Steel Tub Rust and Hole Repairs

Rusted tub examples and how there repaired.

With Rusted tubs you have a problem, the rust once started, travels through the steel under the porcelain undetected. When you see rust starting usually on a damaged or chipped spot it must be stopped before it get into the steel. This is what some of them look like when it's too late for small inexpensive chip repair.

This one has two spots where the rust was nearly all the way through. Unfortunately the rust has been doing it's damage inside the metal and spreading under the porcelain.

Looking at this picture, it looks like the rust is only in these two small spots. Unfortunately that's not the case as you will see later.

Beginning the repair I peel back the metal making a bigger hole. (It's easy as it's all rusted out, week and thin). I made the hole big enough so I can feel underneath to the end of the rust. The black marker line is where I feel the rust ended.

This picture shows the hole and the piece I cut out. Look at the back side of the piece and you'll see how far the rust has spread. To do permanent repair it's imperative "ALL" the rust is gone.

This tub had two bad spots, this is with the second one cut out.

Once I have all the rust cut out it's time to rebuild it back into it's original shape.

This is what it looked like after the reconstruction and the job was finished. I re-glazed the repair area with the drain ring out as if it were a brand new tub. We match the original existing finish and when were done you would never know this was a ruined/rusted out tub. The drain ring can be installed the next morning and you can begin using your tub.

These jobs are largely impossible to bid as you can't tell how big the repair will be. As you can see from these pictures the rust growth on the back/bottom side is a lot bigger then what you see from the top. All in All, this one day repair job is just a fraction of the overall cost of trying to replace the tub.

If you have any of these problems, for help or information call (916) 486-4253