Has anyone resufaced/refinished their bath?

[metro]

DH and I are looking into purchasing a home that was built in 1967. It''s a great house - many updates, however, the spare bath is in the original condition.

Everything is in good working order, but OMG, everything is pink! Pink toilet, pink bathtub, pink tiled sink, pink tiled walls - well, you get the picture.

We don''t have the money to re-do the entire bath. We only plan on replacing the toilet, so I''m looking into tile and tub resurfacing.

Has anyone has any experiances that could share?

 

[asscherisme]

LOL on the pink. Our first house was built in 1962 and the master bath was blue (not so bad) but the hallway bath was PINK too. Awful petobismol pink.

Be careful about just putting a cover on it because when we did a tear out we discovered tons of mold infestation in the drywall behind it.

We lucked out with ours.

We had planned only on changing the awful linolium floor and the pink toilet and pink sink with white and ceramic tile floor. We could not afford to do the tub at that time. Our contractor who was very very honest made a huge mistake on our job.

When he was installing the floor, he had carried the new toilet into the bathroom and he meant to place it in the tub while he did something with the pipes to get the old toilet out.

Well he DROPPED the new toilet accidentally in the tub and made a HUGE crack in the tub!!!! Totallly his fault.

So he told us he would replace the tub for free! Tear it out and replace it! And he also suggested that if we were getting a new tub we tile the walls with tub to ceiling tile and he would do the labor for free and all we had to do was pay for the tile and supplies (but he payed for the tub itself). So he did a total tear out of the tub and the drywall behind it due to mold and replaced the drywall behind the but with a mold proof ceramic type material. We saved thousands of dollars and had a whole new bathroom.

We ended up doing huge amounts of renovations with that guy and he made tons of money off us and we recommended him to our friends because he was so honest.

Luckily our new home was built in the 90''s and the only thing pink was the bathroom walls and not the fixtures. So I painted that myself.

 

[eks6426]

I have resurfaced my tub. It looks really great at the beginning but started to chip after a year or so. I did go some what budget with the company that did the resurfacing so that might have been part of the issue.

How soon will you be able to replace the bathroom fixtures/tile? If it will be within a few years I might just try to work with the pink if I were you. I have friends who have the aweful pepto bismal pink and they did their bathroom like glam 30s retro...using black towels and chrome accents complete with a crystal chandelier--it looks sort of art deco but not quite that modern to me. It actually looks really cool and didn''t cost them much.

 

[diane5006]

Hi we had a house that was built in 57....pink pink pink...I had a run of pink the hous I had before that was pink too..and the apartment befoer that....hmmm

When I went to redo that house I knew I had to do something about the bathrooms...one was pink and green...pink tile walls green tub/sink/toilet...pink and green tile floor...the 2nd one pink and grey...and the third yellow and brown and navy (from the 70''s)....

I had a friend who had her tub redone (re-epoxied) and it looked awesome

I had him come and he did a great job...he did the tub and tile (wall, cup holder, towel racks) in the one bathroom and the stand up shower in the other...he would have done the sink and toilet...but they can''t do stuff that has standing water...so the inside would still be green...and the sink had some other issues...so I replacec those and retiled the floor...repainted and done

Pink and green became white blue, pink and grey became seafoam and white and beige, and yellow and blue became taupe/white/beige

I used a company called BathMagic...basically they spray an epoxy resin on the tile surface...after careful preparation...the stuff can scratch but only if something hits it hard...and you have to be a bit careful wht what cleaner you use...can''t be too abrasive...

It was great really made a difference...worth every penny...and much much much cheaper than complete bathroom overhaul

 

[metro]

Thank you all for your replies!

We''re going to do another walk-thru of the house tomorrow and if we''re still in love with it, then we''ll sign the paperwork to put in our offer tomorrow night.

Maybe the realator will let me take pics of the pink bathroom - I''ll ask.

Since we''re on a tight budget, I don''t think we could do any major over-hauling for sometime. The re-finish, I would hope, would last us at least 7-years, at which time we''d probably sell for a bigger place (this place is around 1600sq.ft.).

I would replace the toliet but that''s about it for the immediate future.

Does anyone know how much refinishing would run for a bathtub? How about counter space?

