Customer Reviews

Rust-Oleum 7862519 Tub And Tile Refinishing 2-Part Kit, Biscuit

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I have an ancient cast iron sink that has become porous, cracked and difficult to clean over the years. I don't have much money for remodelling, so I bought this stuff in bisque.

It has extensive instructions which involve scrubbing, sanding, and washing the porcelain with TSP. I followed the instructions to the letter except for removing the stainless drain connectors, which are stuck and I'm not strong enough to budge them even when I bought the right tool. So, I painted over them. The package declares that the epoxy surface is self-leveling, and it is so -- even with two coats using a soft lacquer brush the epoxy goes on a bit bubbly, but it becomes smooth and glossy as it dries.

This was three months ago. In the meantime, I resurfaced my counter, painted my cabinets, did other renovation work guaranteed to muck up a sink. I did in fact chip and scratch this epoxy surface, but here's the good news -- I bought another package of Rustoleum epoxy, mixed only four teaspoons worth, and patched the chips -- twice. The stuff keeps in sealed cans, so you have a long-term supply of small scratch repairs. The surrounding epoxy evidently "melts" to accept the patch. I gave the scratches two coats (dry sponging the surface to feather the edges a bit between coats) and you can't tell the scratch was ever there. Now that my construction is done, the sink holds up quite well to ordinary food preparation and dish washing without further mishap. It has not chipped or peeled over the porcelain, although it does give off a chemical odor for a couple of weeks if you fill the sink with hot water.

The surface is not as hard as the porcelain, of course, and you can't scour it. Nevertheless, it cleans pretty well with a soft scrubby and it looks nicer than the old sink.

I give it four instead of five stars because it is beginning to chip around the stainless pipe connection -- but I did violate the instructions by painting this over. And I score it down one star because the surface is a bit fragile and you have to treat it considerably more kindly than a porcelain or stainless sink. But the fact that you can patch scratches to the finish, evidently forever, makes this a cheap and durable fix that will last until I save up for a major kitchen remodel.

As long as you take your prep work seriously, which is not a lot but still somewhat time consuming, you will be pleased with the results. I had to cover an 85 year old tub and tiles that were painted with regular high gloss paint, what a PITA it was to clean off years on paint and decades of filth. I couldn't be happier with the results.

It has a texture to it that is somewhat slippery when wet, so be careful. Also the smell is strong, really strong. Wear a mask. One can was enough for the job, but I went away for a week and the can was dried solid. I ended up doing seven coats in 3 days to get everything the way I like it. One word of advice (beyond your following the manufacturing instructions) is cut in on the corners and around the drain, then use a wide roller to do all the big areas - just like painting any wall. Buy as many disposable brushes and rollers as you plan on coats, too. They can't be cleaned after use, I tried.

We bought a used RV and the fiberglass tub was discolored an ugly yellow. I ordered this product in almond color, received it in a few days. I cleaned the tub quite well with a green scrubby and Simple Green, rinsed well, and the next day, applied this paint. You mix 2 parts together before applying with paint brush and/or roller. I used both ... disposable roller for larger areas and small disposable bristle brush for the corners. It applied easily and leveled quite well. One half the can covered the tub and surround with one coat. The label warns you to use good ventilation, and it would be wise to follow that advice. I wished I had used a mask, too. I had a headache and was dizzy when finished (about 3 hours).
We allowed about 2 weeks to dry before using the tub, and it has held up well through about 25 showers, with no chipping or peeling. I am VERY pleased with this product. It solved my problem well and inexpensively.

Prep is everything with this product. Impromper prep will cause fisheyes or cause premature pealing. Takes too long to dry and may leave you without a tub/shower for a few days.

Chemicals are harsh. I suggest a respirator and would not use around children or anybody with health issues.

A cheap fix for an ugly tub. would never use on a sink due to the abuse sinks take with metal objects.

