To make a long story short, we are going to replace our bathtub because it’s discolored. (It works fine, but we are contemplating a major relocation, and whether we sell the house or rent it out, we will need to have the tub not look like crap.)
The current tub is fiberglass, I think, and I couldn’t get the discoloration out, no matter what I tried. I have been told that it can’t be resurfaced. I’d rather spend a few bucks more to buy a tub that will hold up and can be resurfaced/repaired, because it’s a hell of a lot cheaper than having to remove the old tub and retile the whole shower.
The main options these days seem to be acrylic, or enameled stainless steel. (My contractor is begging me not to do cast iron because it’s too heavy and our sole bathroom is tiny - it would be nearly impossible to maneuver it into place, and as it is, he’s going to have to remove the vanity to get the new tub into place.)
There seem to be a lot more options for acrylic, but wouldn’t it be easier to resurface stainless steel? Are there any other considerations I should keep in mind? Bonus if you can recommend somewhere in the Chicago area where we can shop, preferably not a big-box store.
The stuff coating a stainless tub can’t be easily fixed. There’s some stuff they sell, but its about reliable as fingernail polish.
I’d do the acrylic tub. I might spring for the surround and fore-go the tile.
Easier to replace in future.
I hate, abhor and have nightmares about tub cleaning. There’s no good secret. You just gotta find what works enough and stick to it.
Have you tried Pinkstuff and a scrubdaddy on your present tub?
I have tried just about every cleaning substance and gadget known to mankind. A surround doesn’t make sense - there’s already a window there, and I already bought the tile to coordinate with the flooring that we are not changing. (Trust me, if I were redoing the whole bathroom to my own tastes, there wouldn’t be nearly so much beige!) Multiple professionals have looked at the discolored tub and concluded that it was discolored either by bath bombs, or by rust from a shower caddy that we have since tossed. (If only I had realized!) Is there anything that can be repaired/refinished that isn’t cast iron?
Wood?
Just kidding.
Cast Iron is not impervious to ruining. Trust me. My big cast iron tub, I choked up big $$ to have re-enamaled when I bought it, has many things. Namely big dog toenail scratches, my daughters teenaged sneaky pink hair dye. And a tub of face cream that discolored the whole slanting back rest.
I’m seriously thinking of just showering in the rains, as they come.
Who needs showers and baths?
This is really a hot button issue with me.
Yep. If you have the tile bought, you’re sorta married to that now.
Do the kinda tub your builder likes. He’ll do a better job.
You have a better outcome.
Win-win.
So, yeah - all things being equal I’d go cast iron. But all things aren’t always equal and last time I had to replace a tub (an el cheapo cracked fiberglass) cast iron wasn’t an option for similar reasons. I ended up going with an Americast which is sort of an enameled steel hybrid. If you start digging through Reddit and such places, you’ll find many professional plumbers that like them (mine certainly did) because they’re lightweight (so easy to install) and they seem to mostly hold up and perform well, generating few complaints. However you will find complaints and people who don’t like them. For me it was primarily expediency because since I knew the plumber they were cutting me a deal and the tubs review well enough that I didn’t feel it worth getting too persnickety. But I think they’re more of a solid option than best-of-the-best.
I found a cast iron bathtub on a pile of rubble! I’ll have that I thought!
Nope. Couldn’t even roll it over the rubble.
I’m absolutely amazed you found nobody willing to do re-surfacing on fiberglass. It’s no more difficult than accident repair on a car.
Yeah, we went to a local plumbing supply place yesterday where a friend of mine used to work. The salesperson said he had never sold a stainless steel bathtub, which didn’t fill me with confidence, but said he would poke around for us tomorrow when the manufacturers’ offices are open and things are quieter in the shop. He took a quick look while we were there on the American Standard website but it wasn’t well-organized to search by material. I just looked myself and it seems that a bunch of the options that meet our space and drain positioning criteria are out of stock, but maybe a distributor has one somewhere? Ah well, we shall see.
I don’t think your present day tub is fiberglass. Fiberglass is far and away the best choice but I have mainly seen it used for tubs with the complete surround built in. One piece with thick, sturdy walls .It is very stiff and stain resistant. Much better then acrylic. I installed mine 21 years ago and it is flawless today. No stupid tile to clean either. No crappy thin walls if you add the 3-piece surround. Just smooth white perfection that is so easy to clean.
Well, a friend who used to work in a plumbing supply store also recommended Americast and advised to avoid acrylic. As much as I normally prefer supporting the little local guy, his former employer (a longtime family-owned plumbing supply business) couldn’t come up with something comparable at any price, so I bought from the big box store.
I wouldn’t worry about getting something that can be refinished. What are the odds you will want to refinish your tub again? Especially if you get something that doesn’t stain too easily.
And the next owners are at least as likely to redo the whole bathroom as to refinish the tub you bought.
I am hoping I never have to do it again, but I hate the idea of having to rip out a bunch of expensive tile that has nothing wrong with it and was installed shortly before we bought the house in 2017. It’s wasteful. If the prior owner had left us more than 4 extra tiles, I would have ripped out just enough tile to be able to replace the tub. And at this point for various reasons we aren’t sure whether this is going to be our forever house (perhaps after a sojourn elsewhere, during which we would rent it out). Although if I were sure this were going to be our forever house, I’d have picked something other than all the goddamn beige that matches the floor, which we are not replacing…
I am just irked at the pointless waste of resources. So many choices the prior owner made are things that don’t make any sense unless you are just trying to do the absolute cheapest thing you can get away with. Which she mostly was (it was a rental for a number of years before we bought it).