How to paint a bath tub?
I have experience with painted bath tub. When we bought our house, the tub was pristine. Within a month or so, long strips of paint were peeling off. It’d be better, of course, for it to all peel off–now we have a stripey, ugly-ass tub. I don’t know what product was used, could’ve been regular latex paint, for all I know, but it looks awful.
You could probably do it yourself if you’ve already got a compressor, spray system, orbital sander and familiarity with auto-body paints, but I wouldn’t bother. The DIY tub refinishing products are mostly (IMHO) intended to spruce up a tub prior to selling the house. I wish the DIY systems worked long-term, I really do, but they don’t seem to hold up. Nobody I know that’s done it themselves has been pleased. Serious refinishing generally requires hideous chemicals, which means hiring professionals (or becoming a near-professional yourself). It’s usually easier to just buy a new tub, unless there’s some reason why you can’t.
Oh so that’s what that they use! The last two landlords have used it. One to the porcelain kitchen sink (exposed to nothing but the usual hot water and dish soap, it bubbled almost immediately and had peeled off completed within 12-18 mos). The other landlord had it professionally applied to the fiberglass shower (after a year, bubbled everywhere along the bottom of the tub where hot water typically makes a direct hit; shampoo, soap, bath bubbles, and “scrubbing bubbles” are all it’s ever been exposed to). All of my neighbors, who had their showers also “professionally” refinished with the paint, have mentioned similar problems. Boy do you have to baby it. It’s gross to always have a thick film of soap scum because it can’t be scrubbed properly (at all), and and can’t withstand extended exposure to mere hot water, much less a weekly spritz of bathroom cleanser. It’s annoying to not be able to use exfoliating body wash because the tub “finish” peels when it’s exposed to any grit whatsoe
Don’t do it! My landlord did it to our bath tub AND shower. At first, I thought, “Oh wow, the tub and shower are so clean and white!” Upon further inspection, I noticed that the painter had painted over flecks of dust, dirt, etc. instead of thouroughly cleaning it first. The landlord “bragged” that it was some type of auto paint. It’s the worst in the bath tub because when you try to run a bath, you end up with a tub full of water that smells like car paint.
