Sky-high prices for good quality cast-iron bathtubs make you look for a real alternative to buying a new cast-iron thing. The easiest way to solve the problem is to restore the enamel coating, for example, paint a bathtub. The way to solve the problem does not cause any particular difficulties. It remains to choose how to paint the cast-iron bath inside. The range of materials is minimal. Any polymer coating is inferior in its characteristics to the mineral enamels that cover the bath. But it’s still worth trying to repair a cast-iron bathtub with paint because if you’re lucky, you can solve a serious problem at the lowest cost. If you have in your room a good quality 24 inch bathroom vanity it’s not worth looking for new unique bathroom vanities for your bathroom.
COATING REQUIREMENTS FOR CAST IRON SURFACE
The industry produces many paints and varnishes of different compositions. Approximately half of them enter the market, are widely available to the average buyer, and several coatings brands can be used like paint for a cast-iron bath. There are certain restrictions on using paint for a bathroom with a cast-iron base: The layer of paintwork applied to the bath should be as dense, hard, and glossy as possible. The smoother the coating, the longer the new enamel will last; The paint must be free of toxic or irritating ingredients and solvents. All residues must not pass into water, evaporate into the air, wipe off during mechanical cleaning or dissolve under the action of detergents. Advice! Before you paint a cast iron bath at home, apply a few strips of purchased enamel on a small sheet of glass. Firstly, it will help evaluate the actual color and how the bath will look after the paint layer has dried. To do this, you need to look at the paint from the back, that is, through the glass. Secondly, you can evaluate how much the bath “sheds” after the first two washes using a liquid agent. After painting a cast-iron bath, you can forget about powders, even laundry detergents, soda, or dish detergent. Due to excessive care for sterility, the cast iron bath will lose the paint layer in a few months.
PROVEN PRODUCTS TO REPAIR, A BATH LIKE NEW
To date, there are only four types of paint that can be used to paint a cast-iron bath in a house: Two-component epoxy enamel or glue; Acrylic two-component materials; Powder paints; Specialized paints and varnishes for restoring the enamel coating of bathtubs from leading manufacturers. In addition to the above, there are many paint coatings that, in theory, can be used to repair cast iron bathtubs. These are stoving automotive paints. They give a uniquely smooth finish and hold up well to soap and shampoo, but applying them to a bathtub requires quite sophisticated equipment. Gloss and gloss on cast iron walls are determined by the amount of varnish added to the paint. Bathroom supply store New Bathroom Style advises! In search of how to repair enamel scratches on a cast-iron bathtub, it is best to stop at white oven-dried automotive enamel. You only need to prepare a bath, dry and degrease the damaged area, apply a thin layer of paint with a pneumatic spray gun and dry the patch with a hot hairdryer. You can lay 3-4 layers on the cast-iron wall to be sure. The advantage of car paint is that the enamel can be laid in the bath in a small spot, and the coating will not peel off during operation. All other paint options – epoxy, acrylic, and even the vaunted Tikkurila enamels – require a full painting of the cast-iron bowl. If the house has powerful 1000 W halogen spotlights, then you can try to repair the bathtub with automotive paint in full. But before painting the cast-iron bath, it is necessary to make high-quality exhaust ventilation and tightly seal the doors to the room when drying. Automotive paints have a very unpleasant, irritating odor.
BRANDED MATERIALS FOR PAINTING
The easiest way, which does not require any tricks with heating and drying, is to use ready-made repair enamels. You can paint a bath in a couple of hours, but paints are costly. From a large selection of coatings, only German and Finnish paints can be advised: “Wasch Fest” manufactured by the company “Jobi”; Tikkurila Reflex No. 50; “Realife Bathroom & Kitchen” by Dulux; Deluxe paint is the most popular, but the masters say that all three options restore the enamel coating very well. Before applying paint to the bath, the enamel surface must be cleaned with emery, washed with solvent 646 or alcohol, and can be painted. The paintwork material is thoroughly mixed but without the addition of a solvent and applied to the walls with a roller with short bristles or a soft brush.
EPOXY-BASED PAINTS
The main advantage of epoxy and epoxy-polyurethane varnishes is the high hardness of the new coating on the cast iron bath. A properly prepared paint formulation is virtually odorless, but this does not mean that the mixture of epoxy and hardener is harmless. It is necessary to cover the cast-iron bathtub with paint under powerful ventilation. The hardener contains maleic or phthalic anhydride, a very toxic substance, but after curing, the coating becomes relatively harmless, and the bath can be used without restrictions. There are many options for paints and varnishes based on epoxy resin, but not all are suitable for bath paint. There are also water-soluble ones, so when buying, you always need to specify the water-resistance of the paint material. The best option would be a resin to repair yacht hulls or electrical compounds. The most durable and, at the same time, tough coatings are obtained from them. The paint can be used for cast iron bathtubs, even with cracks and corrosion. Almost all resin-based paints have a yellow tint, ranging from light straw to honey orange. In any case, it will not be possible to make a cast-iron bath snow-white with the help of an epoxy mass, even if titanium oxide is used as a filler. This filler option is considered the safest and, at the same time, gives the maximum degree of whiteness. To enhance the effect, often not fully cured paint is blown or rubbed with dry oxide, and the cast-iron bath is almost like new. The only drawback of any two-component bath repair mixtures is the need for very accurate dosing of the components and maintaining the temperature of the cast-iron body in the range of 22-25 ° C. On a cold bath, the epoxy coating will harden for three days. It will seize in 30-40 minutes with waves and blisters on a hot bath.
ACRYLIC AND POWDER MATERIALS
Today, the acrylic two-component varnish is considered one of the best existing materials for restoring wall enamel. Given the high quality of the paint, almost any novice repairman can cover the bath. There are many masters’ stories about how to and not to paint a cast-iron bath, but they all admit that the final result depends 90% on the quality and chemical composition and only 10% on the desire and skills of the master. If you desire to repair a cast-iron bathtub on your own, then it is best to use proven paint brands, such as Stakryl, Eco-bath, and Alpha-bath acrylic ready-made mixtures. Suppose the acrylic mixture is applied strictly under the manufacturer’s requirements. In that case, the result is a fairly durable glossy white coating, a kind of acrylic bath inside a cast-iron one. If it is required that the bathtub receives the most wear-resistant and durable coating as a result of the repair, then it is best to use hot curing powder paints. In industry, coatings based on epoxy-polyurethane powders serve for 20 years in difficult conditions. A home bath will last no less. The only requirement for applying a paint coating is using a particular thermal hardening procedure for the coating. You can try to apply and fix a layer in the bath with a building hairdryer, but it will be easier to dismantle and take it to the workshop.
CONCLUSION
Liquid acrylic is the most effective and expensive of the entire list of materials that can restore the original freshness and whiteness to a cast-iron bath. The minimum price for the material is 100 dollars per liter. Next come special alkyl-polyurethane coatings and stoving car paint, approximately 20 dollars per liter. The most budgetary is the epoxy compound, about 15 dollars per liter.
