Paint for a cast iron bath: how to paint a bath at home

Cast iron bathroom paint is intended for restoration of old products. It saves it from disposal, because the bathroom is a necessary room in a house or apartment. Many residents of apartment buildings have cast iron products, as they are convenient and practical to use. Cast iron bathtubs are a design in which you can bathe and wash clothes. They have a long service life.

But after mechanical and chemical influences (chips, scratches, detergents), the coating inside becomes unusable over time. It acquires a gray tint, cracks, and yellowness. You can correct defects without calling a specialist by painting the product yourself. Painting a cast iron bathtub at home with your own hands is the ideal solution.

Pros and cons of painting

For painting, you need to choose only a dye for metal structures.

This method has a number of advantages:

Large selection of paint and varnish tones;
The price of the dye saves a lot of money;
Possibility to paint a cast iron bathtub without calling specialists;
Saving time and effort, fast execution;
No unpleasant odor after the dye dries;
Beautiful glossy finish.

However, this method of surface renewal has disadvantages:

Before applying the composition, the outer coating must be treated with a grinding machine, and then with a primer mixture;
It is necessary to apply dye to an old cast iron product only after treating the coating with an antifungal compound;
There are acrylic solutions that take a long time to dry - three days.

How can you paint a cast iron bathtub? First you need to find the appropriate paint, only then begin work on treating the surface of the cast iron.

What color should I paint the battery?

White radiator

- classic. In our country, batteries are usually placed under the windows, and they are almost always white. A radiator in the color of the window sill and frames is the most common and absolutely organic solution. However, it is far from the only one.

Black batteries are very popular today

. There is an opinion that a radiator painted black heats a little better than a white one. However, experts say that the difference, if any, does not exceed 1-2%. The black color of the battery is more of a design tribute than a concern for heat. Such radiators can often be found in modern interiors, especially those decorated.

Battery to match the wall color

- a less common solution, but certainly successful. Of course, this does not disguise the battery or make it invisible. However, thanks to this technique, the radiator does not stand out from the general space and does not look like something alien.

Photo from the project of designer Galina Yurieva

Not many people would dare to paint the radiator in a bright color that contrasts with the walls. Making the battery a focal point is a bold move. And very effective. This design option is suitable for a modern minimalist interior.

An interesting idea is to paint the battery using the ombre (or gradient) technique. The outer section is painted, for example, white. The second has a subtle color, and each subsequent section becomes more saturated.

Photo source: the-village.ru

Colored batteries are especially appropriate in children's rooms. Here you can safely get creative. For example, decorate the radiator with patterns, drawings, and thematic painting. Or paint the battery in the form of colored pencils, rainbows, etc.

Sky-high prices for good quality cast iron bathtubs force us to look for a real alternative to purchasing new items made of cast iron. The easiest way to solve the problem is to restore the enamel coating, for example, paint the bathtub. The method for solving the problem is not particularly difficult. All that remains is to choose what to paint the inside of the cast iron bathtub with. To be honest, the range of materials is extremely limited; any polymer coating is inferior in its characteristics to the mineral enamels used to cover the bathtub. But it’s still worth trying to repair a cast-iron bathtub with paint, since if you’re lucky, you can solve a serious problem at minimal cost.

Types of paints

The dye is divided into four types:

Epoxy resin (two-component);
Acrylic (liquid base);
Epoxy;
Aerosol – good for long products.

Resin

For painting cast iron bathtubs with severe surface corrosion (chips, deep cracks). Epoxy enamel is applied in a thick layer, even without preliminary primer treatment of the surface.

The resin is diluted with solvents to a thick consistency, applied to chips, and then to the entire surface.

Acrylic dye (enamel)

How to paint or treat the inside of a cast iron bathtub at home? Acrylic. Resurfacing cast iron yourself is a simple, easy method of resurfacing.

Acrylic has a liquid consistency, which simplifies the work with its distribution over the coating. After drying, the acrylic composition becomes glossy, which is why this paint coating is popular today. The service life of acrylic film is from 7 to 20 years with proper care, so painting the product with this composition will be beneficial.

Epoxy dye

Epoxy paint is resistant to mechanical influences. It is a synthetic oligomer produced from a resin. Long-lasting, durable coating for metal and industrial equipment. Paint with a glossy effect, hydrophobic in property. You can paint with any convenient tool: roller, brush, spray gun.

