Worn Cast Iron Bath Resurfaced

Worn Cast Iron Bath Resurfaced

Below are some pictures of a standard sized cast iron bath that we ultimately resurfaced. This was a bath we worked on in Ealing, London. But this style of bath is very common the length and breadth of the country. This style would have  been installed in thousands of homes, especially during the 1950s-60s.

These were pretty good baths and they did the job they were designed for just fine. However, literally after decades of use the wear and tear can really start to show.

The bath below is overall in pretty good condition for its age, except at the tap end. The enamel around the waste is wearing thin and there has been a past issue with the taps resulting in stained and etching from the shoulder at the tap end down into the bath itself. You can get an idea from the pictures below:

Worn Cast Iron Bath

Worn Bath

In such circumstances, resurfacing the bath can give it a new lease of life and take something which has perhaps been letting the rest of the bathroom down into something that lifts the whole room. We are in and out in a day and the bath is usable first thing the next.

Here was how the bath looked when we had finished for the day:

Resurfaced Bath

Resurfaced bath

Fireclay Sink Restoration

Large Fireclay Sink Restoration.

This was an interesting project we did for a customer in Palmers Green in London.

He had on old (and very large) sink made from fireclay in his kitchen. Usually these sink are recessed into a worktop and only the top and front of the sink are visible with the rest of the sink hidden.

However, the customer wanted his sink to be sitting on a support without any worktop around it and as a result the sides of the sink, as well as the front and top, would be on display. 

Here is the bowl of the sink in question showing the wear typical of a sink of this type and age.

This picture shows one end of the sink and also what was unusual about this job.

When these sinks are made, one end never gets any porcelian glaze or enamel applied to it and also there are 4 circular holes just over an inch in diameter in this end of the sink, one on each corner. You can hopefully make out the two holes on the end of the sink closest to the camera.

The lack of glaze and the holes are part and parcel of the manufacturing process and generally it’s not a problem as this end of the sink is hidden from sight below the worktop.

However, it was a bit of an issue here with this sink what with it all being on display.

We filled and made good the holes on this end of the sink, as well as smoothed of the fireclay here as it was noticeably rougher than the rest of the sink which had been glazed.

Then we resurfaced the whole sink, including this end.

Here is the bowl of the sink. The bowl is now a uniform colour and the wear and staining has been dealt with.

Here is the bowl of the sink. The bowl is now a uniform colour and the wear and staining has been dealt with.

Large Victorian Roll-Top Bath with original plumbing Resurfaced

Roll Top bath before Resurfacing

A Roll Top Bath Before The Bath business Restored it!

We were asked to resurface the bath above which was in a farmhouse in the Reading area. What you can’t really tell from the pictures is just how much bigger this bath is compared to a modern standard bath. This one was a beauty!

The bath itself is a great example of an original Victorian roll-top bath which still had the original lead plumbing which you can see below:

Lead Pipeing

The taps for the bath have been removed by the owner to be restored offsite. We do tap restoration also. (Please note: We could have restored the bath itself with the taps on but it made sense for the owner to get everything done, taps and bath, at the same time)

The bath itself was in very good condition apart from the wear and staining below the taps and around the waste area. Here the staining was very noticeable and unsightly.

Below you can see the bath after it was restored and the staining sorted out:

Roll Top Bath after Resurfacing

Stained Cast Iron Bath & Soap Dishes Resurfaced

Stained cast iron bath with worn soap dishes circa 1930’s

This is a bath we restored in the Belmont Hill area of London. The bath, tiles and soap dishes were all original. The bath was a really good size and nice and deep.

The bath and one of the soap dishes however had had their enamel coating completely worn away back to the cast iron in places and the bath was also extensively stained and worn over most of its surface.

Large Stained Bath before re-enamelling

In the picture above you can see the staining which is over most of the bath. And around the waste you can black marks. This is where the enamel coating on the bath has been worn back to the cast iron below.

Worn Soap Dish

There were two soap dishes built into the wall above the bath. Like the bath itself, these were made of cast iron which was then enamelled. In the picture above you can see that the enamel on one of the dishes as been worn back to the cast iron through decades of use.

We were able to restore the bath and soap dishes in a day, and they were ready to use the next. You can find out more about our process here.

Here is the result of the bath being re enamelled.

The above picture shows the finished bath with the staining and wear issues all handled.

Lovely bath & Soap dishes after we resurfaced it.

And finally, here we have the bath and both the soap dishes after completion. What do you think?

BATH RESURFACING VIDEO ON YOUTUBE

So finally we have ventured into video and produced a video about our bath resurfacing services.

This video particularly helps explain all about our “ROLLS ROYCE” technique and why we are the UK’S leading bath resurfacing, re enamelling and repair company. Hopefully you’ll enjoy it.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Omtk6ZoQGHA]

There will be more YOUTUBE videos to come on our services and different tips and advice on caring for your bath. Do let us know if you want us to cover anything specific.

We currently re enamel baths and basins in London Edinburgh, Glasgow, Brighton and most major cities. We are expanding all the time so if you need help do contact us.

Bathroom Wallpaper

 Bathroom Wallpaper

A Brief Summary of the Year so far at the Bath Business

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The blog has been somewhat neglected by The Bath Business this year.

The main reason was our new addition.

FINLAY MICHAEL MOFFAT. Born on the 3rd of January 2010 weighing in at a healthy 8 lb 13 oz  and a rather long 59cm.

