Do-it-yourself bath restoration: enameling, filling, insert, photo, video

What to do if the bathtub is no longer presentable, and there is no possibility or desire to install a new one (a major overhaul during replacement is almost inevitable)? There are several technologies that allow you to make a new one out of an old bath – to renew the coating. Restoration of the bath is possible with your own hands, you just need to choose which specific method you will use.

Ways to restore the bath, their advantages and disadvantages

Do-it-yourself bath restoration can be done in three ways:

• painting with special enamel;
• liquid (bulk acrylic);
• insertion of an acrylic liner (bathtub in the bathroom).

If we talk about independent work, then most often they restore the coating of the bath with the help of painting or self-leveling acrylic. It’s just that the cost of an acrylic liner is about 80% of the total amount that firms charge for this procedure, so rarely does anyone want to understand the intricacies. In addition, if you install it yourself, you will void the warranty. However, by this method, you can update the bath with your own hands.

Enamel painting

Now for the pros and cons of each method. Enamel painting is the cheapest option, but also the most short-lived. Such a coating lasts for several years – from 3 to 5. The specific figure depends on the thoroughness of the preliminary surface preparation and the quality of the paint.

The painting process is not the easiest – to get a good result, you need to apply several (at least three), and each of them has to be “earned”, removing sags, streaks, smoothing out bumps. All this takes time and patience. But, as a budget option, the method is not bad. After the paint begins to peel off, it is removed (heated with a building hair dryer, removed with a spatula) and, after surface treatment, the bath can be painted.

The composition of the enamel has a very sharp persistent smell that lasts for a long time. It is better to work in a respirator, but it is advisable not to open the doors – the paint will dry faster, it will be more difficult to fix.

By brand of paint that is used to paint the bathroom. First of all, this is Tikkurila REAFLEX 50 (Tikkurila Reaflex). Bi-component enamel. Not cheap, but high quality. Feedback on its use is positive. In principle, the quality of the coating depends on how accurately the proportions are observed when mixing the components. You can’t pour less or more. It will only get worse.

There are other enamels – organosilicon, which says “for baths.” Others cannot be used, as they can release harmful substances when in contact with warm water.

Filling bath

Restoration of a bathtub with the help of self-leveling acrylic is becoming more and more popular. This is a two-component composition that is mixed immediately before use. The cost of the kit is about $ 50 (more or less depends on the size of the bowl). As in the previous version, the durability of the coating depends on the quality of the surface preparation. And it should not have any pollution, greasy stains, and the surface itself needs to be even and rough. The process of applying the composition is simple – it is simply poured in a thin stream from a small container, and it levels itself. On the walls, the layer is thinner, on the bottom – thicker. The ideal state of affairs for operation. If everything is done correctly, such a coating will last up to 5-7 years, although manufacturers say that the service life is more than 10 years, some even say 15 years.

In addition to durability, this material also pleases with the absence of smell. Rather, there is a smell, but very weak, almost imperceptible, so it is comfortable to work with it.

About the materials that can be used to restore the bath at home. Basically there are reviews about two brands: Stakril (Stakril) and Plastall (PlastAll). Both materials have a good reputation (if done right). There are a large number of cheaper brands of liquid acrylic on the market, but they rarely have hygiene certificates. And without documents it is better not to take risks.

bath insert

The plus of the “bath in bath” option is the durability of the coating – up to 15 years, but the guarantee is usually given for 2-3 years. However, this method is not so simple either. Installing an acrylic liner is both easier and more difficult at the same time. Firstly, there are so many liners for standard bathrooms, but not everyone has them. Secondly, they cannot be placed on thin-walled metal or “light” cast iron – the metal is thin, walks under load, which is why the liner quickly separates from the base and bursts. Since it is these specimens that most often have to be restored, firms simply “forget” about this moment.

There are three other downsides to using the bath-in-tub method. They are not necessarily present, but can be and lead to damage to the liner, so it is desirable to know about them. So, what can adversely affect the life of the acrylic liner in the bathroom:

• The molded liner has an ideal geometry, and the baths, most often, have deviations. In places of these inconsistencies, cracks usually form.
• Acrylic sits on a special two-component foam. Although it holds the load better than the construction one, it can still be crushed. In these places, voids form, and they lead to the appearance of cracks.
• At the installation sites of the siphon and overflow, two containers are connected. It is very important to carefully seal this joint. Firstly, because the water will flow to the floor, and secondly, it can flow into the voids, bloom there and spread the corresponding “aromas”.

In addition to all the nuances of installation, it is important to choose a quality liner. And this is very difficult. Sanitary acrylic is expensive. Therefore, the liners are sometimes made very thin or made of cheap porous and brittle acrylic, sometimes made of coated fiberglass.