Spray

Cast iron bath paint is an aerosol, namely a dye for cast iron products.

It is applied after treating the surface with grinding equipment and a primer. This is a finishing coating with a large assortment - from a bright, varied palette to the manufacturer. The paint dries quickly and can be used in hard-to-reach areas.

How to paint a battery with your own hands

If the manufacturer's instructions do not indicate the possibility of applying the composition to old paint, then radiators require pre-washing, cleaning of the old paint layer, then priming and painting in 2 layers.

Work is carried out wearing protective glasses

, respirator and gloves.

Attention! A set of protective clothing is the best protection against harmful dust and chemicals. To protect the space around the radiator from accidental splashes, protect the surfaces with plastic film, cardboard or paper.

Manufacturers

How to paint a cast iron bathtub at home without knowing what paint to choose? Among dyes and enamels, we can highlight compositions that are in great demand for painting a cast-iron bathtub:

"Epoksin 51". Enamel.

According to the manufacturer (Russia), products with enamel will last about 9-10 years;

Liquid acrylic Luxury "Ekovanna". (Manufacturer – Russia).

This is a kit that includes the hardener and the enamel itself. The service life of a product treated with acrylic is 15 years with proper care;

Lako Colorful Materials Finnish. Price 1000 -1300 Russian rubles;
Rust Oleum paint (USA). "Specialty Tub & Tile Refinishing Kit." Price 1700-2000 Russian rubles per liter. Painting a cast iron bathtub with this composition will not be difficult;
Dulux (country – UK). Dulux Realife Kitchen & Bathroom. Dye. Its price is from 1000 to 2,500 Russian rubles per 1.20 l;
“Svetlana” (produced in Russia). The set includes clearing pastes (white and other colors). The price of such a kit is about 800 rubles;
"Renaissance" (manufacturer - Russia). Paint for cast iron. The kit includes all the products needed to paint the surface. Price up to 900 rubles per jar, volume 0.8 liters;
"Kudo" (domestic manufacturer). Spray (enamel). The price of one can differs (from 200 rubles to 500 rubles) depending on the composition and color. This paint can be used to paint the outside of a cast iron bathtub.

You can look at all the variety of things you can use to paint or update a cast-iron bathtub at home or in the country on the Internet or in a hardware store.

What to look for when choosing bath paint? It is better to restore the surface of the bathtub using high-quality materials and paint coatings.

When choosing a paint coating (this is what can be painted), the characteristics of each product are taken into account. How to choose paint:

The purpose of the composition is indicated on the paint can - for metal work;
Bath paint has a shelf life of one year. The paint kit includes tinting pastes and special hardeners.

Painting a cast iron bathtub with an aerosol spray (with your own hands) will not work, since the coating will not form a dense layer.

Dyeing technology

Depending on the recommended thickness of the enamel layer from different manufacturers, the color of the bathtub and the repair composition used, several coats of paint may be required or one coat of paint will be sufficient.

In addition, the compositions of different brands do not have the same shelf life. For the second layer, some of them will have to be mixed before each painting, others can be reapplied without fear that the paint will harden before this time.

Some companies, such as Ecolor, have taken care of this in advance. For example, Epoxin paint is sold as a kit containing two 300 g containers with a base (200 ml each) and two jars of hardener (50 ml).

Aerosol

The simplest option for restoring a decorative protective coating is an aerosol can. The step-by-step technology in this case looks like:

shake the enamel by hand for 2 – 3 minutes;
the home craftsman independently applies a layer, first to defective areas (putty chips, scratches), then evenly distributes the jet over the entire surface;
after 15 minutes, possible drips are cut off with a blade or smoothed out with a spatula.

Brush or roller

When using two-component compounds with a hardener, they are applied to the iron surface using different methods, which is also necessarily indicated by the manufacturer on the packaging. It is much easier to paint yourself with enamels, which are applied to the surface using traditional methods - with a brush or roller. In this case, it is necessary to take into account the following nuances:

the enamel base is packaged in containers in such a way that the required amount of hardener can be added to it, that is, there is no need to look for additional containers for mixing;
a wooden spatula is used for stirring; the process takes 5–10 minutes for different manufacturers;
re-mixing is carried out after 3 – 5 minutes of paint settling, its time is 3 – 5 minutes, respectively;
The color of the new coating is given by adding tinting paste after the initial mixing of the base with the hardener;
colored enamels thicken during use faster than white compositions;
When mixing, it is not recommended to use power tools, since the enamel is saturated with air, the bubbles of which will reduce the quality of the coating;
when stirring by hand, you need to scrape the thicker paint from the side walls of the container and lift it from the bottom;
the surface must be covered from top to bottom, starting from the sides of the bowl, moving the brush to the bottom of the bath;

Applying paint to the bathtub with a brush.
When using a multi-layer coating, the layers are applied at right angles to each other after waiting for 15 minutes (dust adhesion time is indicated on the paint packaging).

