Bathtub refinishing ??? HELP

[Christine Fenno]

Trying to research Bathtub Reglazing is driving me bananas!

Has anyone in the NYC area gotten their old bathtub refinished/reglazed? I've researched this to death, and yes we've decided we want this process done to our tub (not tub liner). However, we haven't seen the work of any LOCAL providers (just the usual website photos which are for sales purposes, not objective). The only job I've seen up close (very happy with what I saw) was my husband's parents who live in Michigan and their tub refinished beautifully. I have called & called local providers and asked for references but am having very little luck, they are reluctant even though it's a very logical request on my part. What I really want is someone objective in the NYC area, a customer like me, who hired a tub refinisher a few years ago (not last week), is happy with the results today, and is willing to recommend the company they used. This is getting to be impossible to find and I'm so frustrated!

All the advice sites & home repair bulletin boards say, "Do your homework," "Ask for references," "Ask the following questions..." Well, having never refinished my tub I don't know what the ANSWERS to those questions are supposed to be if no one tells me (duh)! Please please please if anyone in NY/NJ/CT has reglazed or refinished their tub and would like to recommend the company they used, please let me know. If your friend, brother, or neighbor ever mentioned being happy with their bathtub refinishing, please let me know.

THANKS! Christine [e-mail]

[donald girod]

I suppose the quality of the job depends on who does it. I had a guy do my bathtub, it looked great, and I should have sold the house right then. It started to peel within 2 years, I had him come out and fix it up, waited another year, had him come out again, and THEN I sold the house. I am very skeptical that this makes any sense, unless you don't use the tub, in which case, hey. I don't think a coat of paint makes a good tub surface. And that is all it is, no matter what kind of bullshit name they give it ("reglazing, reporcelainizing"). It goes on with a paint sprayer and smells like paint (worse), and before they do it they have to etch the old surface with acid.. Talk about burning your bridges. It is a two-part epoxy paint but it is VERY fragile. I personally believe that it is due to the incompatibility between the flexible paint and the absolutely inflexible porcelain, but what do I know. The relining is at least as good as a new fiberglass tub (i.e., not that good) and costs $2500 or something insane, like 10% less than ripping out the old tub.

This is not NYC experience (Buffalo, we're just hicks with chicken wings), but I have real reservations about the product. You aren't happy with your tub the way it is, and you aren't going to be really happy with the paint job. I think happiness is important, and you should just decide what you are going to do, and decide at the same time to be happy with the outcome. The right solution is to jackhammer the tub and be done with it, and someday that will be feasible for you, or you can reglaze the tub again and sell the place fast.

[Tom J]

Epoxy glazes are not durable on sinks and tubs, so that's the reason you aren't getting referrals. It works fine on appliances that don't get hot or stay in contact with water. The only satisfactory way to refinish a tub or sink is to remove it and send it to a factory that will put new porcelain on. It has to be a special and rare type fixture to make it worth while. BTW, I wouldn't want one of those plastic relines either.

Just go ahead and have the tub replaced with a new porcelain tub, and you'll be happy for 30 more years!!

Tom J

[bambam]

Um, this probably won't help a lot.

I'm a contractor -- this comes up from time to time -- and neither I nor my plumbers will go near it. Too many horror stories of peeling and discolouring within the first few years.

It is a lot cheaper than putting in a new tub and tile ... but ...

Ken

[Art Begun]

Your problem was the epoxy paint. The good outfits don't use it.

epoxy paint

inflexible

refinished/reglazed?

Michigan

local

frustrated!

ANSWERS to

Please

[oldal4865]

I had mine refinished in March, 1997. It took all day, sanding, acid etch, several coats of two-part Urethane.

I would guess that a Urethane could work better than an epoxy. There is no good** way to make epoxy cure fast enough to put down several coats in a day; urethanes are well suited to a high quality but fast cure. BTW: I would not take a bath in a room-temperature cured, two-part epoxy coated bathtub.**

I can't believe** that any simple one-part paint would ever work on a bathtub.

(**I had a 35-year career in industrial polymers)

Mine has worked perfectly. Looks good, no problems at all.

I take a deep, soaking bath (arthritis) almost every day. However, we are retired, no kids use the tub.

Ours was a franchisee of Worldwide Refinishing Systems. They brag about

30-yrs in the business.

Regards Old Al