It’s the perfect time to replace your Bathtub Drain at the time of refinishing. It simply makes for the best job.
I can assure you that when I did my own bath tub the drain was pulled and then a new one was re-installed once the job had cured. Why......? Two reasons: #1 aesthetics and #2 the mechanics of coatings.
Aesthetically: an old faded drain will really look out of place against a newly refinished bathtub. It’s the perfect time to replace. Should your old drain overflow be in great shape it can be re-installed saving you replacement cost?
The customer’s here opted not to install a new drain. As you can see, aesthetically, not very pleasing.
In these two examples below there is rust under the drain, beyond what you see.
Whatever the reason not to replace the drain is, the life span of these Refinishing jobs will be shortened.
Mechanics of coatings: when a coating is applied its weakest point is its edges. An edge is a point that can be pushed against; in this case when you refinish your bathtub and you do not pull the drain, there is an edge around the drain vs. having the material under your drain with no edge.
The force of water flowing over that edge, plus the contraction and expansion of the drain itself, going through hot and cold cycles, are two forces pushing against the edge and can cause premature failure of the coating. Once a coating starts to lift from these forces it can continue to lift and we call this peeling. A coating that could have gone 15 years can fail way short of this life span.
When there is rust, soap, bathing oils or moisture trapped under the drain, no amount of preparations is going to remove it unless the drain is pulled. This can prevent any coating from sealing properly around the drain. I have seen coatings go a long time without removing the drains, but it’s a gamble.
If rust is under the drain it will eventually come back if not completely removed and treated before Reglazing, causing the material around the drain to blister and peel.
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Gunk, Rust under the drain will cause your reglazing to fail sooner than it should have. And again we see a refinishing job done without primer
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When it could look like this and last for 15+ years
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Many companies push, glue on covers for your drains. I don’t much care for these, since this dramatically reduces your waste hole size and the height of your drain increases and in some cases can cause water not to drain fully and it does not address the mechanics of coatings.
We do carry these, should it be a good solution for you. Replacing is the Best solution, but again due to budget or no access to plumbing it is an option.
How come other Refinishing companies don’t…
Talk about pulling or replacing tub drains? Frankly....they don’t want to be bothered.
#1 it requires a return trip for the coating to cure enough to re-install.
#2 most tub companies don’t have a clue how to do it. Granted they are not plumbers but it’s not rocket science either. A Refinishing Company doing drain replacement should carry a light plumbing addition to their General Liability.
#3 it requires a large inventory of all the different sized drains, and they just don’t want to spend the money. I carry around 8 different configurations and can match 99% of the different styles in chrome. Other drain finishes are available but must be ordered and may require a new drain shoe installed under the tub to match the tread size.
#4 the plumbing if not in sound shape can break below the tub and has to be replaced with the drain. This can be an issue if there is no access to the plumbing. So these issues need to be considered when deciding on which way to go based on your budget, how long you plan on being in your home, how long you want your tub coating to last and access to your plumbing.
If you’re handy, you may be able to remove the drain yourself, or have a plumber do it, or have us do it. We carry most of the parts for repair should something break. Oh and by the way only remove the drain and not all the plumbing (which folks have done) under the tub. We put the drain in during Preparations and then remove it and treat the area appropriately before reglazing. Then reassemble the hardware back on the tub the next day.
On difficult to remove drains or where access is not available, we generally cut the drain in three places with a metal saw and remove it in pieces, avoiding stress on the plumbing.
- Some come out easily
- Some with a little effort,
- Some must be cut out
- Others cause weakened plumbing below the tub to break.
I don’t see the breakage as a really bad thing, in that if it is that weak, it was going to start leaking soon anyways. We install hundreds of drains every month. When Reglazing a Bathtub it’s the perfect time to install a drain and overflow cap to really freshen up the whole Tub.
Overflow
During Drain Replacement it’s a Great time to refresh the overflow. They are generally easy to replace and give the Bathtub a nice fresh look! The only difficulty I run into is occasionally someone didn’t use a stainless steel or brass screw just a plain steel screw and it rusted to the overflow down waste pipe, the rust weakens the screw and breaks during removing, it can be tapped out but is usually easier to replace the down waste pipe if there is access?
With an access panel to your plumbing, drain breakage is not much of an issue. If no access panel is installed and there is an available wall to install one we can install an access panel or if you’re handy I’ll show you the steps. They are easy to install without having to frame in the hole. Using a framed metal access panel and two sided tape
12 X 12 framed metal access door |
Applying 2 sided tape |
Find location of door by measuring and square door on wall |
Trace the outside of the access door |
Using a drywall saw cut out the whole |
Exposing the plumbing |
Press into place and caulk perimeter |
You now have an attractive access panel to your plumbing without having to paint your wall |
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Our Current Residential Stimulus Package Incentive OFFER includes: Free Re-caulking and Non-Slip Bottom included at no additional charge. Call or E-mail before we end this special.
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