TAP REFURBISHMENT & REPAIR SERVICE

A very popular service we provide is tap refurbishment or reconditioning and re-plating. The finishes available for replating are CHROME, NICKEL and GOLD.

Our workshop has been refurbishing taps for over 20 years. Our clients base ranges from owners of traditional home owners, interior designers, fine country homes, Banking establishments and Royal Palaces.

We have facilities to restore and and re-plate Modern, Art Deco, Classic and Vintage taps. We mostly refurbish original Antique Victorian or Edwardian Taps. However we can restore and replate all types of mixer taps, bath taps, basin taps, chain stays, and other bathroom fittings. Below are some traditional lever taps refurbished and plated.

Sometimes the taps are that old and worn parts are impossible to find. In our facilities we will replace parts by making them if need be. We are confident that we can restore ALMOST any tap. And if we can’t probably no one can.

PRE ART DECO MIXER TAP CICA 1916

If your waste or overflow is covered in lime-scale or tarnished we can refurbish and re-plate them if necessary. This is particularly helpful in antique baths where the wastes or overflows are often unusual sizes and are no longer available & cannot be replaced with new. On a re enamelled bath this can be the finishing touch to the bath that makes it pristine.

If your antique Victorian or Edwardian taps affected by lime-scale, hard to turn on or off or even not working at all then you can send them to us for restoration in our work shop. We aim to refurfish your taps so well they can be used for another 100 years!If you so wish we can then have them plated in Chrome, Nickel or Gold. Alternatively if the tap is originally a brass finish you can have the taps fully reconditoned and then polished. This is more popular with antique Victorian or Edwardian taps. They can look quite spectacular.

Above are John Bolding basin taps and John Bolding Bath/Shower mixer taps. These are rare taps and it’s fantastic to have restored a matching set.

For the re-plating process the taps are taken apart completely and chemically stripped. The taps are then polished to a flawless finish before being re plated to the clients specification.

Chrome plating is very popular but Nickel plating proves the most popular for Victorian bathrooms. Chrome does give a mirror like finish whereas Nickel has a slight champagne hue to it. Traditionally taps would have been either brass or Nickel in Victorian or Edwardian times. Chrome began to be used in the mid to late 1920’s with the advent of the ART DECO era. Below are some typical GLOBE TAPS that have been fully restored and plated. They could also have been finished in polished brass and would look equally fantastic.

Once the taps have been restored and re plated we put them back together again and then test them for a second time to make sure they are working perfectly. We are very thorough in our testing regime.

We have restored Jacob Delafon, John Bolding & Sons, Thomas Crapper, Porche, George Jennings and Aston amongst others. Your original antique taps are in good hands.

For taps that are originally finished in brass you may wish to have them polished after refurbishment rather than have them re plated to chrome or nickel. A polished brass finish does require a lot more maintenance and polishing to keep them in the pristine condition you recieve them in. Due to this some of our clients prefer the Nickel over the Brass finish but both finishes look great in a traditional bathroom. Below is a traditional restored Bath/Shower Mixer tap in a polished brass finish.

Whether you own a fantastic antique bath or wash hand basin with tarnished and worn taps or waste or a spectacular Art Deco bath with matching taps you can now use our refurbishing service to bring your fine sanitary ware back to it’s full and former glory. You can even create a completly unique look can be created with a modern bath fitted with luxury antique taps fully restored.

We can also restore the feet on cast iron baths. Original Ball and Claw feet can come to look very old and rusty over time. Once we clean them up and Silver Nickel or Chrome plate them. They look absolutely stunning!

All the taps shown here are original taps we have refurbished and plated. They are all for sale now. Do fill out the quick quote form if any are of interrest to you.

You will require a plumber to remove your bath taps, basin taps or overflow and have them sent to our workshop if you require restoration services. Contact us via the quick quote form and we will provide you with a quote. If you can also email us a picture of your waste, overflow, taps or claw feet that would be most helpful. Our email address is thebathbusinessuk@hotmail.co.uk Alternatively call 01342324577 and ask to speak to Teresa Kane.

