I moved into a new house and the bathtub paint is coming off....?

Question

I told my co-worker about it and she said it was Electro Static paint, WHAT WHAT WHAT?? I was going to strip it and paint it again and seal it, but she said it might not work. Under the paint is the original color yellow. Any suggestions on what to do with this bathtub, replacing it would be great but I can't afford it. HELP anyone??

Answer 1

I completely identify with your situation as I have found myself there as well. All the other answers are good, but not a guarantee that it will be like new. Unless you rip out the old tub and replace everything. This can be costly and may require an update in plumbing. Here is my advice. Have you ever heard of "Bath Fitters"? They are acrylic liners that look just like your existing tub and side walls, and they fit over your existing bath. This covers bath tubs which are old, dirty, cracked, chipped, etc. The fitters are easy to clean, durable and appealing to the eye. I highly recommend this as I did this in my last house prior to selling it. Oh, and it's affordable - less expensive than replacing the entire surround or tub and more time effective. Check it out and good luck!

Answer 2

If it is an enamel tub I would guess that someone has simply painted it to cover up flaws. Painting is NOT suitable for most (if any) tub.

In some jurisdictions this is fraud and you may have legal comeback on the vendor. For the tub alone it probably isn't worth the cost / trouble of trying to sue .... but I'd advise having a close look at other areas of the house to see if this type of coverup/fraud has been perpetrated elsewhere. Some possibilities ... patched drywall to hide water leakage or settling, electrical problems, etc.

That said, re the tub there are firms that specialize in refinishing bathtubs. The yellow pages should identify someone local.

I have not tried them, so I can't attest to their effectiveness, but the links below are to two site which sell DIY refinish kits.

Hope this is useful. Good luck.

Answer 3

If you don't mind a white tub, you can usually find ads in the paper where companies run specials on redoing your tub for $100 to 150 the only hitch is that the special is usually white only. You can get a bathtrub refinishing kit at places like Home Depot but the trick there is that you have to remove the hardware around the drain and get under this hardware or the paint will just start chipping at that place. Ditto for the overflow hardware. It also has to dry for at least 48 hours. Don't believe instructions when they say only a few hours. And, you cannot leave any flake of the old stuff or the new stuff will chip where the old stuff wasnt removed. A true pain in the butt. Better to get it done if you can afford it.

Answer 4

You could have the tub and all the countertops resurfaced (or just the tub).
It's relatively inexpensive and it will look like all new fixtures.
You can have colors, flat or shiny or in between finish, whatever you wish. We had 3 large countertops with 4 sinks, and 1 - 7' tub and apron done for $875.

Look in the yellow pages under Resurface, or go to a Home
Depot or Lowe's to get more information. Or you might ask your real estate agent. They have all the answers and contacts.

Answer 5

The cheapest solution is to strip and hope you can deal with the looks. The medium cost solution is to have it repainted. This will cost around $600. The most expensive would be to replace the whole thing.

Answer 6

Don't repaint the bathtub yourself; it will only result in disaster. Have it professionally done. It will be worth the money.

Answer 7

thats questionable and there are actually more than one possible answers to this question

Answer 8

it won't be easy, but yes you can sand it..

Answer 9

Not really sure