I had an old mid-80s shower stall. I actually have the skills to replace the shower pan, but it was such a shame to replace it just because it was slightly discolored. I used this kit and applied two coats and it looked like new. It has been used daily for 5 months and still looks great. I even replaced the shower doors and it looked like a completely new renovation. My only negative comment would be that this mixes to the consistency of water. Maybe they do that so it can soak into any and every crack but in the case of my project I wish it had gone on a little thicker. Because it didn't go on thick, one coat was not enough and the old stains were still showing so I needed to apply a second coat. As for coverage, the shower pan was the size of a bath tub and even after two coats I still had 3/4 of the paint left. Unfortunately, I could not apply any more for the next 24 hours and since the 3/4 of can would harden before I could use it again, it had to go in the trash. In hindsight I should have mixed the product in a separate container. My guess that if you're doing a full bath tub you will easily have enough for two full coats or more. Also on any project if you want to do more than two coats, get two kits or do what I didn't and mix the product in a separate container because you cannot apply three coats before the mixed product hardens. As for applying the product I used a mini roller and it worked well.

I actually used this product to make a faux stone finish on horrid dark green kitchen countertops - just sand lightly, wipe with vinegar and let dry. Then apply the tub & tile, I did 3 coats, with drying time in between. Then loaded a spray bottle with watered-down acrylic craft paint, and sprayed speckles (be sure to tarp the surrounding areas first!). Let dry between colors ( I used white, grey, black, brown and gold). Finally, seal with MinWax Polymer - 2 coats. With all the drying time you may not have your kitchen counter back for almost a week, but it sure looks great now!

After reading some initial reviews and seeing that most were positive, I went and ordered the kit for my tub. After a lot of frustrating trial and error, I'm finally done and wanted to share some lessons learned.

- Do not use a conventional roller. The roller WILL leave fibers in your finish. I resorted to using a sander to smooth out the sags and fibers from the roller - it's like sanding chalk after it dries. Some have mentioned that foam rollers will dissolve in the paint. I used a 4" brush for the last 2 coats.
- A good respirator and active ventilation is mandatory. I used the MSA 817663 Multi-Purpose Respirator sold here - seals well and you can hardly smell the fumes.
- Get twice the paint you think you will need, if you have a dark colored tub. I was able to squeeze 3 coats out of 1 box to cover the inside and front side of my tub. My pink tub needed 3 coats to hide the original color, but I put 4 on for good measure.
- Don't forget to paint the farthest sections of the tub first. You don't want to lean over wet paint.
- Don't use a heavy hand on the second coat. I started my second coat about 2-3 hours after the first and noticed thin spots where the first coat started to dissolve.
- Finding the wet edge and spots you missed is really hard in an all white tub... I used a flashlight at a steep angle to differentiate these areas.
- Resist the urge to re-do sections that you just painted and have started to dry. The paint dries quickly and doing so will leave brush marks that won't go away. Self leveling is minimal.
- Don't re-use a mixing container that has dried paint in it. Dried paint will flake off and end up in your finish.
- Get some cardboard or dense foam to lay on the floor - your knees will thank you.

Incidentally, I would give the final finish a C for appearance. In hindsight, I should have opted to patch the large dings in the original porcelain and be done with it.

Prep: I did not sand, but I did clean with muriatic acid (diluted about 3:1) and some green scrubbie pads first. That seemed to be enough to give the paint a good surface to stick to. Use a less noxious modified muriatic acid (available at any home center). The fumes aren't as bad and it doesn't burn if you get it on your skin as the regular stuff will. It is really important if you have silicone anywhere that you completely remove it. Use something like SILICONE CAULK RMVR 8OZ to remove any residue left behind after scraping with a razor blade. I had tons of silicone to remove because I have shower doors. I missed a bit and sure enough the paint that was in that area disappeared.

