cheap skinflint sparkling husband primitive uses plastic bathtubs in rentals

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=287x9112

Oh my.

Stinky The Clown  (1000+ posts)        Mon Mar-14-11 07:35 PM
THE SPARKLING HUSBAND PRIMITIVE
Original message

Is cast iron still the gold standard for bathtubs?

We're thinking of redoing one of our baths. The tub in there is chip free and still in good shape, albeit a little dull with surface scratches. It is a standard size, plain old tub. The house is 35 years old and I am sure the color blue was a biggie back then.

We want a white tub. I see all these light weight plastic tubs. We put them in our rentals and they're very nice. Comfortably deep - deeper than what we have in our main bath here. They just don't seem very high end.

What are the options for tubs these days, and is cast iron still seen as the best?

NMDemDist2  (1000+ posts)        Mon Mar-14-11 08:52 PM
Response to Original message
 
1. IMHO cast iron will outlast you and even the ever young Princess Sparkly

have you looked into getting your current tub re-finished? if it's only a matter of it being dull, re-finishing it would save you the hassle and cost of pulling out the old one and installing a new one. And it would free up the budget for other new toys in the room

Wash. state Desk Jet  (1000+ posts)      Mon Mar-14-11 09:48 PM
Response to Reply #1
 
2. Cast iron is still top of the line.

The insulating coating on the bottom is important along the lines of keeping in the heat. On the install the cast iron of course is not so easy to manipulate ,so you do want to get it all right the first time. Don't get one with those non skid liners on the bottom- magnets to dirt and grime-very difficult to clean.

It is only about $200,00 to have yer existing tub professionally spray painted white. I have used the spray kit you buy for about $50.00 in apartments. The last one I did a tile in and changed out the valve-,ran out of time,so we did $50.00 thing on the tub. Actually it looks great !

Can't say about the test in time on that one ,it's only been about a year.The house converted to apartment building is about 120 some odd years old-that tub is most likely 1940's.

I can tell you fiberglass holds up on the good ones. In the early 80's high end apartment building -two story apartments, ,fireplace all that-like condo's. Those tubs are one piece with surrounding tub wall. I always thought those were only good for about ten years-but those fiberglass Jobie's do seem to hold up pretty good. , Now on the fiber glass Jobie's, I have used the tub paint spray kit to change the color to white. Five years on those and it still looks good.

Some people say even if you pay the pro painter to spray out yer existing tub- it won't hold up. But the fact is, paint keeps getting better.

I would look around .

[Randy]

First off never take advise from someone who uses "yer" instead of your. It invalidates everything they said.

[GOBUCKS]

First off never take advise from someone who uses "yer" instead of your. It invalidates everything they said.

That's a corollary to a rule concerning use of the word "dude".

[Airwolf]

The smelly house plant thinks he's going to replace the bathtub? Images of Tim the tool man come to mind.

[BEG]

We had the original bathtub in our main bathroom downstairs refinished (we had a professional do it, we didn't to it ourselves). The tub was put in when the house was built, 1949.

Here is a picture of it after, it looks beautiful.   




For those of you who weren't here when I posted it, here are pictures of the bathroom remodel that my husband did. He did everything himself except for the tub refinishing. He tore out everything, put new drywall up, new subfloor, plumbing, did the tile and the crown molding.  Built the medicine cabinet out of the mirrored medicine cabinet that was there (not in the same place).  I swear to God he can do anything, this was the first time he has ever remodeled a bathroom.  All of the pictures were taken with my phone so they are dark and blurry. Some of them were taken before it was complete.   








The original tub/shower didn't have a soffit. My husband built one then tiled it all the way up the wall and the ceiling of the tub/shower area.

[DefiantSix]

The smelly house plant thinks he's going to replace the bathtub? Images of Tim the tool man come to mind.

Not bloody likely.  Tim Allen's failures in home re-modeling were all about HORSEPOWER and the excessive use thereof.  Stinky the Clown plays second fiddle to Sparkly's housecat.  No horsepower there.

[BEG]

Here are a few before pictures.  I am so thankful for my creative, can do anything under the sun husband. God I love that man of mine.

By the way stinky, I dare you to take the cast iron tub out yourself. I would laugh my ass off.

Tub and tile before. There were gross shower doors on the tub that was probably put in in the 90's.  The tub was even more gross than it looks in the picture. We didn't use the shower once since we moved in until my husband remodeled. Now our older daughter uses it everyday.  

  


Ugly before tile. 



Original sink



The cabinet smelled like urine. It was original but had been retiled in the 90's. 



There was a hole where the original medicine cabinet was behind the mirror.  The original paint color was a peachy pink, then wallpaper, then pink then the 90's country blue. 

 

  

[BattleHymn]

BEG, did you decide not to put the heater (or whatever it was) back in that wall, even as a decorative item?

[BEG]

BEG, did you decide not to put the heater (or whatever it was) back in that wall, even as a decorative item?

Yes, we didn't put it in. It worked but need to be re-chromed and I finally decided I didn't want to take a chance on a fire hazard. Man it looked so cool though.