 

[metro]

diane5006 -

What do you use to clean your tubs? I think the historic house we currently rent has a tub that''s been refinished, as I''ve been cleaning it with Ajax for the last 2-years and it''s starting to scratch and look not-so-good. Hmm, something to ask our landlord.

 

[mtrb]

Gosh.. you should see my bathroom.. Pink tile with black borders.. we are planning to do it when we have the money. Just bought the house in the Boston Area$$$$$$$. Classic 1960''s.

 

[diane5006]

Hi...I would avoid mentioning to you landlord what you have been using to clean your tub with...if he failed to tell you what to use in the first place ...

I never use Comet/Ajax...any ot the abrasive ones... on anything

BUT going forward...don't use anything with abrasive in it...the person who did our stuff gave us a sheet with list of stuff on it...most readily available...Tilex or Scrub-Free...don't use soft scrub...

To do just a tub...id should be < 500 prob @300

 

[diamondseeker2006]

My mother recently redid a pink bathroom like this! I was sort of horrified because I couldn''t imagine it holding up, but it looks good and it is a guest bathroom.

I agree, I''d use spray foam bath cleaner, never anything abrasive on any bathroom surfaces.

 

[phoenixgirl]

We''re getting our condo''s bathroom refinished next week in preparation for our open house. I''ll let you all know how it goes.

 

[eks6426]

I live in northern Indiana and it cost around $350 to refinish the tub. That does not include the tile around it. I have lots of friends with older houses and mine is 1940s. I find those that refinish the tub/sink/stool but not the tile look worse than those that just try to work with the pink. By refinishing the fixtures to white but not the tile, it really draws the eye to the tile...if they are all the same they blend better.

I looked into having the tile surround/sink/tub done once and it was going to be around $2000. The other thing to consider is redoing the tile yourself. It's not that hard to chip off the old tile and put up new. Do this before you have the tub refinished so you don't damage your newly refinished tub. Buying a tile cutter for around $100 or less makes the job pretty easy. The trick is getting the wall smooth after you take the old tile off. Sometimes you can smooth it...sometimes you have to replace the drywall...If your walls are plaster proceed with caution. Ripping out bumpy plaster to put in drywall is not for the faint of heart.

For those who like to scrub but don't need abrasive cleaners...use Bar Keepers Friend. It's in a can like Comet, but isn't anywhere close as abrasive. It works really well to get the burned on food off of pans or casserole dishes too.

 

[mtrb]

if you are willing to get your hands dirty, tiling is not hard. you can take a free class on it at Home Depot. This will save you a lot of $$. Also replacing vanities is VERY easy. A tub is a bit harder.

If you do part of the work on your own, and you don''t want to move any of the pipes.. redoing the bath can be affordable.

 

[metro]

Thanks for the info! Does anyone have any pics to share?

 

[aquarius_ser]

my house was built in 1959 so both of my bathrooms were PINK tile, toilet, tub, the whole thing. I looked into getting the tub resurfaced and also checked into painting the wall tile myself (my friend did it, the kit is at Home Depot) and it requires A LOT of work.

I decided against all of it and just tore down all the tile, the plaster walls, the toilet, and putting in new stuff and drywall. Honestly, it''s not that $$$ expensive, just a lot of work and you need to be somewhat handy. I don''t regret doing it all though, I know someone who had their tub epoxied and it has scratched.

 

[Kismet]

Date: 1/9/2007 9:21:03 PM
Author: mtrb
Gosh.. you should see my bathroom.. Pink tile with black borders.. we are planning to do it when we have the money. Just bought the house in the Boston Area$$$$$$$. Classic 1960''s.

Haha. That''s our upstairs bathroom too.


Our downstairs bathroom has been redone but the contractor did a disappearing act on us so our poor pink and black bathroom languishes unrenovated while we look for a new contractor.

 

[metro]

Well, we did another walk-thru of the house last night. I did manage to snap a few shots of the pink bathroom, which actually, is not that pink. It's more like a pink-coral color.

The 1st thing I would want to do is to replace the tile floor and toilet and to repaint. The the shower tiles and tub. I would also like to do glass blocks in place of the window.

A lot of work for a very un-crafty girl.

 

[aquarius_ser]

My floor was like that, we went right over it with 12" ceramic tile.... Is that what your planning on doing? You''ll need a tile cutter if so, we rented one