rolled on or paint on makes such a difference in the final results, is it possible that you could somehow spray the paint on the comes in your kit? The answer here, is yes you can, and in fact it’s far easier than most people realize because the equipment you need to do it is actually quite reasonably priced and the compressor, and the hose can be rented locally.

In fact they probably carry paint sprayers at your local hardware store and they start out in price at about $20 or so for a cheaper model. Then all you need is a hose and the compressor and you can rent those at your local rental yard for probably around $20 “or so” per day. Then if you read the instructions carefully, and spent about a half an hour or so practicing on some scraps of wood or sheets of cardboard it won’t take long to get the hang of it.

So then why don’t the companies that market bathtub refinishing kits tell you how easy it is to get the equipment to spray it on when you do it? There’s two reasons for that. Reason one is they don’t want potential buyers to know that the roller systems will deliver an inferior finish because this turn a lot of them away. Then the second reason is that these kits are presented as “easy” do-it-yourself all-in-one packages.

It’s All About Surface Preparation

When it comes to painting anything, surface preparation is key. Surface preparation is important before you paint any surface but in the case of the back of bathtub resurfacing in particular there’s one factor that make this even more so. That is that a bathtub being a smooth hard surface, particularly in the case of baked on enamel is anything but optimal for painting and this is why some people opt for an insert as discussed by Jerri at jerricousher.hubpages.com

Take a look at the surface of the bathtub or bathroom sink, and what you’ll find is that if it’s enamel it’s basically glass so not only does it have to be cleaned perfectly but it also has to be scored. That is that all surface residue has to be removed, then a treatment with an acid product must be performed to remove any calcite deposits, and also some type of abrasive must be used to scratch the surface.