Shanks Cracked Sink Restoration

Cracked sinks have presented quite a problem as far as repairs are concerned. Repairing a cracked sink was very hit and miss. If the crack was stable then possibly repairing the crack and resurfacing the whole sink would be a solution. There was no telling if the crack would grow or not however.So this work could not be warranted. If the cracking was really extensive and also on the underside it was impossible to say the repair would last for any length of time.

With antique sinks, cracks are fairly common so this presented a big problem. Also if we did resurface the sink completely the logo or makers stamp would be lost. Many clients felt this was unacceptable and were unhappy at losing the stamp. So this was another problem we would have to resolve in restoring the old wash hand basins.

The Bath Business have restored old sinks for many years now. Over the last 18 months we have been piloting a new technique to sort out the basins with cracks. We can even sort out bits of the sink that have come off or broken off completely. We can now restore these sinks. Whats more we can also retain the manufacturers logo or mark. As we have been doing this service successfully for 18 months we feel we have tested the techniques enough to warranty this restoration work.

Below is a lovely Shanks sink we restored in our workshop. The sink is a great example of a classic large Shanks sink. It had manged to get damaged quite badly in the inside and underside. Normally this sink would not be repairable. Certainly it would not be repaired with any confidence that the repair would last.

We repaired the inside and outside of the sink. We restored this sink before we had developed a method of preserving the makers stamp or logo. As Shanks sinks are so distinctive in style and shape it was not viewed as a problem at all by the client. As you can see it has come up beautifully.

In addition to repairing and re enamelling the sink we also refurbished the basins taps. This involved taking them apart completely to refurbish the workings of the tap. We also had the basin taps silver nickel plated. Finally we found an original plug and stay for the basin and had the chain stay and chain silver nickel plated also so it was in keeping with the age and style of the basin and taps.

Now the basin takes pride of place in the clients bathroom.

If you are looking at getting your antique basin, Art Deco basin or any fine sanitary ware restored then do contact The Bath Business. We can help repair damage or restore taps or both.

Also if you are looking to source an antique Victorian washstand or taps then do contact us. We frequently have these in stock or indeed we can source them for you.

VIVE LA DIFFERENCE!

We got a call quite a few weeks ago from a lady in Woking whom our services had been recommended to.

She had just moved into a fantastic new home and inherited some amazing Antique roll top baths and French basins. She had some lovely antique French wash-hand basins which required full restoration work. One had a large crack, the taps needed reconditioning and nickel plating etc. Have a look. You’ll see they are quite special basins but definitely in need of some TLC.

French sink prior to restoration

It took around about 12 days to do all the work required on the basins. We had to re-condition the taps and silver nickel plate them, replace a set of taps withoriginal antique French lever taps, silver nickel plate the wastes, covers etc and we also had to rectify the cracked sink after which point we could then re enamel both wash-hand basins whilst retaining the logo in one of the basins. It was quite a lot of work but we were quite pleased with the end result as was the owner.

Above is the basin with the crack rectified, new taps, new old style plug and chain and re plated waste. It’s a very unusual French basin. Finding the taps was a minor miracle. We think this particular set of taps are actually the original taps that the basin had on it when it was made. There is a special fitting for the tap that would have been made specifically for the basin they were being attached to and this particular set of taps fitted perfectly! So somehow we brought them back together again after many years apart.

Here is the basin with the logo “SUPERBUS  Patent” retained after the re enamelling work. The basin also has the waste replaced & the cover, plug and chain stay nickel plated as well as the taps reconditioned and then also plated. Quite lovely.

If you have any antique sinks with cracks or taps needing restored please contact us. If we can’t do the work in situ we will more than likely be able to do the restoration work at our workshop.

Do let us know what you think of these little beauties. If you would like updated on any of our special offers or new items for sale please follow us on Facebook.