Finlay has turned out to be charming little boy. He is very relaxed and good-natured. Like his bigger brother, Arran, he is also very physical and we don’t think it will be many more weeks before he is walking around. His big brother Arran, who has recently turned 3 years old, is busy teaching Finlay everything he knows. Between them they are managing to keep us on our toes.

Here are some pictures of Finlay and Arran

The boys have not quite taken our full attention however. We have been extremely busy here at THE BATH BUSINESS. We have taken on three new chaps to help cope with the demand for our services. Rick, Richard and Dean. Another two very recently, Shaun and David. Our chaps are specialists and more than ready and able to restore your bath or bathroom suite to its former glory. Now we have even more coverage for London, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Brighton, Kent, Tunbridge Wells, Manchester, Birmingham Canterbury, Surrey as well as London and the home counties.

We have also opened a workshop in Horley, Surrey. This means we can restore your bath, wash basin, bidet or toilet at our workshop whilst you continue with your bathroom renovations. We are also providing BESPOKE Finishes for individual baths. This service is proving very popular, particularly with Interior Designers. Here are some pictures of some of our workshop work.

That’s quite a bit to keep us busy but we decided we needed to provide even more services for our customers.

Frequently we are asked to restore or refurbish bathroom taps as they are stiff or dripping or simply lost their shine. We are often asked about chrome plating or nickel plating taps or even cast iron feet. We can do this now. Antique or original taps and feet on a bath can look wonderful when restored and doing so can provide the finishing touch to your renovation works.

As if that were not enough we are also busy restoring some original freestanding roll top baths. These are now up for SALE. Original and reproduction bathroom taps, wash basins and accessories are also available.

https://www.thebathbusiness.co.uk

So blogging, babies, boys, baths, basins, workmen, workshops, taps and twitter have kept us very busy so far this year. By the end of the year no doubt we will have even more to announce 🙂

A Bath Resurfacing project in Bridge of Allan

05/03/09

I went to Bridge of Allan to do a job. The main thing the customer wanted was a chipped area of the bath repaired. Apparently it had just had a little chip originally, but one time he was in the bathroom,  the area around the chip just started flying off the bath until there was a large area that was just exposed cast iron.

I went and had Lunch in Bridge of Allan itself. It’s not a huge town by any means. Just one street with shops and restaurants on it. Lots of restaurants. They were all very upmarket. I was quite surprised by this. I mentioned it to the customer and he said that Bridge of Allan had rail and road links to both Edinburgh and Glasgow, good schools and a rural location and as such was much in demand as a place for the affluent to live.Not fitting into this category I was unaware of this haven in the countryside. It certainly is a beautiful place.

It also started snowing again. I was planning to go to Helensburgh to visit some family after I’d finished work and wasn’t sure I was going to make it if the snow kept up.

Snowing in Bridge of Allan.

The Customer and his wife run a company called Bouvrage. They produce all natural berry drinks from raspberries and European Blueberry. You can visit their website at www.bouvrage.com if you’d like to know more.

Got the job finished and did make it to Helensburgh. Scottish weather can be a bit unpredictable and annoying at times but it never got in the way of getting the job done and seeing the family. That makes a nice wee change.

Finished job.

An Interesting climate change – Edinburgh to Melrose

04/03/09

I was in Edinburgh and travelled down to Melrose to resurface a bath. In Edinburgh it felt quite spring-like (as it should be) but as I travelled down you start to climb a bit and it eventually got quite wintery.

View from A68 looking down to the Firth of Forth.

Melrose itself is a very typical Scottish Borders town. Pretty but small. Lots of independent shops doing their own thing.A great place to visit and like most of the Borders town a very pretty place as well.

Melrose

The bath I was resurfacing was in a house that dated from the 1880’s, and the owners thought that the bath was original. It was a plunger bath and these are very old baths. It seemed very likely this bath was original to the house as there was a button above the bath that you could push to ring a bell for a servant. If the bath was original then it was one of the very first cast iron baths. It has the unusual feature of the plunger for the bath also acting as the overflow. You don’t see this in later baths.

Melrose Abbey

Dedicated services in Scotland and England which include:bath re-enamelling, bath chip repairs, bathroom suite resurfacing, enamelling, bathroom renovation, re-enameling, resurfacing, bath re-surfacing, enamel repairs, chipped enamel, original cast iron bath sales, bathtub refinishing, and bath tub resurfacing.

A day of work in Sheffield

04/02/09

I travelled all the way to Sheffield today. It looks like they had had a lot of snow. We have employed a chap to cover this area specifically but I do like to do the odd job myself, especially when we are really busy. Sheffield is really rather nice.

I got to the job. A very pretty roll-top bath from 1928 was the bath to be resurfaced. It was in excellent condition too. But the customer wanted the holes for the taps filled and that area to look like it had never had taps. He had the new taps coming in over the side of the bath from above. So I filled the holes and resurfaced the bath. Can you tell where the tap holes where? I hop not.

The house was having a lot of work done to it; an extension being added and so on. One of the sparkies said something to me I didn’t catch. I asked him what he’d said. He laughed and said (refering to my Scottish accent), “Tha’ talks worst than ma!”  “Black”, “kettle”, “pot” and “calling” are some words which spring to mind. And most people think i sound American!

Heading back to the motorway from Sheffield, you pass a church with a crooked spire. I hope you can make it out in the picture. I am pretty sure the spire is meant to be like this.Quite a sight. Does anyone have any information on that Church spire?