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Regular Contributor
Posts: 185
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Has Anyone Ever had a Fiberglass Tub & Surround Painted?

Has anyone ever had a fiberglass tub & surround painted? How does it look afterwards?

I have a golden yellow tub & surround that I would like painted off-white, but I'm worried it will look "painted" when it's done. I plan on hiring someone to do it, unless it's so easy that it would be a DIY project.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 15,523
Registered: ‎09-01-2010

Re: Has Anyone Ever had a Fiberglass Tub & Surround Painted?

We had a harvest gold colored fiberglass tub and shower surround installed in our main bathroom when our home was built in 1981. The master bath had a fiberglass shower stall, also in harvest gold. We checked into painting the fiberglass white, and the professional recommendation we received, was that we needed to get someone who primes and spray paints cars to do this job in order for it to look decent and have the finish we expected. My husband knows someone who is considered a pro with spray painting cars, furniture, etc., and the price he quoted was quite high, plus he could not provide the reassurance we wanted as to how long the finish would hold up. Therefore, we chose to totally replace the units through WV Rebath, which we felt was the best choice for us.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 14,938
Registered: ‎03-11-2010

Re: Has Anyone Ever had a Fiberglass Tub & Surround Painted?

I have heard of them refinishing regular tubs but not fiberglass. We had one of those in our main bath. I hated it. We finally yanked it out put in a new Kohler tub & tiled the walls & put in a niche. Love it. Since DH did most of the work we saved quite a bit of money. He paid someone to help get the old fiberglass unit out of the bathroom & to help put in the new tub because it was really heavy. We painted the rest of the walls, installed a new top on the vanity, mirrors, lights & shower & sink fixtures. DH also had to pull up the tile along the tub & replace each piece since there was a gap. At least we had extra tile left from the original install & a full piece just fit & he did not have to make any cuts so it was pretty easy.

Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,985
Registered: ‎03-19-2010

Re: Has Anyone Ever had a Fiberglass Tub & Surround Painted?

Great question! I too always wanted to know this. I have a one piece unit and though it is almond, its looking a little shabby. Replacing it with another one piece would be impossible for me, just no way of getting a one piece in without taking down the bathroom to bare bones.

I know they do it all the time with porcelain. I imagine it can be done at a price. Since they are able to repair and paint fiberglass cars (corvette), but like RedTop the cost may be exorbitant.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 15,523
Registered: ‎09-01-2010

Re: Has Anyone Ever had a Fiberglass Tub & Surround Painted?

Allegheny,

For our fiberglass units, the contractor used a special blade to cut the unit into pieces to remove it. Fiberglass is extremely sharp and will cut you to the bone in a heartbeat, so the contractor used special gloves to protect his hands and arms. The trend now is to go with a one piece shower base, and then tile the walls, or use a vinyl surround. My 80 year old mom went this route last spring when she removed her bathtub and made her bathroom handicap accessible with a larger walk in shower.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 30,238
Registered: ‎03-12-2010

Re: Has Anyone Ever had a Fiberglass Tub & Surround Painted?

My guess is that this is one of those things (doing it oneself) that seems like a good/easy thing to do......until one starts it!

Respected Contributor
Posts: 2,966
Registered: ‎05-30-2010

Re: Has Anyone Ever had a Fiberglass Tub & Surround Painted?

We moved into a house 4 years ago that had a dingy, yellowed tub surround in the main bathroom (the one everyone uses). Hubby painted it with white marine paint and I think it turned out very well. I will say it smelled awful for a few days. I guess I'd try this first before you rip everything out, unless cost is not an issue. You can always rip it out later if you're not happy with the result.

Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,985
Registered: ‎03-19-2010

Re: Has Anyone Ever had a Fiberglass Tub & Surround Painted?

On 4/20/2014 RedTop said:

Allegheny,

For our fiberglass units, the contractor used a special blade to cut the unit into pieces to remove it. Fiberglass is extremely sharp and will cut you to the bone in a heartbeat, so the contractor used special gloves to protect his hands and arms. The trend now is to go with a one piece shower base, and then tile the walls, or use a vinyl surround. My 80 year old mom went this route last spring when she removed her bathtub and made her bathroom handicap accessible with a larger walk in shower.

Hi RedTop I was giving some thought to going with a walk in shower, but just am not ready to give up our tub unit yet. We have a big bucket list for updating our home and try and do a couple projects each year. Its a never ending expense isn't it? This year I want to have the hardwood floors in the living room refinished and replace the tile floor in our hallways. Then next year put hardwood in our bedroom and soon replace the all our windows.

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 6,250
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Has Anyone Ever had a Fiberglass Tub & Surround Painted?

On 4/20/2014 smokymtngal said:

We moved into a house 4 years ago that had a dingy, yellowed tub surround in the main bathroom (the one everyone uses). Hubby painted it with white marine paint and I think it turned out very well. I will say it smelled awful for a few days. I guess I'd try this first before you rip everything out, unless cost is not an issue. You can always rip it out later if you're not happy with the result.

that's what I was thinking, paint for a fiberglass boat: marine paint.

I looked it up on line a couple of years ago. I think it was 6 or 7 steps, was it like that?

Honored Contributor
Posts: 12,317
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Has Anyone Ever had a Fiberglass Tub & Surround Painted?

We had the shower stall repainted about 10-12 years ago, the smell was bad but the company did a great job and except for the horrid mold build up where the cauking is, the paint job still looks good. My project for tomorrow is to take out the ucky caulk and scrub the area with bleach...let it dry and my DH can recaulk in a couple of days.