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how to refinish a bathtub

Info on how to refinish a bathtub should be easy to implement and save you money. Here are a few tips.

How To Go About Refinishing Your Bathtub

Christopher Smith

Your bathroom is looking old and worn, the grout is discolored, the colors are passé, and there are rust stains on the bathtub. It’s going to cost a substantial chunk of change to get it back to looking as nice as it used to. One place where you can save a bunch of money will be by opting to refinish your existing bathtub instead of replacing it. In order to refinish your bathtub, you’ll need a few safety items as well as a number of refinishing supplies. The chemicals you use when you refinish a tub can emit toxic fumes and there will be a lot of sanding dust, so you’ll want to protect your respiratory system. With a well-ventilated room, you can probably get by with a good face mask; however, if there are no windows in the bathroom, you’ll want to wear a respirator during certain steps of the process. In addition, you’ll need to buy: * A heavy-duty bathtub cleaner to strip all residues from the tub * A small, handheld electric sander and extra sandpaper * One or two tubes of caulking * A roll of masking tape and something to cover other items in the bathroom (i.e. plastic, paper, old sheets, or newspapers) * A spray gun you can use to apply acrylic paint * A chemical bonding product for use on porcelain * Either an epoxy paint or a primer * An EP-acrylic top coat Start by thoroughly cleaning all surface areas of the tub. This step includes removing all of the old caulking and cleaning the space underneath it as well as you can. Don’t underestimate the importance of this step. You need to have all of the bathtub’s surfaces as clean as you possibly can before moving to the next step. After cleaning, take your palm sander and rough up the surfaces of the tub so that the new materials you apply will stick to them. This is also the time to sand out any little nicks, scratches, or chips that there might be, and the hand sander will make an easy job of it for you. The better you get the tub looking at this stage of the process, the better the finished product will be. Once you’ve completed all the sanding you want to do, it will once again be time to clean all of the bathtub surfaces. During sanding, dust will have accumulated on the surface, and you need to remove it as well as any other debris, water, or chemicals that might be present. A clean, dry surface is essential when you apply the primer and top coat. While you’re cleaning, keep your mask on so that you don’t inhale a lot of dust. Before you do any spraying, you need to get your room ready. Remove all items that you can, and then cover all remaining fixtures, such as your toilet and sink, with plastic or paper held in place with masking tape. This will protect them from getting any of the refinishing products on them. In addition, you can cover the floor with drop cloths. Now that you’ve covered any fixtures that you don’t want to get paint spray on, you can use a soft, clean cloth to apply a smooth layer of bonding agent. Allow it to dry for at least 5 minutes before starting to apply primer. While you’re waiting, open the windows and ventilate the room as well as possible. Have your mask or respirator ready, too, because you’ll want to wear it during the priming and painting stages of the project. The directions for using the primer you’ve selected will be written on the package. Use your sprayer to evenly coat all of the surface areas of the tub with primer. Work slowly and carefully making sure everything is covered smoothly. Don’t work too slowly, though, or you’re going to end up with excess primer running down the sides of the bathtub. If you’ve never used a paint sprayer before, take some time to practice with it on a piece of cardboard before you start working on the tub. After the first coat of primer has dried thoroughly, apply a second coat in the same manner as the first and allow it to dry. When this has happened, start by spraying on your first coat of acrylic polymer paint. You will need a total of three coats of paint with about a 30 minute drying time in between them. Give the paint at least 48 hours to dry before reapplying the caulking. The caulking will then need to cure for a few days. Once that’s done, however, you’ll be ready for a leisurely soak in your newly-refinished tub. Now, does that sound so hard? Actually, it’s a fairly simple process as long as you have clear instructions, the right materials, and the determination to succeed. By doing the work yourself you’ll save a lot of money, and the entire project will be far less expensive than tub replacement would have been. Besides, you’re going to love the look of your “new” bathtub!