How To Repair Chip In Plastic Bathtub

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Fixing a chipped bathtub is a do-it-yourself project that will save yous from hiring an expensive professional person. Whether your tub just has a few small fries, or information technology is badly damaged and needs to exist refinished, these are both projects that you will find kits for at your local dwelling improvement store. With a little elbow greasy, your tub will look like new in just a matter of days!

1
Buy a two-component epoxy kit for flake repair. Look in the adhesive or bathroom repair section of a home hardware shop. Purchase a kit that comes with both the catalyst and hardener that you lot will mix together to create the epoxy.^[one]
- Most epoxy chip repair kits come in shades of white to friction match the most common color of bathtubs. Try to choose a kit that will closely lucifer the shade of your bathtub, or two kits that you can mix together to create the right color.
- Epoxy repair kits work to fix fries in all kinds of bathtubs including ceramic, porcelain, acrylic, fiberglass, and enamel tubs.
two
Scrub the damaged area with a sponge and soap or tub cleaner, so dry out it. Use warm h2o and dish detergent or a household tile and tub cleaner to clean the chipped area. Thoroughly dry the area with a clean rage after yous end cleaning it.^[two]
- You tin also use acetone or rubbing alcohol to clean the area. Any production that removes grease and lather scum will work to make clean the chip.
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3
Follow the directions on your epoxy kit to mix the 2 components together. Some epoxy kits come up with a mixing tray and stirring stick for you lot to use. Mix the epoxy in a disposable tray with a toothpick or matchstick if your kit didn't come with the mixing supplies.^[3]
- It's a adept idea to set the tray on a piece of paper-thin or some scraps of paper to catch any spills.
4
Utilise the epoxy to the chip with a small spatula, pigment castor, or lesser of a matchstick. Scoop upwardly a small-scale amount of the epoxy with your chosen utensil. Spread it carefully in a thin layer over the chip by working in 1 direction and shine out any spots where it pools.^[4]
- Make certain that annihilation you utilise to utilize the epoxy is disposable. It will be difficult to go the epoxy off of anything it touches.
- It'south easiest to start with a small corporeality of epoxy and add together more layers than it is to put also much on and remove it.
5
Let the epoxy dry, and then sand downwards the surface with 400-600 grit sandpaper. Follow the directions on your epoxy kit to let information technology fully dry. Gently sand the surface with 400- or 600-grit sandpaper until it feels smoothen like the residual of the tub.^[v]
- Some epoxy will set in 2-3 hours, at which indicate you can sand. Other kits may suggest y'all to await upwardly to 24 hours before sanding.
- You tin can add another layer of epoxy after sanding if you can even so feel the chip. Then echo the process.
- Go on in listen that while this is will help hide pocket-sized chips, you may still be able to notice the patch. This will be peculiarly obvious if y'all try to fill a number of chips with the epoxy.^[vi]
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1
Buy a bathtub refinishing kit at a home improvement heart. Relieve yourself fourth dimension past buying a whole kit that has everything you need to refinish your tub. Nigh kits come with tub cleaner, sandpaper, primer, refinishing paint, a paint tray, a brush, and a roller.^[7]
- Check that the kit comes with a durable resin coating for your tub. Some cheaper kits come with an epoxy blanket, which fries and discolors faster.
- Refinishing kits can cost from about $30-$100 USD.
- Tub refinishing kits work to refinish all kinds of bathtubs including ceramic, porcelain, acrylic, fiberglass, and enamel tubs. The kits volition provide a new porcelain-similar cease to these kinds of tubs.
2
Ventilate the bathroom, embrace the floors, and put on protective gear. Open up all the windows and put a fan in the bathroom to ventilate information technology. Cover the floors with heavy-duty plastic sheets to proceed them safe during the refinishing process. Put on a face mask and goggles.^[8]
- You tin as well drape plastic sheets over fixtures like the toilet and sink to protect them.
3
Clean the bathtub with the cleaner from the kit. Read the directions on the cleaner to utilise it to the tub and use a sponge to scrub the tub make clean. Rinse the tub out, then get over it with the sponge and cleaner 2 more times to remove any lather scum and stains earlier you refinish information technology.^[nine]
- If your kit did not come with cleaner, then purchase an industrial forcefulness bathtub cleaner to use.
- Let the tub completely air dry, or speed up the process with towels and a hair dryer.
four
Sand the whole tub with the sandpaper in your kit to remove the quondam finish. First with the lowest-grit sandpaper from your refinishing kit and sand the whole surface of the tub in circular motions by mitt, or with an electric sander. Work your style upward to the highest-grit sandpaper in your kit until the tub is completely shine.^[10]
- Your refinishing kit should come with sandpaper to use. If your kit didn't come with sandpaper, then commencement with 400-grit sandpaper and work your way up to 2000-dust. Increase the grit of the sandpaper in increments of 200 until you reach m-grit sandpaper, then go up in increments of 500 until you end using 2000-grit sandpaper.
5
Repair whatever chips or cracks in the tub with a 2-component epoxy chip repair kit. Follow the instructions to mix the ii parts of the epoxy in a small tray. Use a small brush, spatula, or the bottom end of a matchstick to apply thin layers of epoxy to whatsoever chips. Wait 2-3 hours until the epoxy dries and sand the patches down with 2000-grit sandpaper to lucifer the finish of the residuum of the tub.^[11]
- This volition ensure that the tub has no chips or cracks and seal the surface before you utilize the new finish.
- Go a 2-component epoxy chip repair kit from the bathroom remodeling or adhesive section of a home comeback store if your kit did non come with it.
6
Put painter's tape on the walls and around whatsoever plumbing fixtures. Record along the edges of the tub where they touch the walls and around the faucet and other fixtures. Even if you have a steady hand, information technology'south easy for paint to go off-target!^[12]
- Painter'south tape is the blue masking tape that yous tin can find at hardware and paint stores.
7
Employ 1 coat of primer with a brush and roller. Employ a roller to roll on the primer onto the large, flat sections of the tub similar the floor and sides, then use a castor to get into the corners and curved parts. Allow it dry for at to the lowest degree ii-3 hours before you kickoff to paint on the new stop.^[13]
- Priming the surface is an important part of ensuring that the new finish adheres correctly so that yous end upwards with the correct texture. Brand sure that the primer is completely dry to the impact before yous paint over information technology.
8
Paint on 2-3 coats of the new end with a brush and roller. Always paint in 1 direction when you apply the new coat to your tub. Scroll on the new finish to the floors and sides in even dorsum-and-forth rolls until the apartment area is completely covered. Make full in the corners and curves of the tub with fifty-fifty back-and-forth brush strokes. Let each coat dry out for at least 30 minutes before you put the next coat on.^[14]
- Some kits may come with a spray-on finish. If you use a sprayer instead of a castor or roller, attempt to spray evenly and in one direction. Make sure your walls and fixtures are well-protected by tape where there is a take a chance of paint spray hit them.
9
Let your bathtub sit for 2-3 days earlier you use it. The new finish needs to set completely before yous run water over it. Consult your kit's directions for the exact drying time for your specific finish.^[fifteen]
- If you don't let the end dry out long enough, you could end up with streaks and bubbles in the new coating and you volition need to start the procedure over once again.
- Your new DIY finish will last for years, merely keep in heed that professional finishes volition concluding even longer.
- The chemicals used in this process tin can be dangerous, and then it may be a skilful thought to stay somewhere else for a few days while the tub cures.^[16]
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How practice y'all fix a scrap in a porcelain tub?