The thicker the acrylic layer in the liner, the higher the price. In cheap liners, the thickness is very small – 0,5-1 mm, in medium-quality ones 2-3 mm, and it is very difficult to find an insert with 4 mm acrylic, but they are the most durable. When calling firms, be interested in the thickness of the liner at the bottom. If they say that 5-6 mm or even more, they are deceiving you. They just don’t do that and there’s nothing more to talk about. The second thing you need to ask is the availability of a hygiene certificate. Sometimes the liners are molded from counterfeit material, and it is very short-lived – it cracks after a few months. Such a product does not have documents, although the “leftists” can give it. But still… The next stage of quality control is visual. When visiting a company from which you plan to purchase a plastic bathroom liner, inspect a few pieces. They should be perfectly even, and the color should be snow white. Not greyish, not greenish or yellowish. Snow white. No shades. In this case, we can hope that the bathroom restored by him will serve for a long time.

Prepare

Preparing a bathtub for restoration is important in any case. Even if you are going to put an insert. Good adhesion (adhesion) with foam is also necessary there. And in the case of using enamel or acrylic, preparation plays a very important role.

If you look at the description of the work of companies involved in the restoration of bathtubs, then they have a preparatory stage – this is to remove the drain and overflow, walk well over the entire surface with sandpaper with abrasive powder, wash and dry. If there is, repair the chips with automotive putty. Sometimes they add that it is necessary to degrease the surface with a solvent. That’s all, then enamel is applied or acrylic is poured. All work takes a maximum of 3-4 hours.

When studying reviews of self-restoration, a different picture emerges – there are much more stages and preparation is often delayed for a day. There are two ways. The first is to remove the top layer with a grinder and petal sandpaper (remove the top layer of enamel, and not clean to the metal). After removal of dust it is possible to paint.

The second way is to remove contaminants with acids, alkalis, solvents. Both methods have been tried and work equally well. You choose what is best – dust and sound when processed with a grinder, or smells when processed with chemistry.

Here’s what to do before restoring enamel using a chemical cleaning method:

• Remove the overflow and siphon, remove the dirt that is being removed.
• If the bath has already been restored before, all the material is removed up to the enamel.
• We remove dust and debris with a brush with a soft bristle (sweep into the drain hole). You can use a vacuum cleaner.
• We take the acid composition, coat it, keep it for a while according to the instructions, rinse off (put a basin under the bath – the siphon has already been removed).
• We take an alkaline detergent, you can just baking soda, we carefully coat it with it, rubbing it into the surface. Wash off (do not forget about the basin).
  

• Dry.
• If there are places where the metal is exposed and rust has appeared, we clean it to bare metal, process it with a rust converter, and wait for the prescribed amount of time. Then we align flush with the enamel using putty.
• We close up chips and large cracks with putty. Novol putty, universal or with fiberglass, is well suited. It has a gray color, it is not visible from under the coating. It hardens in 10-15 minutes, after which it can be cleaned with sandpaper so that a smooth surface is obtained.
• Once again we remove dust, dirt. If necessary, you can wash and dry again. If there are cracks in the enamel, they must be dried very carefully – even a small amount of moisture will lead to the appearance of bubbles that will soon burst. Instead of a flat smooth surface that is easy to clean, get a lot of holes in which dirt clogs.

This is all. Next, enamel or acrylic is applied, the liner is installed.

Application of poured acrylic

Restoring a bath with bulk acrylic is perhaps the easiest way to update it (although not the cheapest), you just need to know a few subtleties.

The first point concerns the density and temperature of the material. A normal polymerization process requires a temperature of 22-26°C. In order for liquid acrylic to spread normally, it must stand for at least a day in a warm room. During this time, the composition will reach the required temperature. There is another option – put in a bucket or basin with warm water (not hot, but warm). Only in this case there is a possibility of overheating. Then it will be too fluid, the layer on the bath will be much thinner than required. So we try to bring it to the right temperature.

The second point is the absence of any drafts. Good craftsmen work indoors. They even sand the enamel with a grinder or treat it with acid. They do it in respirators, which we advise you. But they need to hurry, because for them time is money, and the owner has nowhere to hurry. If you are doing the restoration of the bathroom cover for yourself, you can do all the dusty or “odorous” work with the doors open and the ventilation turned on, then close the doors and wait until the temperature reaches the desired limit of 22 ° C or a little higher.

The third point is the exclusion of water droplets and dust. While the room is heating, it is necessary to wrap all the taps with polyethylene, completely eliminating the possibility of water ingress. In addition, it is necessary to wrap the shelves, heated towel rail or other devices and objects that are above the bathtub with a cloth. This is necessary to prevent the formation of condensate, drops of which can damage the surface of an uncured filling bath. Also: during operation and polymerization (from two to five days), the doors must be kept closed. So you keep the required temperature, and also reduce the possibility of dust, debris and insects on the surface. It is very disappointing when a midge or a fly sits on a beautiful white surface. It is almost impossible to remove it without a trace. After complete solidification, you will have to sand and fill it again, but a trace usually remains – there is not enough qualification.

When the temperature in the bath has risen to 22 ° C, a film or paper is placed under the outer rim of the bath, a clean container is placed under the drain hole, into which excess material will drain. If the bathroom is tiled along the edge, so as not to get dirty, it is pasted over with masking tape, making sure that the edge is even.

