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Meets specifications and
approval of the U.S. Department of Agriculture for use in food
plants |
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Meets specifications of the
American National Standard Institute (A112.19.1-73) for
porcelain |
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Meets American Society of Testing Materials standards
for porcelain and for
abrasion and acid resistance
(Standard E-11-70 and
Standard C-282-67) |
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60 Day Immersion at 75 degrees Fahrenheit
Lye
.....unaffected
Mineral Spirits
unaffected
Fuel Oil
.unaffected
Hydraulic Fluid
...unaffected
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This is
an overview of the refinishing process. Every job is different and there are thousands of
variables to any situation, however there are some basic procedures that
apply to all refinishing projects.
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The
refinishing material: |
DUROKOTE
II is an
aliphatic acrylic urethane. It is a specialized coating
that was developed specifically for this refinishing
process. It
contains no free isocyanides. This is important because
free isocyanides will
'off-gas' or
release from a coating for months and are very toxic. It self cures under normal room
temperature, is self leveling, has the look and feel of natural
porcelain and is very stable. It will not fade,
yellow or oxidize as an epoxy or
polyurethane (which contains free isocyanides) will and therefore
become brittle.
 The process: There
are three basic steps in a refinishing project
First:
Surface preparation
The caulking is removed; trim
hardware and drain
shoes in bathtubs are removed.
The surface is cleaned with a special cleaner
if necessary. An
acid solution is used to etch porcelain to make the surface very
porous. Sanding to abrade and completely clean it is next. A high
quality filler material is used to fill any chips or damaged areas and is
sanded smooth.
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Second: Masking
and final surface preparation |
The entire area is masked off with professional
grade paper, plastic, and tape to protect the adjacent areas from the
spray operation. This looks like a spray booth or a "clean
room". Chemical bonding agent is applied. Bonding agent is an adhesion
promoter that will cause a chemical bond at the molecular
level, a 'covalent bond' where the surfaces will
actually share an electron! It is an amazing chemical that really
works! Then the surface is cleaned with tack cloths.
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Third: Refinishing
material is applied |
Twelve to eighteen layers of
DUROKOTE
II are applied using High Volume
Low Pressure spray equipment. This equipment is high technology
and
will not
create air pollution
through the atomizing of finish material under high pressure.
In
fact it does not even make over spray! I use an industrial blower with
60
feet of hose attached
to draw a large volume of air out of the
masked enclosure. This creates a negative air pressure in the spray
area so the operation is completely contained and will make
absolutely no mess
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Work
completion time: from
start to finish |
Standard and antique
bathtubs require 3 -4 hours
Fiberglass shower units
require 4 -6 hours
Smaller jobs such as sinks
or shower pans require 2 - 4 hours
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Cure time:
The
refinished surface must dry and harden for 48 hours |
This gives the coating time to become hard and to
fuse into the original surface. And that's it! You now have a
beautiful surface that will last for many years and will save you the
expense of tearing up your bathroom replacing the fixtures.
The Photo Album has several before and
after examples and Care and
Clean explains how to care
for the new surface. If you have any questions about pricing please
call me or click the Price
List link
for more information. The Contact page has all the information on
contacting me. References are available on request.
What sets me apart
from the competition?
Click
here to find
out
Thank you for considering Beautiful
Bath Company!
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