How to refinish a bathtub

Q: The previous owners of my home painted the tub, but now the paint is coming off. How do I refurbish it?

A: The short answer, assuming your tub isn’t made of fiberglass, is to hire a pro to strip off the previous finish and apply a new one.

On the internet, you can find companies that say tubs can be refinished only one time before you need to scrap the tub. But that advice doesn’t get into nuances that make all the difference.

Most tubs can be refinished multiple times provided the old finish is first stripped, said April Stillwell, one of the owners of A&J Resurfacing in Richmond, which has been coating tubs, sinks and tiles for more than 20 years. But fiberglass tubs and surrounds, which typically come as single units, can be refinished only once, she said. The reason: Stripping the previous finish is the key to successful refinishing, and the chemical strippers that work on most tubs will ruin fiberglass. The only way to strip finish from a fiberglass tub and surround is with a razor blade, she said — not a chore many refinishers, including A&J, are willing to do.

Is my tub clean enough for a bath?

Jesse Harnish, owner of Virginia Restoration Services in Midlothian, Va., also said most tubs can be refinished repeatedly, provided the old finish is stripped first if it is peeling or is heavily chipped. “It’s a paint,” he said. “Just like a house, you can paint over and over again. It’s all in the prep work on whether it will adhere.” Sometimes it’s even possible to recoat a previously finished tub without stripping, he said, but that’s usually an option only when the finish is intact but looks dull — a scenario most likely to occur when a tub isn’t cleaned frequently and is then scrubbed with something abrasive to remove heavy buildup.

To refinish a tub, pros often take more steps than refinishing products sold to homeowners suggest. When he needs to strip old finish, Harnish puts on a respirator and other protective gear and makes sure there is good ventilation, even though he uses a stripper without methylene chloride, the especially toxic ingredient once common in paint strippers. When the stripper has softened the old finish, he scrapes off the goo. He usually needs to sand by hand to get off the last remnants.

He then uses special cleaners to make sure the surface is fully prepped and masks off surrounding surfaces. If there are chips or nicks, he applies a polyester filler, similar to auto body filler. For primer, he chooses an epoxy product because “it adheres really well to everything.” For the final finish, he uses a high-gloss aliphatic acrylic urethane.

Harnish charges $495 to refinish a porcelain tub that wasn’t previously refinished. Redoing a previously finished tub that needs stripping costs $100 more. Refinishing a fiberglass tub usually involves redoing the tub surround, too, because the tub and surround usually come as a single unit. For that, he charges $895.

A&J’s prices are in the same range but differ in details: $595 to refinish most tubs that weren’t previously refinished and $100 more if stripping is needed. For fiberglass tubs and surrounds: $695 for a first-time coating. The company does not refinish fiberglass.

There are do-it-yourself products for refinishing, such as Rust-Oleum tub & tile refinishing kit ($39.99 at Ace Hardware). A customer-service representative at Rust-Oleum said the company doesn’t recommend applying this product over an old coat of the same product. But she said an earlier coat could be stripped and then the tub could be coated a second time. She recommended Citristrip stripper to remove the Rust-Oleum product and said it would work even on fiberglass. But the Citristrip label says not to use it on fiberglass, vinyl or other plastics. This conflicting advice is one reason to go with a pro for this job. Products sold to pros are often marketed by companies that invest in research to make sure the whole line of products is compatible, and they often offer training to the people who will use them day after day.

If you do invest in a new finish for your tub, how long can you expect it to last? Around 10 years, Harnish said — provided that you clean the tub regularly without using abrasives and arrange to have any nicks patched promptly.

Harnish recommended cleaning the tub at least once a week with Dawn dishwashing detergent. It will effectively remove grease and other residue in a tub just as well as it does from dinner plates — without any risk of damaging the finish — provided you rub with a cloth or sponge, not an abrasive pad. Cleaning weekly helps ensure that soap scum doesn’t build up and become very difficult to remove, which is what usually prompts someone to reach for a cleanser or scrub pad that’s too aggressive and scratches the finish. If the scratches are deep enough, or if the caulk peels, or if someone drops something on the tub that nicks the paint, water can get under the finish and cause it to peel.

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