Tried to refinish my bathtub with a DIY kit and it peeled off in 3 weeks

I used one of those $60 tub refinishing kits from the hardware store, followed the steps exactly, and the paint started peeling near the drain after less than a month. Turns out you really need to sand down the old glaze way more than the instructions say. Has anyone else had better luck with a different brand or method?

3 comments

3 Comments

fiona_west211mo ago

Oh man, that "followed the steps exactly" part got me... My friend Kelly tried that same kit on her clawfoot tub and it lasted about as long as yours did. She's the type to read instructions twice before starting too. The weird part was it looked great for like two weeks, then one morning she found a giant paint curl floating in the bathwater like a dead leaf. She ended up paying a pro to come strip it all off and redo it, cost her like $400 but that was two years ago and it's still perfect.

charles_mitchell1mo ago

Toss that kit in the trash and call a pro from the start. I've seen that same paint peel on three different tubs now, always right around the drain area where the water sits. The pros use a two part epoxy that cures hard as glass, not that spray can stuff from the hardware store. Save yourself the headache and the extra cost of having to pay twice.

jenny471mo ago

Wait hold on, a giant paint curl floating like a dead leaf in the bathwater? That's a level of visual I was not prepared for.