Hello everyone, this is my first post to these forums and I would appreciate any suggestions and advice that you can give. I live in a condominum and the finish inside the bathtubs is wearing ie. the water beads even after cleaning. I would like to refinish them, and am wondering if this is a project that I can undertake myself. If not, can you suggest where I can get professional help to do this.
Thank you,
Lady B, Toronto
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there is a kit to refinish bathtubs at most hardware stores or home depot about $50. that works well. follow instructions carefully. comes in different colours and stands up well. I use this in my appartments.
We did the "surround" thing with Bathfitter. We completely gutted our bathroom when we moved in, and when we found the amount of damage done to the walls behind, we spent so much money rebuilding that we said never again, so we had it all replaced with the full surround, over tub and walls and ceiling. Never again will I deal with rotted tiles and beams. ICK. I have had only a few regrets about the full surround - it's so white!!! When it sweats, it pops out from the wall (but we had it permanently affixed last time it happened).
If it's not too expensive (vs putting in a new tub and all the work associated with it), I'd say get it professinally refinished. I used to live in an apartment with a horrible mucky tub, nothing could clean it, I had the property management group refinish it, I think they sprayed it, and it lasted fine for the additional 3 years we were there with no chips, etc. We were very happy they did it. Oh, one thing, close the door while it's drying.. they didn't.. we had ca couple of kitty footprints on the edge of the tub!
our bathroom, we looked into having the tub and tile re-finished. It was going to cost close to $1000, and no "real" guarantee that it wouldn't peel eventually. We opted to have the tile torn out and new tub and tile put in. All in all, having a professional do this job, even with his labour added in, cost us just over $1000 and we know it's not going to peel. We were in a mess for only 2 days.....well worth it!!
Is that the company that custom makes the liner? We know we have to re-do our bathroom, and I dread it. We have just 1 bathroom, no powder room. I don't know how we'll manage when the work is being done.
Hi there, you may want to consider calling BathTub King - they are a national company, and have them come out to give you a quote. They are quite reasonably priced cpmpared to buying a new tub, taking out the old one, the mess that occurs with that etc.
Having been a professional renovator for 17+ years I can honestly say the best thing to do is replace the bathtub with a new enamelled steel tub. The refinishing companies swear by their product(s)but I have yet to see a tub, refinished on site, look good after a few years. The one piece acrylic units are better but very expensive and the finish can't touch enamel for durability. Perhaps (hopefully) whoever did the nice tiling around the tub left some sparesso you can match the tiles that need to be removed.
Good luck.
Thank you for the suggestion Victoria, I have seen the vinyl product on HGTV. However that is not an option for the ensuite bathroom. There are very nice tiles on the floor and continue into the shower - definitely a feature of the bathroom and it would be a shame to cover them up. Guess, I am going to have to save up!
Refinishing your bathtub is not something you can properly do yourself. Instead of having it recoated, look into a company that will make a vinyl liner that seamlessly fits right over your tub. They can also go up the walls over tile if it needs to be replaced. It might be a little more money, but well worth the investment in the long run.
We bought our house in June, and I guess I was so excited when I found it, when we looked at it (3 times), I never inspected the tub. Well, when we moved in, I noticed these little green specks... which are turning into larger green specks. The tub had been refinished, and it's not holding up. I don't know how many years ago this was done, but we need to buy a new tub.