Are you looking for updated look for your beat up, worn out or just plain ugly tub without spending a small fortune? Then read on…

Although bathtub refinishing dates back to the late 1960s the processes and materials used have improved dramatically even though some refinishers are still stuck in the past using inferior products. Below I will detail what bathtub refinishing is and what to look out for when choosing the right refinisher for you.

When I speak with homeowners many don’t understand what bathtub refinishing is or have any idea what makes the difference between a properly refinished bathtub and a bad one.

“Bathtub refinishing is way more complicated than just showing up and spraying a coating on your bathtub.”

The first and most important part of bathtub refinishing is surface preparation. The surface of a bathtub whether porcelain or fiberglass must be made rough or dull so the coating can adhere to the surface with what is called “Mechanical Adhesion”. With a porcelain tub, this is done by an etching process (we don’t use HF acid more on this later) using an etching cream that is allowed to sitting on the porcelain and make microscopic holes in the tub. Fiberglass cannot be etched so it is instead sanded dull to make an ideal surface to bond to.

After the surface is properly prepared we can move to the next step– “Chemical Adhesion”. To compare chemical adhesion and mechanical adhesion I use the example of two pieces of wood. Nailing two pieces of would together is mechanical adhesion whereas gluing them together would be chemical adhesion. When refinishing your bathtub we use both for optimal performance! In order to chemically adhere to the original tub surface, we first use a silane-based primer this is like adding super glue to the surface. After we’ve applied our silane primer we spray an epoxy primer, these two work together for maximum adhesion.

To recap up to this point we’ve etched or sanded our surface, added silane primer, and lastly added our epoxy primer, this gives us triple adhesion before we even add our top coats!

Now we are ready for our top coats! We use a Chemical & Stain Resistant Acrylic Urethane we like this coating because of its incredible durability and resistance to chemicals. Chemical resistance is important in bathtubs because of the wide variety of chemicals available in cleaning supplies. Older coatings used to refinish bathtubs would start to “chalk” or breakdown when they would come in contact with cleaners. This problem has been virtually eliminated with our type of coating. After applying 3 top coats to the tub it should be left alone for 12 hours before using the bathtub or running water in it.

Now you know what goes into the process of refinishing a bathtub and have the information to make a good decision when hiring a someone to refinish your bathtub!

If you have further questions we’d be happy to answer them for you, just give us a call at 717-745-8811 or fill in our contact form by clicking here.