The first thing on the do to list? BATHTUB! It’s the only bathtub Josh’s home has and I kinda, sorta really like my baths! Josh and I are on a tight budget and no matter how we crunched the numbers, we just couldn’t justify purchasing a new bathtub. So after a lot of searching, I found a product that we agreed we should try. It is called Rust-Oleum, Tub & Tile Finishing. Basically we were just hoping to give the old and moldy bathtub a new sheen.
We purchased the Rust-Oleum product via Amazon for about $25. Correct me if I’m wrong, but $25 is A LOT cheaper than a brand spankin’ new bathtub!! The product arrived and we were super excited to get to work. Ok, ok… So Josh did all the bathtub work and I really can’t take any credit for it!
Before
I won’t be offended if you gag a little
Josh had read a lot of information about the Rust-Oleum product and wanted to do everything by the book. In order to get started, he needed to do the prep work. He stripped all the moldy caulking up. He then scrubbed the tub with bleach, then with comet, then with lime away and finally sanded with 80 grit up to 400 grit. He did this process about 2-3 times. *Our tub was really disgusting..I mean seriously, did you see the picture above?!* Next he taped around the entire tub so that none of the finish would get on the floor, walls, etc.
Josh had read a lot of articles that described the Rust-Oleum product as being very STINKY. He bought a respirator mask, similar to this Paint Project Respirator. *Although he looked scary in the mask, it was worth the purchase as this product is stinky times 100!* Once all masked up, he began to “paint” the tub with roller brushes. Once done, we opened all the top story windows and let it dry. *A lot of reviews say that although it may look clumpy to let it dry and it will smooth out as it drys. *
After being fully dried – we waited about 2 days – we noticed there were a lot of imperfections. Granted the bathtub looked sooo much better alredy, we still weren’t super satisfied. So, as the perfectionists that we are, bought another round of Rust-Oleum to do a 2nd coat. THIS time, Josh bought a Paint Spray Gun – wow, what a difference this made! He used this gun, Paint Spray Gun, by Harbor Freight which was on sale for $17.99!! Before spraying on the 2nd coat he sanded down the problem areas and then simply went to “Paint Spray Gun” town. This time we noticed a much better coverage of paint and LOVED the result!
After
The very last step that only took a few minutes was the caulking. Make sure to buy Silicone Caulking. We purchased something similar to this, Bathroom Caulking.
All in all, we spent a little over $100 with all products and supplies. We spaced the tub project out over about 2 weeks as we didn’t have company and didn’t need to use that bathroom. Technically you could do this project in 1 day with a 1-2 day drying time. If you just can’t afford to purchase a whole new tub, then this is the way to go!