bathtab - refinish or replace?

[midwestdee]

We have to do something about our steel with porcelin tub. DH is leaning toward getting an estimate on "electro bond refinishing", rather than replacing it. Any opinions on the cost effectiveness of that and satifaction with the results would be appreciated. He has the # of a firm to call for an estimate - I'm just concerned with whether he would be happy with the result, as opposed to starting with a new one. The tile around the tub/shower needs redone and he is planning on doing that himself ( he is very good at home repairs).

 

[abcboys]

This is so funny. I was JUST researching this! I'm wanting to do a bathroom remodel and we have an old cast iron tub in rough shape. Due to the cost effectiveness on how much money we have to work with I wasn't sure if it would be best to replace or refinish. I was looking at bathtub refinishing places that look like they do a good job for around $400 give or take, but I'm not sure there is a place close by here that does that. Getting rid of the tub to replace looks like a major pain in the butt. It was just funny that I was googling the difference between refinish or replace, then come to the disboards and saw your post!
Well, I'm not much help but looking for the same info!

 

[midwestdee]

Thanks! (I noticed I typed "bathtab" in the thread line!) As we find out anything, I'll be posting. I think DH is planning on calling this company to get an estimate on the electro bond refinishing. They had cards for this company at our local Color Tile (we have shopped there 30+ years) - the old guy said he hasn't heard anything negative back from anyone and that this local contractor has been working of our town a long time. The major hassle of pulling out the old one is one big reason DH is looking to refinish, not replace. He is a perfectionist and I'm worried he may not be happy with the results.

 

[CluelessDisFan]

We don't have a cast iron tub. So not exactly the same problem. But our tub was cracked, we paid a contractor $170 to repair and patch. The problem it's still a problem and I wish we would have replaced the tub and put the $170 towards that cost. Maybe my regret will help you make your decision so I thought I'd share.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

We refinished ours and were happy with it.

 

[louey]

We gutted our bathroom but left our cast iron Avocado Green Tub It had no chips and was in good shape and I like it because it's pretty deep. We had it reglazed it is now white and looks great Everything else in bathroom was replaced including the tile around the tub. We are currently working on our bedroom bathroom but it was a complete gut, those colors were a pretty pink and blue

 

[midwestdee]

Thanks! If our tub was cast iron - we probably would refinish without a thought - ours is steel with porcelin and DH is now leaning towards replacing with some sort of step up composite of plastic (not the cheapest plastic). If he calls for the quote on electro bonding - I'll post the $ quote. I guess I would prefer he do replacement because I think he'll regret it like the previous poster. He's pretty picky.

 

[PatMcDuck]

We have been re-doing all the bathrooms. We want to put house up for sale next year. So I would replace it........ Why spend $400 on refinishing when you can get a new one for the same price or less?

BUT I will say, get your estimates for refinishing, but make your decision AFTER you take the tile down..... you may change your mind based upon what is going on behind your walls. In our "kids" bath, we took down the tile, and yuck, found some mold, had to clean off the framing, etc. It would have been more difficult to do with the old tub in the way.

However, when they (DH and DS) took out the old tub, they broke a few floor tiles near it (18 years old), which led to us re-tiling the floor. We had not originally planned on doing that (but now I am glad we DID, new floor is nice and was inexpensive).

We did most of the work ourselves, but did hire a tile guy to tile the tub/shower area. Replaced vanity, and vanity sinktop, toilet, mirrors.

 

[clm10308]

Never refinished a tub, but many years ago we had a tile shower with 1970s colored tile. I don't remember the exact technique used, but we did have a company come in and refinish the shower tiles to a plain while. At the them that was our only option due to money issues. Initially it looked nice. After about 5 years the new finish started chipping off, but not long after that we had the money to replace the tile.

 

[jedijill]

My landlord refinished the tub with some sort of epoxy coating and it is constantly peeling and looks horrible. He fixed some of the spots last summer and it smelled so bad I couldn't sleep in the house overnight until it aired out. The bathroom needs to be gutted and remodeled but he won't do it. 5 months until my lease is up.

Jill in CO

 

[vetrik]

We just redid our whole bathroom, which had a 1950s cast iron tub in pretty rough shape. We were going to refinish as our backup plan if they didn't find a tub to fit our area (not a standard size), but I was concerned about longevity. They did find a tub in our price range that fit - the new tub was about $700, and refinishing would have been about $400 so the extra cost was worthwhile to me.

I would choose to refinish the tub as a temporary measure to improve the look of the bathroom if we weren't at a point we could do the whole remodel. Since we were doing our whole bathroom (walls, tile, floor, etc), it made sense to spend the extra and get a whole new tub. That way we don't have to worry about what to do if the finish starting coming off in a few years (since it will be many years before we redo the bathroom again!). Our contractor said the finish only had a 5 year warranty.

 

[abcboys]

We just redid our whole bathroom, which had a 1950s cast iron tub in pretty rough shape. We were going to refinish as our backup plan if they didn't find a tub to fit our area (not a standard size), but I was concerned about longevity. They did find a tub in our price range that fit - the new tub was about $700, and refinishing would have been about $400 so the extra cost was worthwhile to me.

I would choose to refinish the tub as a temporary measure to improve the look of the bathroom if we weren't at a point we could do the whole remodel. Since we were doing our whole bathroom (walls, tile, floor, etc), it made sense to spend the extra and get a whole new tub. That way we don't have to worry about what to do if the finish starting coming off in a few years (since it will be many years before we redo the bathroom again!). Our contractor said the finish only had a 5 year warranty.

Was it a pain getting the old tub out? I'm not so worried about the cost of new as I am the mess of getting the old one out. Ours is a REALLY small bathroom so also wondered if it was a pain installing a new?

 

[Zerosinthecloset]

Going through this with a bathroom that a lady is almost totally remodeling. She only wanted us to take out enough tile to the the old tub out and the new one in. It was easy to get the old one out because it was plastic, but we had to remove about a third of the tile to get the new one in...she doesn't want to do a new tile surround, so we will just retile around the new tub. The new tub was easy to put in, but the space was originally not framed right, and we have to figure out how to fill in an extra inch on one end.