Do It Yourself Refinishing?

We have been asked many times if a homeowner can refinish a bathtub or shower, or repair a chipped sink themselves.  The reason that thequestion is asked is that most people know that the major home improvement stores sell kits that will allow you to do those thingsyourself.  And as we all know everyone wants to save money on their home improvements.

In our many years refinishing bath fixtures we have never seen or even heard of anyone who has done a successful jobusing a do-it-yourself kit from a home improvement store.  The reason is very simple, the products that are available to the public are notthe proper materials to refinsh a tub or repair a sink.  We routinely get calls from people needing us to refinish a bathtubafter they had used a kit to refinish it themselves.  They are usually upset to find that the price for refinishing a tubis more after they have "painted" their tub than it would have been if they hadn't have done it themselves.  The reason for that is to getthe proper bond on the tub we must strip any material that has been applied over the original finish.  The homeowner is not only outthe price of the kit and their labor, but an extra expense of having to strip all the material they applied with their do-it-yourself kit.

The tub refinishing kits don't work because:

• The finish material is not a product designed for professional refinishing.  Most times it's an epoxy and that is not a good material to refinish a tub or shower.
• It is applied with a paintbrush and will not be smooth and shiny. 
• Even if you could get the finish to look acceptable it will probably start to peel off in a very short time.

To get a bathtub or shower to have a smooth high gloss finish the material must be applied with a spray gun.  The type of system requiredto spray the material is called an HVLP system, which means high volume low pressure.  It is also critical to use the proper material toallow the finish to have a high sheen and smooth finish.  Epoxies are generally not used used by the refinishing industry to resurfacetubs.  We have new generations of finishes that have high gloss properties as well as flexibility and impact resistance so they can expandand contract with the heat and cold in a tub along with the natural flexing of a fiberglass unit.  This keeps the finish from cracking andallows it to remain bonded with the fixture.  That means a long tub life.

For help or more information call us at:  916-971-1141