Why Refinish?
Why Refinishing is Best.
| Total Replacement NO! | Liner NO! | Refinish YES! | |
| Cost | $2,000 – $5,000 | $2,000 plus | Average cost, starts under $1,000 |
| Time without tub | 7-10 days | 2 days | 24 hours |
| Durability | 10 plus years | 1-10 years | 1–10 years depending on the warranty you choose |
| Color availability | Limited to what’s produced – 3 to 5 colors | Limited – only 2 or 3 standard colors | Any color is available |
| Look and feel | Porcelain, plastic or fiberglass | Acrylic or plastic shell | Retains the look and feel of the original porcelain and ceramic fixtures |
| Disruption to home and life | Major: dust, debris, dumpsters, drywall, several workmen | Moderate: dust and debris | Minimal: May have some dust, 1-2 workers, done in as little as 1 day |
Reasons To Refinish
To start, most bathtubs are installed in a home during its initial construction. To remove an existing tub, finish items such as trim, bathtub surrounds and plumbing that are built up around the bathtub and will need to be removed. Depending on the tub’s size, it can also mean that removing a bathtub from a room may require cutting it into pieces to fit through a door frame. When installing a new replacement bathtub, the plumbing would have to be reconfigured to fit and all the surrounding trim would have to be recreated. Replacement can take days or even weeks and really mess up your life. A tub replacement could bring in a demo crew, plumber, drywaller, carpenter and/or painter. These people are going to traipse in and out of your house, causing you stress and a mess.
The costs, which may run into thousands of dollars, and headache involved with replacing a bathtub may it a project that many homeowners would rather avoid.
Refinishing a bathtub, on the other hand, offers a cost- and time-effective solution. Starting at less than $1,000 for a standard-sized bathtub, iRefinish can add a brand-new coating to the bathtub, allowing it to be used again in 24-48 hrs without the additional delays caused by replacement.
Although there are DIY products available, bathtub refinishing is a probably a job best left to the professionals. Stripping an old finish off a tub, repairing and patching holes or cracks, and ventilating a room to expel the fumes produced by the refinishing process are all steps better left to a trained professional.
And refinishing isn’t just limited to bathtubs, the process can be applied to sinks, wall tile, counter tops, shower stalls and kitchen counter tops of almost any material, including porcelain, cultured marble, fiberglass, acrylic, Formica and tile.
The Refinishing Process
1. Site preparation – Because tub refinishing is messy, iRefinish will take adequate precautions to ensure dust and over spray from the refinishing process doesn’t reach other parts of the home. This can be accomplished by covering the bathroom with heavy duty plastic or sheeting attached via painters tape. Since bathtub refinishing does produce an odor that may irritate home occupants, part of the site prep will include ventilating the area with a fan or exhaust system to keep odors contained to the bathroom or expelled into the outdoors. What odor remains typically dissipates in a few hours.
2. Sanding down the old bathtub finish – The first step towards applying the new finish to an already old worn out finished tub is removing the old finish. The existing finish must be stripped off and then the surface sanded down to create a smooth surface for the new finish to adhere to.
3. Repairing chips, cracks or imperfections – After stripping and sanding, there may be imperfections such as cracks, chips or rust or weak spots still in the substrate that the new finish will be applied to.
4. Primer, new surface and top coat – Generally a primer will be applied to the surface and allowed to dry. Then multiple layers of refinishing coating will be applied after allowing the preceding coat to dry or set. A sealing coat is then applied to finish the application process.
If applied correctly, and depending on the warranty you choose a refinished bathtub should last between 1 year to 10 years before requiring another refinishing.
Refinishing can be done in any one of our standard colors, or a totally custom color. Either way, we can match your current décor.
Not All Resurfacing Companies Are The Same.
First of all, you have to ask yourself about the company. Are they going to be able to make good on any warranties they offer? Are they experienced, are they sound, and do they treat you with respect?
Next is the process of the application. Are they using quality equipment to get the correct atomization of the coating? Are they prepping the fixture correctly? Different fixtures require different preparation processes.
Lastly, what products do they use? Anyone can get online and purchase cheap epoxy products to resurface a fixture. Real professionals don’t use epoxy for the topcoat. Epoxy chips easier, discolors with UV rays (sunlight), does not do as well as other coatings for temperature shock (using the fixture), and requires days to cure.
We get many phone calls and emails from customers who have refinished their own fixtures. Refinishing is really not a good do-it-yourself (DIY) project. It involves strong chemicals and skills that are beyond that of most homeowners. You can find tub refinishing kits on the internet or your local hardware store, but it is inferior quality materials. You definitely get what you pay for. Furthermore, you need some fairly expensive equipment to get the look you really want. Don’t throw away your money and time. Get it done right the first time, with a professional.
Call us for more information. # 971-361-8827 (TUBS)