I have a 30 year old steel enameled tub, which the floor was chipped years
ago. The chip is rusting to the point of worrying about it leaking. I was
hoping to get a remodel job done by now, but such is life.

I seen a product at Lowes called, NuTub. This may fit the bill to hold off
for a couple more years.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to patch an enameled steel tub?
Thanks for your suggestions.

| Does anyone have any suggestions on how to patch an enameled steel tub?
| Thanks for your suggestions.
|

There are little touch-up kits that look like nail
polish, but it's noticeable and doesn't last a long
time. Since the enamel is basically glass I don't
think there's any way to truly patch it. One option
might be to use something like Bondo and then have
the tub refinished. That uses an epoxy finish that
holds up pretty well. It's not perfect, but if the
tub is in good shape otherwise the refinish should
look pretty convincing.

Well, you've come to the right place cuz I do this kind of work all of the time, and I think I've got a good way of doing it.

Proceed as follows:

1. get rid of the rust. Do that by soaking a Q-tip in muriatic acid and applying the end of the Q-tip to the chip. The muriatic acid will dissolve the rust, leaving you with clean steel. If you don't have muriatic acid, a hydrochloric acid based toilet bowl cleaner will work equally well.
2. Remove the acid with another Q-tip soaked in water. Wash the acid out well, and then wipe with a square of toilet paper.
3. Remove all traces of water. Do this by soaking a Q-tip in acetone (aka: nail polish). Water is miscible in acetone, which means they readily dissolve in one another. So every time you apply acetone to the chip, any H2O molecules on the surface of the steel or enamel will dissolve in the acetone and be removed from the chip. The acetone evaporates completely without leaving any residue.

Now you have a perfectly clean chip.

4. Use marine epoxy to fill the chip. Marine epoxy is epoxy that can be applied underwater. If you don't have marine epoxy, ANY epoxy is extremely water resistant, so any epoxy will work provided it gives you enough working time. I use LePage's Marine Epoxy from Home Depot only because it gives me a long (60 Minute) working time.

5. DO NOT apply the epoxy directly to the chip. Cut out squares of Saran Wrap or any cling wrap. Use a tooth pick to apply a blob of epoxy about the size of the chip void you need to fill to the middle of a square of cling wrap.

6. Turn the square over, position the blob of epoxy directly over the chip and press the square down so that the epoxy ends up in the chip.

7. Now, dip a finger in dish washing liquid and work the epoxy into the chip through the cling wrap. If there's any epoxy outside of the chip area, you can coax it into the chip through the cling wrap. If you feel a "bump", pull the square of cling wrap off and apply another square, this time without any epoxy on it. When you do that, some epoxy will come off with the cling wrap so there will be less epoxy in the chip. If you feel you've removed too much, then put on another square, this time with a bit of epoxy on it. Use a soapy finger to work the epoxy off of the enamel and into the chip. The dish washing detergent acts as a lubricant and a "shock absorber". Your finger doesn't stick to the cling wrap, but slides over it easily and the viscosity of the soap allows you to form a very much smoother epoxy patch than you could without the soap.

8. Allow the epoxy to cure overnight. In the morning the cling wrap should pull cleanly off of the epoxy. If it doesn't you can scrape the cling wrap off with a finger nail.

9. Now, paint over the epoxy with a tub chip repair paint. Porc-a-fix makes oil based chip repair paints for all of the old American Standard and Crane bathtubs, so you'll need to know what colour you need (if it's not white). Whomever distributes Porc-a-fix paint in your area will have some Porc-a-fix colour charts they can lend you to find out what colour your tub is.

Porc-a-fix is manufactured by KIT Industries at 1-800-526-3186. Ask for Barry

Porc-a-fix's sales agent in Canada is the G F Thompson Company at 1-800-499-3673. Ask for Wendy

The Porc-a-fix paint will come with two small square of sandpaper. Throw that sandpaper in the garbage where it belongs. You're better off to wait 3 to 4 hours for the Porc-a-fix paint to get semi-solid, and then shave the excess Porc-a-fix paint off with a razor blade. That will give you a smoother repair then sanding ever will.

The epoxy filled chip will be waterproof and shouldn't rust any more if the exposed steel has been completely coated with epoxy. Filling the chip with just Porc-a-fix paint won't last. You need the epoxy in there to prevent the water from coming into contact with the steel.

On Tue, 3 Jun 2014 21:09:45 -0400, "Mayayana"
wrote:

| Does anyone have any suggestions on how to patch an enameled steel tub?
| Thanks for your suggestions.
|

There are little touch-up kits that look like nail
polish, but it's noticeable and doesn't last a long
time. Since the enamel is basically glass I don't
think there's any way to truly patch it. One option
might be to use something like Bondo and then have
the tub refinished. That uses an epoxy finish that
holds up pretty well. It's not perfect, but if the
tub is in good shape otherwise the refinish should
look pretty convincing.


Patch it with epoxy.

Also, you should be aware that the coating on your tub is not paint. It is porcelain enamel. This is a powder coating that is electrostatically sprayed onto the steel tub and then baked at high temperatures so that the powder melts and the molten particles fuse together to make a glass-like coating that is very hard and durable. It is much more durable than field applied coatings like tub renewal products.

So, you CAN have your tub refinished, but don't expect the durability of the field applied coating to be anywhere near that of the original porcelain enamel coating. The field applied coating will LOOK good, at first at least, but it just won't stand up as well as porcelain enamel.

Really, for the long term, it might be best to patch the chip in the steel tub, and then plan to renovate that bathroom with a new enameled steel tub.

On Tue, 3 Jun 2014 21:01:04 -0400, "Jim" wrote:

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to patch an enameled steel tub?
Thanks for your suggestions.


I've had a number of sinks and a cast iron tub resurfaced before.
Check for a local company, they come to your home and do the work.

Sample Pics:

http://s3-media3.ak.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/I17FAIe5IOAA88oh8jFOhw/l.jpg

http://coloradotubrepair.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_4055-495x400.jpg

On Wed, 4 Jun 2014 04:03:52 +0200, nestork
wrote:


Also, you should be aware that the coating on your tub is not paint. It
is porcelain enamel. This is a powder coating that is electrostatically
sprayed onto the steel tub and then baked at high temperatures so that
the powder melts and the molten particles fuse together to make a
glass-like coating that is very hard and durable. It is much more
durable than field applied coatings like tub renewal products.

So, you CAN have your tub refinished, but don't expect the durability of
the field applied coating to be anywhere near that of the original
porcelain enamel coating. The field applied coating will LOOK good, at
first at least, but it just won't stand up as well as porcelain enamel.

Really, for the long term, it might be best to patch the chip in the
steel tub, and then plan to renovate that bathroom with a new enameled
steel tub.

http://www.thesurfacedoctors.com/Our-Refinishing-Process.html

Once prepped:

"...The tub is then carefully inspected again for any remaining dust
or debris, we then apply two coats of an Epoxy resin primer to further
assure proper adhesion. When it dries shortly, we then apply three
coats of our low VOC Poly-Glass High Gloss topcoat for optimal
performance and thickness. This is an ECO-Friendly acrylic urethane
coating that has a long proven record of durability and resilience in
the refinishing industry.