How to Refinish a Clawfoot Tub

Paint your clawfoot bathtub for a sunny vintage bath

Have an old clawfoot bathtub in your old house bathroom? Brighten up the bath and create a sunny vintage bath look by painting your clawfoot tub a pastel color.

The wear and tear of an 100 year old clawfoot bathtub is very great; the heat of the water is in itself very trying to any paint or enamel, especially when, as often happens, the water is allowed to enter the bath in a near boiling state. Obviously, the hotter the water the greater is the wear and tear on the paint material, and this whether the clawfoot bathtub is of the highest quality or is of a cheaper make. But apart from the heat of the water, the soap and grease which abounds in the bathroom is in itself a means of destruction to the paint.

In how to refinish a clawfoot tub, the proper plan would be to have it taken out and sent to a clawfoot tub refinishing company, who sandblast the clawfoot bathtub and paint it in a special manner and with a special paint. The trouble and expense, however, of taking a bathtub out and sending it away in this manner is very great and many, therefore, prefer to paint their own clawfoot bathtub. An easier way to give your vintage bath a new look is to paint the outside of the tub which will not endure as much wear-and-tear as the inside of the clawfoot bathtub.

The first thing to be done in refinishing a clawfoot tub is to thoroughly clean the surface of the clawfoot bathtub, and this, as in all operations of repainting, is very important. At the risk of being tedious the necessity of getting every portion of the surface absolutely clean before the paint is applied must be emphasized, and in this case it must be added absolutely dry also. Sometimes the faucets of the bathtub leak a little; if so, this must be repaired before the repainting is commenced, otherwise the job is hopeless.

The best way of cleaning a clawfoot bathtub is to first thoroughly scrub with soap and water, using hot water and plenty of elbow grease; any ordinary strong soap answers the purpose. The next thing is to rinse freely with cold water with a sponge or cloth, but even this, as a rule, does not remove all the grease, therefore a further operation with powdered pumice stone and water is wise. A small scrubbing brush is moistened with water and dipped in the dry pumice stone and then rubbed over the surface briskly so as to literally grind off any dirt or grease which may remain. A thorough rinsing with cold water completes the process and the clawfoot bathtub is, when dry, ready for the first coat of paint.

An ordinary paint brush will be used in refinishing a clawfoot tub and care must be taken not to miss any small parts, and not to apply the primer too thick; a very thin, even coat is what is to be aimed at. Adhere to the drying time recommendations of the paint manufacturer before applying the top coat of paint, and again before applying the third coat. If the paint shows any signs of roughness it may be lightly rubbed over with very fine sandpaper between coats. As a rule three coats will be ample and two will usually suffice. If the paint is properly mixed and properly applied there will be no difficulty in determining when the surface has received a sufficient number of coats; that point will be reached when the clawfoot bathtub is quite uniform in appearance.