Paint Chiping in Bathtub

The paint in the bottom of my bathtub is chipping. How can I fix this without having to purchase a new bathtub.

Welcome LLG:
There are companies that will come to your house, clean, sand, and paint the tub with epoxy. Janie and I had that done and got a 5 year warranty on it. We called them back at least once a year and they even came one extra time after the warranty expired. Janie uses a rubber bath mat and almost all the paint is chipped off under the mat.

There is another company that will come out and install a new plastic tub over the old one. We have discussed them at great length here and no one is happy with it. There were some pictures showing a 5/8" gap that was 'gobbed' up with silicone caulk.

I wish there were something that could be done to the old tub to renew it but, it seems to be a lost cause. If you find something that really works, please get back to us; this is a desperate need for a lot of people.
Glenn

I just had a similar problem with an old tub that was very stained from mineral deposits and general lack of care for many years. It's in an old apt building i bought and it was a real horror to look at. But the tub itself was cast iron/porcelin a shame to just throw away, and it would have been a difficult removal, but i had to do something because the long term tenant had moved out and i was not going to get a quality tenant with a tub like that.

I found a "tub painting kit" at Lowe's, and believe me i was VERY skeptical. After talking to a professional painter who said he had heard that it works, i decided to try it. It was only like $25.00 and i believe it was a 2 step process and even included a brush.

All i could think was "you've got to be kidding me...paint a tub with a brush??" Well my buddy tackled the job (i'm a horrible painter), he did a quick chemical cleaning and then followed the directions and had it painted in a few hours time. I believe it is an epoxy based product and it has some sort of leveling/even-out adative to it so it doesn't look like you used a brush. I couldn't believe how good it looked.

It's only been a few months, but i was over there the other day and it still looks like a white porcelin tub. I am NOT endorsing this product, but i will if it looks like this next fall. Obviously preperation is a huge factor - you are going to have to make sure you have sanded (or whatever) that cracking/chipping peeling or it will be a waste of time.
Good Luck,
Ed

go to home depot they can show you different products available for ceramic tubs.

When trying to refinish an old hard surface such as a tub consider what you are asking a product to do. The original finish was thick and baked onto the surface at a very high temperature to get it to become one with the iron surface.Over the years this has naturally worn down from use. Now we are applying a spray on finish (or brush on) and asking it to be as durable in the same environment which includes attacks from hard water, rubber floor mats with oils in them, adhesive strips with chemicals in them to make them adhere to the surface (I seen these eat into the original finish!) etc. Most of the finishes you get for DIY application are no where as durable as the original and must be accepted as a "temperary" solution to maybe extend the life of the tub a few more years. Many of the Professional applications are more on the line of vehicle paint finishes both acrylic and polyurethane in nature and will give a higher degree of durability for a longer time (thus the five year warranty). If any of these are cleaned with harsh abrasive cleaners it can shorten the life of the finish drastically.
PREPARATION OF THE SURFACE IS MOST CRITICAL . IT MUST BE THOROUHLY CLEANED AND ETCHED TO PROVIDE COMPLETE ADHESION ON EVERY SQUARE INCH . THIS MEANS COMPLETE REMOVAL OF ALL CAULKING , SOAP FILMS , ETC. THEN ETCHED WITH THE PROPER CHEMICALS TO OPEN UP THE SURFACE. SANDING OUT THE EDGES OF THE CHIPS AND FILLING IN THE PITTED AREAS WITH CAR BODY FILLER AND SANDING THESE AREAS SMOOTH GO ALONG WAY IN PROVIDING A SMOOTH FINISH. QUITE OFTEN A PRIMER IS REQUIRED BEFORE TWO OR MORE FINISH COATS TO ACHIEVE THE MOST LASTING FINISH.
Once the tub has been refinished I always suggest starting the bathroom remodel fund so that by the time the finish is starting to fail (several years later) you have the ability to replace it.
The biggest thing I have seen that causes failure in a short time is cutting corners on preparation. Finish starts to flake off in the corners at the walls and you can see a very shiny surface underneath.

Daryl

The house we bought, unbeknownst to us, had two tubs that were "painted"--I think professionally. (The guy who came to inspect our furnace mentioned that a year previously, he was inspecting the furnace while the former owner was having the tubs refinished.) After living here less than a year, the tub we used most began to chip and now, almost five years later, it is a total mess. We've hardly used the other tub, but that is now chipping as well. I'd rather put up with an olive green tub (the original color) than this. And I think that people who temporarily refinish a tub just before selling a house, as he did, are practicing a great deception. If we had seen the olive green tubs when purchasing the house, at least we could have planned for the cost of replacing them someday, and possibly paid a bit less for the house (but I guess that is the reason he refinished them!).

It's VERY important to remove the drain parts BEFORE starting surface preparation and replace them AFTER fully completing the resurfacing.Failure to do so significantly shortening life of a paint around the drain and overflow.

P.S. If you paint your tub don't let your girlfriend scrub it with an abrasive.....

If the whole tub needs refinishing, follow this same process. Remove the plumbing fixtures to avoid damaging them. Use a paint sprayer rather than using canned spray paint.Test the can of spray paint on a scrap of cardboard so you know what the flow rate is. Practice applying the paint so you don't have any drips yet cover the intended area.