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Please let me know in the comments if any other information is required to understand the issue or help one construct a good answer.

I've reviewed other questions regarding bathtubs without success. The current tub covering appears very thin. I've had some experience with a spray on product (can't recall the name).

However, I am concerned with the possibility that I ought to somehow strip the material off the existing tub surface before putting on anything new. Any insight or advice would be much appreciated.

Background

(per request in comments)

We've had this house for 10 years. We didn't really notice the peeling on the side but the one around the drain began just a few months ago. The covering seems very thin as the picture indicates and the tub itself does appear that it might be fiberglass. We've never applied any finish to this tub so I don't have much more history there.

tub-1 tub-3 tub-4

Tommie C.
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    Thanks. I'm still not sure what this is. Doesn't look like porcelain, but why would a fiberglass tub be peeling like that with gray underneath? Can you add any information above about the history of the tub? – isherwood Jan 23 '18 at 19:27
  • Thin white gelcoat (sprayed on the mold first) followed by gray fiberglass, now delaminating. – Ecnerwal Jan 23 '18 at 23:13
  • i would use an epoxy-based "paint" like they use for garage floors; toughest paint i've seen. – dandavis Jan 26 '18 at 05:06

1 Answers1

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In my personal experience, you can paint it any way you like and it will peel off again, sooner or later. The tub is not well made in the first place if it's separating like that, and this may be aggravated by being installed without proper support, so it flexes. But at more than 10 years old you're not going to get satisfaction from the manufacturer, if they even admit who they are.

That pretty much leaves the tub overlay (an expensive in the cash sense, yet cheap in the quality sense, even thinner plastic liner) and the unpleasant but effective (and generally cheaper if you DIY than the overlay) replacing the tub, with all the joy that implies for the surrounding tilework. If you go that way, at least pour a plaster support bed under any fiberglass/plastic tub, or give some serious thought to a cast iron tub - no fun to move but hard to damage once installed.

Ecnerwal
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