LESLIE: Janice in Tennessee needs some help with a painting project. What can we do for you?
JANICE: The walls in my bathroom have pink tiles and I was wondering if you could paint over those and what do you have to do to be able to paint them and my bathtub is also pink. And how hard would it be to re-glaze the bathtub?
LESLIE: Are you thinking about doing the bathtub project on your own or having that done professionally?
JANICE: No, on my own.
LESLIE: On your own. Now, with the tile, you can paint the tile. You want to make sure that you clean the tile very, very well with like a household ammonia so you get off whatever kind of dirt and grunge and yuck is on there. And then you want to use – Tom, is it the oil-based primer? Is it the BIN?
TOM: Oil-base. Yeah, you could use BIN or you could use KILZ or you could use Behr but make sure it’s oil-based, because otherwise you’re not going to get the adhesion.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm. If you use a water-based primer, it’s just going to be able to scratch off but the oil-based primer will stick very well to the tile. And then as far as paint goes, I mean you’re dealing with a very wet area so I would use something – you know, I might even use a high-gloss, oil-based paint as the top coat as well.
JANICE: OK. And on the bathtub, I’ve heard of re-glazing the bathtub. Is that a project that would – is this really, really hard to do or …
TOM: It’s not terribly difficult to do as long as you don’t have unrealistic expectations, Janice, because what will happen is the glazing will not last nearly as long as the original glazing. It’s more of a sort of reasonably durable paint surface. You’ll probably get a good five years out of it before having to do it again.
JANICE: OK. And what would you do to glaze a bathtub? Do you know the …
TOM: Yeah, there are glazing kits that are available that have everything that you need, from the surface prep material to the actual paint finishes. But it’s essentially a sort of a fancy way to say you’re painting your bathtub but again, it’ll last you a good five years or so if it’s done well.
JANICE: Oh, OK. The other thing is in such a perfect condition; you know, I really hate to tear it out and it would be …
TOM: You’re better off decorating around it than totally tearing it out.
JANICE: Right. OK.
TOM: So I think you’re on the right track.
JANICE: OK. Yes. That helps a whole lot. Yeah, I think I’ll tackle this project pretty soon then.
TOM: Alright. Go for it, Janice. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
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