Has any done a DIY on reglazing a bathtub? I looked at the Bob Vila site, and it seems like it will take forever and a day, and the results seem to not be great (stuff chipping off etc.)
I don’t mind doing all the grunt work like cleaning, sanding, but I despise detail work. Also, I am just not sure from what I’m reading online that the results are long-lasting.
I would also be very interested in people’s experience with professional reglazers.
The other thing is that with the number of people in our home and the number of bathrooms, I would hate to put a tub/shower out of commission for days on end. I guess this is the kind of project you do when the entire rest of the family is away on vacation etc for days?
I had a cast iron tub in a rental reglazed by a professional and it turned great. I wasn’t there but the management said the fumes from the chemicals used could be toxic and you need protection as in gas fume mask and special gloves. I do not recommend DIY.
Definitely a pro job. What kind of a bathtub? Cast iron, fancy claw feet or just a run of the mill, standard tub part of a shower combo? There are companies that can replace the whole thing with a new acrylic combo in just a day.
I think it’s this. The walls of the tub are fine, as is the outside. It’s just the floor of the tub that is showing dirt stains and clearly has been sanded down before (it’s much less slick than any other part of the tub. And the tub is white, which we would want to keep.
I looked at the combo replacement, but I wonder if we need to go there yet personally. My only real issue with the tub is that the floor (and nothing else) is a bit blackish.
We had a professional reglaze my Dad’s claw foot tub. It smelled bad for weeks. We kept windows open and no one was in the house. After that experience, don’t think I’d ever try it myself.
Our guy was in for a day, he vented outside (which I guess was the smell mentioned upstream because there was no smell for us).
We had to wait 24 hours (I think) before we could use the tub.
It was so much easier, and I am sure a thousand times better, than we could have ever done.
We had 2 bathtubs reglazed about 6 or 8 years ago (nothing like a claw foot, just run of the mill tubs). In one bathroom, we had the walls done as well.
I feel like the process gets better and better, but here is what we were told when we had ours done:
no suction cups (on the floor on the tub or walls if you had those done)
no harsh cleaners or ones with bleach (they take the glaze off)
we had the guy do the non-slip bottom (since most tub mats have suction cups) but I felt like I could never get those areas clean
they have held up well, but you need to be careful about dropping stuff in the tub, it can chip the tub (there are some marks/chips in my kids’ tub…where I crashed a bath caddy)
I think I totally agree with this post. While I would love to do this DIY to save a few bucks, I have my doubts that the final results would withstand the test of time.
Our tub is also run-of-the-mill. Nothing fancy, and it’s in fine shape except for the floor of the tub.
At the very least, I will get a few quotes from professionals. We can certainly go a couple of days without it, but if I did it myself, with basic hand tools etc, it seems like it would take forever. I’ve found a couple of highly recommended professionals, and, at some stage, I will get a quote.
If the whole tub were a mess, I would be much more willing to get this done soon. But, thanks to the suggestions of a mat to cover the tub, that is the easiest fix. That being said, I am curious as to what the people who owned our house before us did to make the tub floor clearly different than the rest of the tub and also to ensure we don’t have an excessively slippery surface. It also seems like someone tried to sand the tub floor, which is good as it’s not slippery. But, it is very much stained on the floor.
I used Miracle Tub. If you are old enough you might remember the tv ads. It was a 1974 original Jacuzzi tub. The jets looked disgusting. One of the first things I did when I moved in was to have it done. They came in one day and cut the jets out. They refinished and put their product on. The entire actual repair was done in a day. They vented out a bedroom window. I slept in my condo that night as the fumes were pretty much nothing. Next day they took the fans down and finished up. It was an amazing procedure and the tub is perfect. It is not a tub that gets much use, and I haven’t been here that long, so I cannot report longevity.
