Clawfoot Bath Restoration process

Clawfoot Bath Restoration

This is a brief summary of what happens with your bath at Clawfoot Baths QLD;

1. Old fittings, such as rusted drain wastes, pipes, chained bath plugs, overflows, etc. are removed. The feet are also removed for treatment, re-coating or replacement in a brass or chrome style.
2. The bath is professionally cleaned then sand-blasted or otherwise treated to remove all traces of old paint, rust, oxidised porcelain or old enamel, dirt, grease and other contaminants.
3. The outside of the tub is acid etched for exceptional bonding, primed, sanded and then resurfaced in the nominated customer preferred colour and gloss level. The original condition of the tub exterior determines the final appearance. If it is rough to begin with, it will have a rough finished appearance. If it has a smooth finish, ditto (these tend to be later built baths).
4. The restored/replaced feet are attached and the bath turned over for inside work.
5. The inside of the tub is prepared by various means, normally involving stripping, razor scraping, hours of machine sanding and then all chips, cracks and other damaged areas are ground back to bare metal. The bath is then acid etched and neutralised to provide a lock-tight bond for fillers and coatings.
6. The damaged areas are filled with specialist fillers and sanded to profile. This could take many re-fills and many hours of hand sanding to obtain as close to a perfect finish as possible. Often, the outside lip of these tubs are so badly rusted/worn that they need to be virtually rebuilt and shaped, much like shaping a surfboard. The rotted bottom of some tubs can be a real challenge. This is where the bulk of the work is and where the skill of the restorer really matters.
7. Once all the preparation work is finished, the previously resurfaced outside of the tub is masked up to prevent overspray and the tub is ready for re-coating in our specialised aliphatic urethane finish in a beautiful gloss white. Our coatings are designed especially for the bathroom environment and derived from the maritime coating industries, so they are very tough and very durable. They are also proven over many years as the best in the industry.
8. After a couple of days curing, the tub is ready to be collected or delivered, and installed.