Primers or primer-enamels are used for the outer surface of the bowl. This is cheap and practical, since the outside of the bath is usually decorated with panels or screens.

In bulk

The most complex technology is painting without painting tools using the pouring method:

In this case, it is better to pour the diluted two-component composition from a common container into a small container, which is convenient to work with outstretched arms;
the position of the body should provide access from one place without walking along the bathtub to all its areas;
It is convenient for right-handed people to start from the left side farthest from themselves and gradually move the container with paint to the right, for left-handed people, accordingly, vice versa;
the material is poured evenly onto the side in such a way as to fill it in one go;

Pouring acrylic during the first round.
areas not filled with paint are filled with a spatula;
then the can is shifted slightly inward, the vertical sections of the walls are poured, approximately up to the middle of their height, with a simultaneous smooth movement in a circle;
the back wall of the bowl opposite the drain hole usually has a flatter angle of inclination, the enamel flows down it more slowly, which is fraught with sagging;
during the second circle, the acrylic should drain to the bottom, completely covering the vertical walls;

Second round of the pouring method.
at the same time, there is an accumulation of paint in the area of the drain hole, so it is necessary to select the material from there with a spatula back into the container or to other areas of the bath;
the remaining “bald spots” are filled with enamel solution from the bottom with a spatula.

Leveling the enamel layer with a spatula.

When the bath is installed correctly, the drain hole is the lowest point of the structure. Therefore, excess enamel will automatically flow into the container underneath. The mixture has self-leveling properties, that is, it spreads evenly under its own weight, forming a uniform layer.

Additionally, after applying paint to the entire surface of the bowl, using the edge of a spatula without strong pressure, draw a uniform grid on the side walls and bottom from top to bottom, towards the drain. After some time, the thickness of the layer and its uniformity will level out on its own. The procedure should be repeated 1 – 2 times, taking into account the remaining pot life of the solution.

Removing drips from the outside of the side.

If the bowl of a sanitary ware has a rounded edge, drops will accumulate on its outer part. They are removed with a spatula as they accumulate until the paint has completely cured.

Coverage Requirements

There are many types of paint and varnish coatings on the market and there is something you can use to paint your bathtub. There are restrictions that prohibit painting the bathtub:

The paintwork materials should not contain toxic substances that can interact with water, detergents and oxygen;
The texture of the paint should be dense and hard, with a glossy effect. This paint fits perfectly on the surface of old cast iron.

A paint coating is what you can use to paint a bathtub. But you need to test it in advance for color. To do this, you should apply one coat of paint, before painting the cast iron bowl, onto the clear glass and let it dry. You can evaluate the tone quality like this: look at the back of the glass.

How to care for a decorated toilet so as not to spoil it?

A decorated toilet is more sensitive to improper care than a regular one, so the following rules should be followed:

do not allow the toilet to become heavily soiled;
use gentle products to clean it, rinsing them well with water;
if it is necessary to use caustic substances, apply them pointwise and rinse thoroughly with water;
do not rub decorative elements with a hard sponge or brush;
It is recommended to dry the outer surfaces of the bowl, tank, button and seat with a soft absorbent cloth.

Bath liner

How can you paint a bathtub? This question need not be asked, because this restoration method is called “bath in bath.” In an old cast-iron bathtub, a liner is placed on glue, which completely follows the shape of the bathtub.

This method has advantages:

The new coating consists of acrylic, which is able to withstand impacts and is resistant to chemical influences from detergents;
The surface does not change color over time;
The bathtub is like new – smooth and shiny.

However, there are a couple of nuances when installing the liner in the bathroom. If the bathtub is made of thin cast iron, then in the future it is impossible to avoid deflection of the structure, as a result of which the liner is deformed. Also, before laying the acrylic surface, the siphon is dismantled. From the above, we can conclude what and how to properly paint a cast-iron bathtub inside and out.

Best answers

Irima:

buy a bath liner. or install a new one, minus all costs from the rent.