Application: Rollers seem to work fine and it is what they recommend. Use caution with foam rollers. The ones I used (yellow foam rollers from the home center... labeled "safe for all paints") would break down and fall apart from this paint, leaving pieces of foam in the paint. Major problem. I switched to this Purdy 662091 White Dove Deluxe Dralon Paint Roller Cover 9-by-1/4-Inch and it survived the paint OK. Another caution: you will probably not be able to clean anything you use to apply this paint, even with solvents. So use cheap (non-foam) brushes for places you can't get in with a roller. Yet another caution: buy a respirator (the kind with the screw on carbon filters) and use it. They sell them right here on Amazon for less than $30. A small price to pay to not have to breathe in the toxic fumes from the paint (or the acid if you use it to clean). A painter's mask isn't going to do anything since the fumes will go right through it.

Coverage: I used 3 packages for a standard size fiberglass tub and shower surround. I had enough left over to do a sink. I would recommend not mixing all of the last can (you would probably only need half) so you have something to mix small batches to do touchups with. Once you mix it, it will get hard even if sealed up.

Waiting Time: Definitely wait the 3+ days they recommend on the package. I waited a week since I had other stuff to do in the bathroom anyway.

Results: Not perfect but OK. I got some runs here and there but they aren't all that easy to see if you aren't looking at them. They are really hard to avoid given you are working on a vertical surface with lots of compound curves. The working time of the paint is also pretty short so you don't have much time to fix them without making a mess. It seems to hold up very well to the daily exposure to hot water, which makes all the hassle worthwhile. I had a lot of junk left in the paint from my disintegrating foam roller covers but those tiny mostly invisible bumps were fairly easy to remove with a razor blade, and you don't feel them after you do that. I painted over some metal (which is not recommended) because I didn't want to remove the drain assembly from the tub and it seems to be holding up just fine even there after a few months of use.

We have a 35 year old fiberglass shower pan which could not be adequately cleaned. No matter how hard we scrubbed, it always looked awful.

I searched for a very long time for a home kit that would not require the use of dangerous acid preparations. This was the only option I found. With two weeks having passed since I used the kit, the result looks great and I highly recommend it.

Expect several hours of surface prep involving an array of household cleaners, scrubbers etc. before you can do any painting. I suppose this is the price you pay to avoid the use of serious acids. When you do combine the two parts in the kit to create the paint, the resulting odor is seriously nasty like plastic cement. I did not use any kind of respirator; I just ran the bathroom fan. Unless you like to get very light headed, I suggest you buy or rent an appropriate respirator.

The paint is rather thin so apply in thin coats or else you will get drip build up on vertical surfaces. I didn't have much success with a roller so I used the bristle brush exclusively. It is true that once you apply the paint, don't try to rework any given area again if more than a minute or so has passed. And only brush in one direction. Follow the instructions for recoating. The second coat can be applied within the pot life of the paint (6 hours) but if you want a third coat--and it made ALL the difference in my case--you will either need a second kit or you must carefully set aside in sealed containers the proportional amount of each component to be mixed the next day.

The final coat must dry 72 hours before you can use any water on it.

Naturally, you will want to complement your work with all new caulking so be prepared to be an expert at that too.

In summary, I am delighted with the result but be prepared for some major scrubbing, some nasty fumes and a long patient wait while it dries.

UPDATE--Six months later, still flawless. Applied correctly, this produces a very durable finish.

My tub/shower was the old yellow/gold color they used back in the 70's. I had just replaced my sink and toilet, in the "Bone" color. It was time to do the tub but didn't want to have to rebuild my untire bathroom. Did some research on refinishing and found the Rust-Oleum. I purchased it in the Almond color.I used 2 kits for the tub/shower style I have. Mixed them seperatly, then combined them in one small pail just before starting. The whole process was really quite easy. A little bit time consuming preping the tub, but far better that the time and money one would have into replacing the tub. Also, the 3 day drying time wasn't all that bad. Some kits required 5 days.
I would recommend that you do this on a day with low humidity or early in the morning before the humidity rises, as I found this will make it a little "stickier" to apply. I used a brush for the small areas and 3" roller for the rest.
Everyone that has seen the finished tub has been amazed on how nice it looks. The Almond color was an almost perfect match for the new sink and toilet. You really have to look hard to see any differance at all. I highly recommend this and would use it again.