[jakesdaddy]

We own an older home and it has a pink bathtub, sink and toilet.
It's easy & inexpensive enough to replace the sink & toilet, but we can't afford the expense or inconvenience of replacing the tub. I saw a special kind of paint in the hardware store for painting tubs etc. The salesperson said it would work perfectly. Self leveling etc. Has anyone on this board had any experience using this product?

[kp2171]

It was used by the people who owned our house before us.

They were sloppy do-it-yourselfers... so its hard to say if they did a proper job of prep. They used this paint on the bath, and on the wall tiles surrounding the bath as a quick makeover.

I think they did it a year before we bought the house, as we saw the house then and purchased later. So within, I'm guessing, two to three years after it was applied it started to crack in some places in the tub.

Again, I have no idea if they prepped the tub right, and I have no experience applying it myself.

Now we have a really ugly bathtub. It was yellow. The paint comes off in sections, usually smaller that an adult hand, from time to time. We are going to need to replace the tub... but we planned on a remodel of the bath when we moved in, so mostly it's a temporary irritant. An ugly, part white, part yellow tub.

And even if its all applied well, the area around the drain is a place where I can see it working itself loose over time.

The paint is adhering just fine to the tile throughout the bathroom. They had a lot of runs when they applied it. So it seems to be sticking just fine, but close inspection shows a bad job of painting. Don't know, again, if this is their bad technique or if its hard to work with. Considering they did a lot of things (like painting without priming) in other areas of the house, I'm thinking its got to be at least some of their fault.

But I do have a hard time believing a paint can be hard enough to handle the job in the tub, and flexible enough to handle the heat changes from hot bath to colder. I don't know how much a tub actually expands and contracts with hot and colder water. Obviously many paints are formulated to be able to stand some flexing with hot/cold extremes.

So... would I use it myself, for myself? Um... I might use it as a quick fix to a bad bath. Especially if I'm not planning on being there in another year or two. I might be willing to try it in a public bath, knowing that I might have to redo it all anyway in time.

Hopefully someone else will chime in here. Perhaps with proper surface prep it can withstand the demands of the bath.

[tickle]

I had my tub refinished by a professional and it was quite reasonable, $300 cdn. The reason being is that it never would have made it out of the bathroom without having to be broken up in pieces. Small bathroom, the house was built in the 40s. I would never consider buying a paint that someone promised would do a good job on the bathtub. There is just no way. You just can't paint over porcelain and have it adhere to the surface for any length of time. I wasn't in the bathroom when he did mine, it wasn't safe to do, but after the special material was applied I couldn't use if for two days. Now mind you, it isn't quite as shiny as it was in the first place, but a really great job and I am a fussy person. He warned us of a few downsides, couldn't use an abrasive cleaner, only Vim and had to be careful of dropping hard objects (I found that out quick!).

I suggest you search your yellow pages for 'bathtub refinishing' and then e mail me here and we can talk about what you have found.

This is my answer.

[kp2171]

tickle - thanks for the input. How long ago did you have this done?

I've seen places in town that do this, and I'm sure, as you said, theyd get better results than average joe.

Good alternative perhaps.

[labman]

Properly applied, those paints might do a good job over an enameled steel tub. A porcelain cast tub? If you do decide to try the paint, follow the directions exactly. Nuthin is going to stick to a dirty or glossy surface. Trust me, I am a chemist that spent 10 years working in the paint industry.

[tickle]

Hi Labman, I think he etched the old porcelain first before applying the new finish.

[jakesdaddy]

Thanks to all that responded. I think I will try out the paint on the old sink first. The sink and the tub have the same kind of finish. (I think/It looks that way) They sink and toilet have both got to go anyway.

[berk2don]

We own an older home and it has a pink bathtub, sink and toilet.
It's easy & inexpensive enough to replace the sink & toilet, but we can't afford the expense or inconvenience of replacing the tub. I saw a special kind of paint in the hardware store for painting tubs etc. The salesperson said it would work perfectly. Self leveling etc. Has anyone on this board had any experience using this product?

Do not by that product it's time consuming and you won't like the results, have refinished

[berk2don]

Painting your tub with on the shelf products will cause you problems when painting your bathtub those products are epoxies, they will yellow if you paint your tub white. I refinish bathtubs and after people painted there tub they called me. If you really can't afford to have it refinished and you use the store product, clean the surface very well and use a primer that will work on tile, paint the primer on your tub let it dry all night then paint your tub, if you know how to use a spray gun with an air compressor use it instead of a paint brush.

[Pitboss]

Diy bathtub refinishing paints do work if they come with a bonding agent. I have done several tubs using the kits at refinishingonline.com they also have instructions for bathtub refinishing, tile painting and repair of many surfaces in the home. Check them out but a minimum make sure any paint you buy for your bathtub & sinks has a bonding agent so the paint will stick and not peel.