Posted by Sherman in Idaho [72.47.153.105] on Tuesday, October 29, 2013 at 04:36:36 :
In Reply to: OT - Claw Foot Bathtubs posted by 1361213733244NbpHm9 [108.73.30.71] on Friday, October 25, 2013 at 13:04:24 :
I agree with Marty. All the "refinishing" stuff out there is just paint. It might be hard paint, and it might be catalyzed epoxy paint, but it's still just paint, which means it will scratch a lot easier than the original enamel, and it will peel off.
When I moved into my old house, the tub was very dull and crazed, as usually happens with old porcelain enamel over the years. After scrubbing it with MEK, I sprayed it all over with good clear epoxy. That filled in all the fine cracks and roughness and made it nice and shiny. It looked great for about 5 years and then it started to turn yellow. Some of it flaked off, but most of it stayed stuck. When it came time to sell the house, it was worse than nothing -- a dingy yellow band all around the tub. At that point, I couldn't just put another coat over it because it would still be yellow. I ended up spending most of a day in there with the strongest paint stripper I could get, cleaning off all the remaining epoxy, so it was back to "clean and dull". I could have given it another clear coat just to sell it but that didn't seem honest.
I think the paint stuff is probably good if you just have a chip to repair or something, but the only way to truly refinish it is to put it back in the kiln and melt new porcelain glaze all over it. I was surprised to hear there's even one company left that will still do that. Even the $2000 "slipper" tubs they sell these days are usually just gel-coated fiberglass.