Guest Post: Refinishing the claw foot tub

This ‘guest post’ is actually a comment left by Russel – he was good enough to relay his experiences about refinishing his own claw foot tub. It seemed a shame to hide such excellent advice deep in the blog, so I’ve decided to promote it.  (Thanks Russel!)

Hi.

I think having any tub “re-porcelain-ed” is a mistake. If you can live with the pits and imperfections (and I bet you can) just leave it. We have 3 tubs in our 110 year old home. 2 of them have been refinished AT LEAST twice over the years. The refinishing coats have begun to crack—one of them severely. This has happened primarily around the drains but there are also large “splotches” on the tubs’ interior-bottoms where the finish has flaked.

Any professional is going to promise you some big “guarantee” but at the end of the day, you are really just spray painting the tub. No matter how heavy duty this coating may be, it is never going to be as strong and durable as the original baked finish. A coating will never make it “original” and is inviting new issues into the situation.

“We are now in the process of removing one of these tubs and sending it to the scrap heap; sadly, but even with a new coat, I fear the cracking and flaking will continue and honestly the thought of soaking in a re-finished (painted) tub kills the romance a little for me. (There is also severe rust where water has seeped under the finish coats). In it’s place, we are installing a tub removed from Frank Lloyd Wright’s Home & Studio. It is far from perfect—a major porcelain flake around the filler opening and etching in the bottom. Still, I consider this a vast improvement over the re-porcelain-ed tub.

You said you are getting a little staining now where the finish has been scrubbed away; In my last place, many years ago, I got this on my old claw-foot. I did a quick wash with Softscrub™ and then waxed and buffed with an electric buffer. This worked quite well and even added some new sheen.

To add to the missing foot debate: here in Chicago there are several salvage companies that have crates full of tub feet. One of the places, Jan’s, has crates stacked halfway to the ceiling and 3 times as wide. They are reasonably priced. If you can’t find a missing one, just buy 4 new ones—with the same mounts as the old ones of course.

Sorry so long-winded. I just have a thing for these old tubs and think it’s a shame to recoat them. It’s old. It’s going to have a few scars. If it must look new, it could always be re-fired… but I say live with the scars.