Fine art Fricke
Home Renovation & Repair Specialist

Fine art Fricke is a dwelling house renovation and repair specialist and the owner of Art Tile & Renovation based in Austin, Texas. With over 10 years of experience, he specializes in bath and kitchen renovations. Art focuses on a single contractor approach to customized renovation work, and performs projects such as installing custom tile showers, fixing tiled shower leaks, replacing cracked tiles, and installing flooring and wall tile.

Home Renovation & Repair Specialist

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If you only have a small, isolated chip, you can go enamel fix from a dwelling house improvement store. Merely dab a little on, then let it dry. However, keep in heed that you lot'll probably still be able to see the patch, especially if you're trying to comprehend a number of fries.

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Things Y'all'll Demand

2-component epoxy flake repair kit
Sponge
Lather or household tub and tile cleaner
Disposable tray and mixing stick
Minor spatula, brush, or matchstick
400-600 grit sandpaper

Bathtub refinishing kit (tub cleaner, sandpaper, primer, refinishing paint, a paint tray, a brush, and a roller)
two-component epoxy chip repair kit
Small spatula, brush, or matchstick
Face mask
Goggles
Fan
Heavy-duty plastic sheets
Painter's record

If you don't want to refinish your bathtub on your own, you can hire a professional who'southward specialized in refinishing tubs, instead.^[17]

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Article Summary X

If you have a small chip in your bathtub, you lot tin can fix it with an epoxy kit. Before you start, scrub the damaged area of your tub make clean with a sponge and some soap and water. Follow the directions on your epoxy kit for mixing the 2 components together. One time they're mixed, use a pocket-sized spatula or a paintbrush to spread a thin layer of the epoxy over the chip. Wait for it to fully dry, which should take at to the lowest degree 2-3 hours, then employ sandpaper to vitrify out the stale epoxy until its smooth. If your bathtub is badly damaged, you lot can use a bathtub refinishing kit to restore the finish. Yous'll need to sand the whole tub to remove the old terminate, repair all the cracks with epoxy, then paint on new primer and finish. To larn how to foreclose paint from getting on you lot tile, read on!

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