Evgenia Voldkova:

The main thing is that the hostess is pretty and doesn’t mind showering with the swami, but lying with her is not the main thing! ;-))

Bolshevik cats:

Well, degrease and paint with alkyd enamel.

Sergey Vasiliev:

We painted the shower tray with white enamel 3 times, several years passed, nothing happened, not even yellowed from the water...

647 acc:

It’s not worth the candle, don’t even think about it, especially in a rented apartment!! ! We hired bathtub enamel painters, the paint literally peeled off within a week, we called them to redo it, and history repeated itself. So we bought a new bathtub...

ENLIGHTENED:

To prevent the enamel from peeling off, you must first clean it well (sand the bathtub), then apply a layer of primer, sand it again and then apply the enamel. Moreover, you also need to know which enamel to cover. In short, hemorrhoids, but if you do everything correctly, the coverage will last for a long time

Required Tools

Painting an old cast-iron bathtub in an apartment by a specialist or with your own hands will not be effective without the following tools:

Sandpaper with various grits;
Paint thinner (No. 646) or alcohol (White);
The putty is waterproof;
A rubber spatula to carefully distribute the composition over the surface with your own hands;
Roller for applying emulsion;
Painting a cast iron bathtub with a spray gun;
Grinding machine for processing the outside of the bathtub;
A paint brush to paint the bath yourself;
Drill;
DIY nozzle for stirring enamel;
Separate container for cast iron paint (bucket or basin);
Container for diluting the primer;
Bathroom paint.

Benefits of using liquid acrylic

The use of paint for a cast-iron bathtub (or more simply, “liquid acrylic”) has become the standard when updating a bathtub. Thanks to the use of this material, the work budget is reduced. In addition, you will not have to destroy the ceramic tiles, as happens when installing the liner.

Painting a bathtub using liquid acrylic will take only a few hours; professionals only need two hours to complete the work. All elements of the plumbing product remain in place, only the drain structures are removed.

All of the above reasons indicate that it is better to give preference to this material.

Preparing the bathtub for painting

After the question of what paint to paint the bathtub has been sorted out and the final conclusion has been made, it is necessary to begin work on preparing the surface of the cast iron for applying the painting composition:

First of all, the drain and pipes are removed from the cast iron bathtub;
All grease and limescale deposits are removed from the inner surface using special detergents that contain alkali (oxalic acid or baking soda). The cast iron bathtub is polished from the outside;
Peeling paint and enamel are removed with a grinding wheel or electric drill with abrasive attachments to smooth the surface;
Cracks and log frames are sanded separately with sandpaper;
The primer is distributed throughout the bathtub, a thick layer is applied to chips and to the edges of the sides of the bathtub;
We prepare the mixture and dilute it. You need to know that the diluted composition should not sit for more than half an hour - this is the time to paint the bathtub, as it begins to harden.
Next, a coloring composition is applied to the dried surface and evenly distributed over the surface of the cast-iron bath by hand;
The second layer of paint for a cast iron or metal bathroom (quick-drying option) is applied only after the first layer has dried;
After application, allow to dry for at least a day with doors and windows closed.

The grinding attachment is selected in accordance with the material being processed - metal; you can also use sandpaper or a steel brush.

Check the cleaned surface for paint and enamel residues, and check the quality of degreasing using a stream of water. If there are smudges and drops left, the surface has been poorly processed, but if it is smooth, then the work has been done properly.

What is an unusual way to paint a cast-iron bathtub on the outside? You can use bright paint, and after it dries, apply a design.

The pattern can be found on the Internet and printed on a printer. Typically, the outside of the bathtub is covered with plastic frames or ceramic tiles. You can use a cast iron bath after painting no earlier than seven days after applying the pigment.

Aerosol enamel

Aerosol enamel can be called the most convenient to use. The paint is applied directly from the can. You should keep a distance of at least 25 centimeters from the bathroom.

This coating dries very quickly, a few hours will be enough. A significant drawback is its inability to close deep defects and cracks.

This paint has a rather thin layer, so it may not always be suitable.

The advantage of such an aerosol is a wide selection of colors and shades; you can even choose enamel with a mother-of-pearl effect.

This product has its drawbacks, which include fragility and the inability to mix several colors to obtain the desired shade.

In addition, experts warn that you must maintain the specified distance.

If you spray the paint too closely, smudges may form and the overall layer will be uneven.