For further work, you need a regular or rubber spatula about 10 cm wide, a plastic container with a volume of 500-600 ml (a beer glass will do). A jar with acrylic heated to the desired temperature is opened, the remains of acrylic from the lid are carefully removed with a spatula and sent to the jar. Then the material is also cleaned from the walls. All walls must be clean so that no acrylic remains on them that have not been mixed with a hardener.

The hardener that comes with acrylic is poured into the jar, mixed for 15 minutes. You can interfere with a planed wooden stick or a nozzle on a drill at low speeds. It’s safer with a stick – guaranteed not to damage the jar or splatter the material. If you decide to use a drill, the nozzle should not have a burr or sharp protrusions, the speed should be the lowest. When stirring, work well on the bottom and edges.

Leave the mixed naive bath acrylic for 10 minutes, then stir again for 5 minutes. It is necessary to work either without a shirt or in clothes that will not touch the edges of the bathroom.

We put the jar in the bath, take a container, pour the composition from the jar into it. From the glass we begin to pour onto the side from the far edge of the bathroom, bypassing it on three sides. The composition slowly flows down, enveloping the surface, distributed in an even layer.

It is impossible to pour onto the side exactly under the wall, and the edge looks ugly. We take a spatula, carefully distribute the composition, covering the entire surface. He straightens himself out.

Having spilled three sides along the side, we begin to pour just above the place where the old coating is visible. We pass again on three sides. Usually two or three passes are enough to cover the entire surface, in some places you can touch up a little with a spatula, directing the material to the right place.

The last to fill in the near side. It starts to drip, so work carefully. The process is the same. First on top, then a couple of times a little lower.

Final touches. We draw along the bottom of the bathroom with the angle of the spatula in a zigzag motion. This will help to evenly distribute the composition, to avoid sagging. Finally, with a spatula, remove the drops that hung there from the outer edge of the side (just draw the blade of the spatula along the side).

The bath is left for 48 hours. After that, you can remove the adhesive tape, film, paper, which is laid out around. Everything, the restoration of the bath with your own hands is completed, but it will be possible to use it in another three days.

Bathtub enameling at home

Good compositions for enameling were described above, so it is advisable to use them. There are instructions for use on the can, but the rules are practically the same as for ordinary painting. Only the preparation is unusual, but it has already been written about.

Some firms offer to prime the surface before applying enamel to the bath. If there is such an opportunity, it should be done. The primer is applied in the same way as enamel, after drying (the period is indicated on the can), polished to smoothness, then cleaned of dust, washed, dried. Next, the enamel is applied.

To distribute the composition, you can use a good natural bristle brush or a small foam roller. So that the bristles do not come out of the brush, soak it for a day in water and take out everything that comes out with your hands. There are no problems with the roller.

A hardener is poured into the main composition. Measure exactly as recommended, no more, no less. Stir well, paying special attention to the bottom and walls. When using a roller, some of the enamel is poured onto the bottom of the tub – it’s easier to work with. With a brush, the composition is taken from the can. They try to apply enamel or primer evenly, without leaving unpainted spots or streaks.

After priming, grinding is required, followed by dust removal, and after applying the enamel, you need to look at the results. If everything is smooth, you can stop there. If the appearance does not suit you, you need to process the sandpaper again. leveling the bumps and repainting. Sometimes up to 4 layers are needed.

Self-installation of acrylic liner (inserts)

Restoration of a bathroom using this technology has its own peculiarity: if the edge of the bathtub is tiled, it must be removed. Not the most pleasant moment. You can do without removing the tile if the edge of the bathroom comes out from under it by at least 1 cm. Then the liner along the edge can be cut. Cut it with a grinder or a jigsaw along the marked line

When removing a tile, it is cut along the wall with a grinder with a diamond blade. Then, with a perforator, the edging is gradually beaten off. Next, remove the siphon, clean the drain and overflow hole from dirt. We measure their position in the bathroom – the location must be transferred to the insert. The match must be perfect. In the marked places, holes are drilled using a crown of the appropriate diameter, put on a drill.

We proceed directly to the installation of the acrylic liner:

• In the bathtub, around the drain and overflow holes, we apply a solid strip of acrylic sealant. We do not regret the sealant – it will prevent leaks.
  

• With a special foam (FOME-PRO) we apply strips on the surface of the bath. At the bottom – 4-5 pieces along and with a step of 5-7 cm transverse stripes. On the side surfaces, with entry to the side – three strips in the corners, and on the sidewalls they make a cage with a step of 5-7 cm. Two strips are laid on the side. In general, the foam should be evenly distributed.
  

• We insert the liner from above, trying not to shift the foam on the sides. It is necessary to lower it in the center, carefully.
  

• We smooth the liner along the entire length of the sides, and on the walls and at the bottom. The bottom must be pressed especially carefully.
• Silicone will come out of the drain holes. We delete it.
• Special grilles are placed on the drain and overflow – they have a special fastening, since the thickness of the bath has become much larger.
• We fill the bath with cold water, leave for 8-12 hours – the time of polymerization of the foam.
  

• Installing the boards. They are placed on mounting foam, the joints are sealed with sealant.
• The bath is ready.