Many older bathtubs wear out and the finish becomes scratched and ugly over time. Older bathtubs can also be oddly colored with colors that are no longer in style. Replacing a bathtub can be an expensive and time-consuming project that requires tearing out parts of the wall to remove the old bathtub. Reconditioning your bathtub eliminates this expensive and complicated disassembly procedure and you can have a new bathtub in less than a day.
There are some problems with refinished bathtubs that can occur when recaulking a refinished bathtub. The epoxy coating applied to a refinished bathtub is not as durable as the original baked-on finish applied to new bathtubs. Therefore, removing old caulk from a refinished bathtub can be a difficult procedure without damaging the bathtub’s epoxy finish. Many times, the caulk applied after refinishing a tub is not a high-quality 100% silicone caulk, and this caulk can turn black and moldy in a short period of time. There are also many different grades of epoxy finish that can be applied to a bathtub. Some cheap epoxy finishes are not very durable and can be easily scratched and chipped. Also, many cheap epoxy bathtub finishes will flake off when the caulk is removed from the refinished bathtub.
It takes a lot of skill and patience to remove old caulk from a refinished bathtub without damaging the epoxy finish. However, it is still necessary to remove the old caulk before installing new caulk when recaulking a bathtub. You never want to just apply new caulk over old caulk when doing any type of caulking procedure. Also, you don’t just want to leave moldy black caulk in your bathtub, as it looks ugly and mold can create health problems for your family and pets.
When removing old caulk from a refinished bathtub, you must first use a utility knife to cut through the old caulk. The utility knife should be angled so that it only scratches the area of the tub where the new caulk will be applied. Using a utility knife in this manner will make it much easier to remove the caulk that is stuck to the surface of refinished tubs.
After cutting the caulk with the utility knife, you should use a window scraper tool to carefully cut away the caulk that is adhered to the tub. You should use gentle strokes with the window scraper and only cut through the old, dirty, moldy caulking and not cut into the refinished tub. Many times the undercoat of caulk will permanently adhere to the epoxy finish of the tub and you may need to leave this coat of caulk there. There is no point in removing caulk from a refinished bathtub if it will peel away from the finish. You should never simply remove a section of caulk from a refinished bathtub. Stripping the caulk this way can also remove large sections of the epoxy finish and ruin the tub’s finish. Once you have scraped off as much of the old caulk as possible, you can use isopropyl alcohol to clean the surfaces to be caulked.
When applying new caulk to a tub, it’s best to tape off all the edges that need to be caulked to ensure a nice straight line of caulk forms. Caulk the tub and adjoining wall about 1/8 inch and apply the caulk. You should only use 100% silicone caulk to ensure that the new caulk doesn’t grow mold like the old caulk did. After applying the putty, smooth it out with your finger. After you have smoothed the new putty with your finger, you need to remove the tape and smooth the putty again with your finger. If you remove the caulk line with duct tape and smooth it with your finger, you will get a much more even and straighter caulk line than you could without removing the caulk joint with duct tape.