How to Refinish a Claw-Foot Tub | This Old House

now here's our standard clawfoot tub it's got blue paint on the outside we'd like to bring that to a classic white and look at this I'm ding on the side and the bathing well is quite beaten up here so how you going to refinish this thing I'm going to start with the exterior the tub would apply a paint stripper to it let it sit for approximately 20 minutes we'll scrape the old finish right off that's coming right off it's coming off a very little effort all right so that's for the outside what about the inside the inside of the tub we're going to apply an acid etch to the finish acid etch that's right what that will do is it will abrade the inside finish allow for better bond between the paint and tub sort of scratch it up so the paint will stick exactly fit all right so that's the acid going in that's right that's hydrofluoric acid he's going to take that spreadeth out all over the finish of the tub let it sit about 15 minutes and we'll be able to wash it off after well it's quite a strong smell I'm glad he's got some protection for his lungs so it's been about 20 minutes is that enough time for our acid to work with just about there while we'll wait and we're going to use the time to use some hand tools and some sandpaper those cloth woods can be a pain to get all that out of those little grooves it is it's very hands-on type of job yeah so he's wiping that down is that just water he's using that is just water it neutralizes the hydrofluoric acid that we're using and be able to wipe down the tub with that clean it up and then just dispose the paper towels properly afterwards it's pretty good what are gonna do about this big chimp I'm going to use a grinder we're going to grind off that black carbon we're going to rough up the enamel and put an automotive body filler in there let that harden and then sand it down smooth hey it cleans up nice Jack I almost ready to take a bath it's a start our next step is the primer okay now what do you use for primer we're going to put approximately three coats an epoxy primer on there okay hey that's spray it does a nice job yeah it's a high-velocity wool pressure sprayer okay I'm glad to see some ventilation here you got a fan pull in the air out of the room and one bring a fresh air in that's right and both lines are filtered so we've got our three primer coats done and dried right that's right now we're ready for our last step which is the foxy top coat okay so it's epoxy again that's right it's mixed with the heiner to help it cure okay so using that same sprayer so you can see it's starting to turn white that's great and it's starting to take shape Jack how long will this finish last and this stuff typically in a normal usage that should last ten plus years you

Channel: This Old House

Views: 256,817

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Keywords: This Old House, Ask This Old House, DIY, Home Improvement, DIY Ideas, Renovation, Renovation Ideas, How To Fix, How To Install, How To Build, clawfoot tub, claw foot tub, bathtub, Cast Iron, cast iron tub, Bath, Home Repair, refinish, Do It Yourself, Richard Trethewey, plumbing 101, plumbing basics, plumbing tricks, house plumbing system, how to plumb a house

Id: LXMlo-kjlHA

Length: 3min 1sec (181 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 12 2014