Investor · Shawnee Mission, KS · Member since 2015 · 428 posts · 117 votes
I have few rentals with bathtubs as old as property - 50 years old or so. And I have a problem to replace them. Most contractors do not recommend even to touch them. Other contractors call this as bathroom remodeling :))) and ask a lot for this kind of job. What are your experience - how to make it within reasonable budget.
I run a bathtub refinishing company in Atlanta. Refinishing here cost arond 250 for a standard tub and will last. Problem is guys using epoxy or other cheap material. Find a good refinisher in your area and get it done by a pro. We refinish investment and hotel property every week. As far as nice areas we refinish tubs for homeowners in 350,000 homes and up. Just my 2cents
for cheap rentals, I leave them alone. At best I get them refinished. For nicer properties you have to just do it, spend the money for a new tub and surround.
I've replaced them. It doesn't really cost that much. If you get them refinished, the paint can wind up peeling and such if there's a nick and water gets under the paint. While you have the wall open, replace the plumbing so it's all new.
This is a rental of 700-900 per month. I would not call it very cheap. Area is nice so if units will be updated the rent may be higher. The difference between trashy and updated units in the same area may be few hundred.
In many cases removing an old tub will cause damage to the floor and/or tub surround. This can be problematic if you have tile floors and/or walls. Especially if you were not planning on updating tile. In these cases I recommend purchasing a tub refinishing kit from Home Depot. They cost around $50. It is basically a can of white epoxy spray paint. I used it once on an old claw foot tub. It didn't come out 100% perfect but it looks pretty good, much better than before. And I haven't had to touch it in 2 years. Just re rented the place on Monday. It is such a cheap and quick product that it would be worth it even if it needed to be redone every year.
I run a bathtub refinishing company in Atlanta. Refinishing here cost arond 250 for a standard tub and will last. Problem is guys using epoxy or other cheap material. Find a good refinisher in your area and get it done by a pro. We refinish investment and hotel property every week. As far as nice areas we refinish tubs for homeowners in 350,000 homes and up. Just my 2cents
Hi John. I live in morning side in midtown and have inherited a tub that was spray painted. Yes, this is a rental property. I want to cover up this tub. Do you have any ideas that I can use to cover up this ugliness?
Agree with that and the prices are the same approximately. I run similar company in St.Louis and number of orders have fallen recently. In such cases better call the pro's for sure
Most tubs with tile surrounds in the 50-80 age range are cast-iron. Quite a few of them after all these decades of service are beat to hell, as the OP mentions, as are the tile surrounds. The inexpensive long-term fix is to smash them out, replace with a fiberglass/acrylic tub that covers the original footprint of the tub (usually you can get away with 60x30, sometimes you will need 60x32), and do a glue-up acrylic surround to cover up the existing tilework. Change out the control knobs for something more modern-looking and the showerhead for a dual-nozzle retrofit, and hey, presto, it looks new-new-new, or at least new and unused enough to up the rent a bit.