enamelling an old bath

[Stewart]

We are going to modernise our bathroom and cannot decide what to do with the
bath. it is cast iron in good condition but no longer shiny. It is long
and deep enough to almost let me float in it when full.
My wife would like to buy a new plastic bath with a lower side height but I
would rather have the existing bath re-enamelled in place.
Does anyone have experience of this and what would be the best option?
Thank you

 

[Stewart]

Steven, I think the price is somewhere between £200 and £250. That is much
the same as replacing the bath with a new one.

 

[geoff]

We are going to modernise our bathroom and cannot decide what to do with the
bath. it is cast iron in good condition but no longer shiny. It is long
and deep enough to almost let me float in it when full.
My wife would like to buy a new plastic bath with a lower side height but I
would rather have the existing bath re-enamelled in place.
Does anyone have experience of this and what would be the best option?
Thank you

Well, it must be 8 years now since I bought some Tubby and
"re-enamelled" with it

It cost about £50 and is just now beginning to lose its shine

It has the advantage that you don't need to call anyone in to do the job
or move the bath

 

[Mark]

We are going to modernise our bathroom and cannot decide what to do with the
bath. it is cast iron in good condition but no longer shiny. It is long
and deep enough to almost let me float in it when full.
My wife would like to buy a new plastic bath with a lower side height but I
would rather have the existing bath re-enamelled in place.
Does anyone have experience of this and what would be the best option?
Thank you

There are two ways to have a bath restored, Re-surfacing which is just a
paint on epoxy coating or Re-vitreous enamelling. Vitreous enamelling will
make the bath as good as new again, but expensive, how much do you love your
old bath.
http://www.uniqueenamellingservicesltd.co.uk/



-

 

[Stewart]

The bath will have to be recoated in situ otherwise it will be thrown out.
To remove it intact is just too much bother so if it had to be taken away to
be recoated then we would break it up and take it downstairs that way.
Thanks everybody

 

[Pete Verdon]

We are going to modernise our bathroom and cannot decide what to do with the
bath. it is cast iron in good condition but no longer shiny. It is long
and deep enough to almost let me float in it when full.
My wife would like to buy a new plastic bath with a lower side height but I
would rather have the existing bath re-enamelled in place.

Go for the refurbishment! I don't know anything about the process, but
if you're used to a nice big bath you'll hate a standard modern plastic
one. I know I do with the titchy thing in my house

Pete

 

[YAPH]

We are going to modernise our bathroom and cannot decide what to do with the
bath. it is cast iron in good condition but no longer shiny. It is long
and deep enough to almost let me float in it when full.
My wife would like to buy a new plastic bath with a lower side height but I
would rather have the existing bath re-enamelled in place.

Before going to such lengths, are you in a hard water area and if so, have
you tried descaling the bath? Limescale forms a hard matt white film on
surfaces so can make a bath look as if it's lost more of its shine than it
has. Sulphamic acid-based limescale removers will deal with thin
encrustations, or phosphoric acid or formic acid will deal with thicker
ones. Hydrocloric acid will stain chrome and may even attack enamel.

Does anyone have experience of this and what would be the best option?

I have clients who've had it done on roll-top baths with varying results
(one outstandingly good, the other had a few runs and had to get the bloke
back to sort it out), and one on a rectangular type cast-iron bath where
the finish had a few dust specs and, for what the bath was, I thought
wasn't worth it.

 

[Andrew Gabriel]

Before going to such lengths, are you in a hard water area and if so, have
you tried descaling the bath? Limescale forms a hard matt white film on
surfaces so can make a bath look as if it's lost more of its shine than it
has. Sulphamic acid-based limescale removers will deal with thin
encrustations, or phosphoric acid or formic acid will deal with thicker
ones. Hydrocloric acid will stain chrome and may even attack enamel.

Sulphamic acid-based limescale removers will dissolve the
polished enamel surface, as will anything stronger like
hydrocloric acid. It's very difficult to remove hard water
scale from an enameled bath without also damaging the enamel
(which is why they all emphasise the importance of quickly
fixing dripping taps, etc). It's important to only use
cleaners which state they are OK on enameled baths.

 

[Stewart]

Thanks both, we live in Fife and the water there tends be hard, no problems
with lime scaling.

 

[Kevin]

been there got the tea shirt unless you are luckier than me and have no
kids the new stuff will chip off, and they possibly wont cover damage
under the guarantee, we ended up with a new bath after the re-cond one
looked even worse than it did before

 

[S Viemeister]

Thanks both, we live in Fife and the water there tends be hard, no problems
with lime scaling.

Hard? I thought Fife had mostly soft water.

 

[John]

Before going to such lengths, are you in a hard water area and if so, have
you tried descaling thebath? Limescale forms a hard matt white film on
surfaces so can make abathlook as if it's lost more of its shine than it
has. Sulphamic acid-based limescale removers will deal with thin
encrustations, or phosphoric acid or formic acid will deal with thicker
ones. Hydrocloric acid will stain chrome and may even attack enamel.


I have clients who've had it done on roll-top baths with varying results
(one outstandingly good, the other had a few runs and had to get the bloke
back to sort it out), and one on a rectangular type cast-ironbathwhere
the finish had a few dust specs and, for what thebathwas, I thought
wasn't worth it.

Hi,

I also am fixing up my bathroom and fitting a Bath and shower not sure
if this helps but i got a great deal on a bathroom suite from
http://www.truerooms.com/ they offer free UK delivery.

Hope this helps,

John.