Re-enamelling a cast iron bath
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TKN
I think the previous owners have used hammerite on the inside of my bath. The bottom half is a different colour and is peeling away in places. Would a prfoseeional company be able to sort this, or should I be looking at a replacement. Also if it were salvageable I'd like to change the external colour from blue to red- would it be ok to use hammerite for this? Cheers Dot
Like Andy , I too offer a professional resurfacing service, but in the Scotland area. I agree with what Andy has said, esp regarding DIY kits such as Mr Tubby. - cos you're gonna end up with a 'painted on' effect with brush marks - yuk!. All this stuff is is 2-pack epoxy or similar - you can buy it from just about any yacht paint retailer in the UK - why pay a premium to get it in kit form? I have to say that my first prefernce is always to restore the original enamel resurface rather than spraying it - you are always better off retaining the authentic hardwearing enamel surface - it does look better too. Of course this is not always possible - typically very old roll top baths will have the enamel worn away around the plug and under the taps I'd say about half of all baths I get called to can be reglazed and polished , as opposed to un-necessarily spraying them, with the inevitable peeling that will occur after a few years. Hope this help:-)
Cheers
PS : What warranty do you offer with Mr Tubby?? ..yep..thats what I thought!
Thanks for your advice, really good information. June
Bill
operate all of scotland - own a franchise
Now thats out of the way, what sort of guarantee do you offer on your services. Re-glazing is an area that I would like to know more about so if you could tell us what processes you use and how long it takes would be very useful to all who read this forum.
I meant 'a few' in the loosest sense of the word . I offer a 6 year guarantee, but its my experience that if peeling is going to occur it will occur either within a year or not at all. I have had a very small proportion of baths which have peeled within warranty , and these were due to inadequate surface preparation, which I promptly corrected. Can you honestly hand on heart say that you've never had a customer recall within the 5 years?? Secondly, I am emphatically not trying to sell anything - I have a backlog of work at present. I choose 'supersurfacer' as a handle because its the first thing that entered my head- and frankly I don't give a toss whether you or others approve of the name or not- I'm not trying to sell anything,and people can accept or reject my advice and musings as they see fit. Finally, there's no way on this earth I'm going to tell you or anyone else how I reglaze - I had to pay to find out this information and to be trained. If you want to know you'll have to pay me to train you. One point I would bring up, and welcome discussion on , is the threat of ever-encroaching legislation on safety issues regarding spraying solvent based chemicals in private houses. My local safety inspector reckons its only a matter of time before this activity is banned on safety grounds. I know at present that several local competitors are spraying tubs using iso-cyanate based compositions , similar to that used in car body shops. Even with external extraction this is in breach of safety regulations. Adverts Currently On Preloved - Place an ad here for free
I didnt want to know the ins and outs of what you do just a general idea of the process and how long it takes. Basically just the info you would give to a customer. I dont think you putting that info on this forum would enable me to go out and do the work but it may make me think that it is something I would like to get into and ask you how to go about getting the training. As for the legislation, I have not heard anything in my neck of the woods. Maybe it is something that is being looked into in Scotland and not England at the moment. I will contact my local health and safety chap to find out if he has heard anything and post it here if he has..Thanks for the heads up..
The process is one of restoring the enamel rather than coating it. It can take anywhere between 1 hour and 4 hours, but very typically 2 hours. If there are chips but the enamel is in otherwise good condition then these can be colourmatched and filled. It is not, as I previously mentioned, not possible to do this on every bath (I would advise against it for colour baths - tends to give a 'powdery' effect unless you really know what you are doing and are very experienced). Also, if a pressed steel bath is worn it will not work, but if it is merely suferficially stained or scrathched it gives incredibly 'like new ' results. I'd reckon it is the best solution in about half of all cases of white cast iron baths. The overwhelming advantages for me is that the materials are extremely cheap, no fumes or masking up is involved , and theres very little to go wrong . (unlike eg customer calling up to say her cat has just popped into the bath for a snooze 20 minutes after its been coated!!- ouch!- yes - its happened:-)) I also have a very effective procedure for plastic baths, but unfortunately most customers just throw these away. I'd be happy to provide training to anyone on the proviso they were well outside the Scotland area (for obvious reasons). Regarding safety - the problem seems to be related to COSHH regulations - the argument is that there is very little protection for the occupants, though the operator can wear a positive pressure air-fed mask. Common sense would dictate that the occupants should stay well out of the way during spraying , but unfortunately that doesnt quite cut it with the safety guys..
Obviously look for a bath that is still in reasonable condition with the original surface intact. A little corrosion and or chip damage is not a problem it can be repaired. Feel the bath surface with your fingers, don't just look at it. You will be surprised at how easily fooled one can be by just looking and then discovering that the bath surface is very badly pitted and corroded. Another important thing is to avoid baths with a lot of rust corrosion. Finally, ask the salesman to let you see the underside of the bath to make sure that the feet attach properly. On many of these baths the lugs which form part of the casting actually break away and the foot is left hanging, held in place only because the bath is resting on it. Hope this is of some help. Dont pay too much, these baths are not as uncommon as people are led to believe. Cheers
Andy
I also have a bath which is rectangular, with rounded edges with the width of one end shorter than the other (similar to a coffin shape with rounded corners). It is white on the inside. I had a company come in to resurface the bath and after arriving they said they could not as it was a 'black bath'; he said the shape distinguished it as such and as a consequence the resurfacing is completley different procedure and would take twice as long and of course, twice the price. Can anyone confirm that what we have been told is correct. I cannot find any reference to 'black baths' elsewhere. Many thanks
Yes, I think what you have is a bath which was never enamelled in the first place - i.e. a bare cast iron bath, that has perhaps been painted before. I've resurfaced two identical to yours in teh past 12 months, and to be honest I prefer not to do them at all - it is difficult to supress rust formation during the preparation stages, and unless a good thick coat of primer is used you'll run into problems with rust bubble later on . To be honest , my advice to you is for you to just paint on a suitable coating and save yourself some expense- you could use some rust preventer as a base coat and then hammerite to finish it off in white. Hope this helps,
Alexis
ordinary surface , and usually cost around a third more to do , but this is just to let you know Alexis , it can be done sucessfully . Andy
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