Repair of acrylic bathtubs. Types and methods of surface restoration

Along with metal and cast iron products, polymer plumbing has also become widespread. Acrylic products are very practical, but mechanical damage can cause significant damage to the coating. Repair of acrylic bathtubs is necessary if chips, deep cracks or even through holes appear on the plumbing.

Restoration of plumbing equipment can be implemented in the following ways:

restoration of the product by specialists.

The second method, of course, is preferable, but if you want to save money, you can fix the defects in acrylic bathtubs yourself.

Self-restoration of plumbing equipment

Before you repair an acrylic bath, you should understand the main problems and causes of problems.

The main types of damage to polymer equipment are divided into two types:

Damage resulting from mechanical impact: falling heavy objects on the surface, burning the coating. Also, a crack in the acrylic bath occurs due to the heavy load on the plumbing;
Chemical impact. Do not be surprised if the acrylic bath cracked after treating its surface with aggressive detergents containing chlorine or oxalic acid.

In order to repair plastic bathtubs with your own hands, you will need a lot of patience and a little knowledge. All the necessary theoretical material for troubleshooting polymer equipment is in front of you. So the only thing left to do is to act.

What to do if the acrylic bath is cracked? Before repairing existing defects, you should purchase repair materials separately or buy a special repair kit.

What do you need to repair plumbing?

The standard set of materials for the restoration of polymer plumbing consists of:

rubber gloves and a respirator;
a set of sandpaper;
liquid acrylic;
adhesives for polymer coatings;
polishes.

Tip: Glue is needed if there are through holes in the coating. Therefore, you need to have a special composition on hand so that there is something to glue the acrylic bath with. The very method of restoring plumbing depends not only on the type of damage, but also on its size.

If an acrylic bathtub bursts or minor defects appear on the surface, the instructions for restoring plumbing will be the same; for more serious damage, a different approach will be needed.

Repair of minor defects

First you need to understand how to repair an acrylic bathtub with small scratches and chips. From the materials you will need:

two-component acrylic;
epoxy adhesive;
sandpaper;
special tape;

For your information: Repair of a crack in an acrylic bath up to 3 mm in size is carried out using epoxy glue. If the defects reach large sizes, it is worth using tape. Repair of a plastic bath in this case will begin with the process of degreasing plumbing. After that, a special tape is glued to the crack, after removing the film from it.

Repair of an acrylic bathtub with small defects up to 5 mm in length can be carried out using only the indicated materials.

Recovery instructions:

To improve the adhesion of the adhesive to the surface of the product, the boundaries of the cracks are slightly expanded with a knife;
the surface is degreased;
acrylic paint is diluted with a hardener;
a small amount of the resulting composition is applied to the area requiring repair;
the treated areas are sealed with adhesive tape for five to six hours;
then the film is removed, the repaired plumbing is treated with alcohol, and then polished;
a polish is applied to the restored part of the plumbing to obtain a gloss finish.

Video repair of acrylic bathtubs clearly demonstrates the process of restoring the coating with minor damage. The video tells how to close a crack in the bathroom and what materials to use in the restoration.

Acrylic peels off, what to do?

Many people who have bought polymer plumbing are wondering: why did the acrylic bathtub swell? In some cases, acrylic may move away from fiberglass, i.e. swell. This can happen for a number of reasons:

Firstly, when the acrylic bath staggers, the load on the surface is unevenly distributed, so the acrylic can lag behind the walls of the plumbing;
Secondly, you could have purchased low-quality equipment that used cheap materials.

An acrylic bathtub repairman can easily fix such a problem, but since the procedure is quite simple, you can do it yourself.

Tip: You will need a special adhesive for bonding polymer materials. In the place of swelling, you need to make a hole and insert glue there. After complete bonding of the layers, repair work is carried out to eliminate the usual crack. The algorithm for restoring coverage in case of damage of this kind has already been described earlier.

Repair of serious defects

If an acrylic bathtub flows, this indicates the presence of serious through damage. In this situation, not just cosmetic elimination of defects, but reinforcement will be required. If the acrylic bathtub is crooked, it is better to reinstall it, otherwise it will leak sooner or later.

If this trouble did occur, you should answer the question of how to repair an acrylic bathtub with such damage? To begin with, you will have to get a piece of fiberglass, which will close up the holes. And the process itself will be as follows:

the edges of a through crack should be cleaned with a regular knife;
damaged areas are treated with fine-grained sandpaper;
then the surface is thoroughly wiped with alcohol;
the defect is covered with a layer of epoxy resin;
after that, the product should dry for several hours;
the glued area must be cleaned with sandpaper;
after the surface becomes smooth, it should be treated with alcohol;
as soon as the surface is degreased, a polish should be applied to a clean soft rag and the coating treated.

Do not rush to throw away plumbing if your acrylic bathtub is cracked. Often these damages can be repaired. With quality work, repaired products can last from two to five years.

How to prevent breakage?

Unfortunately, most people ignore the "hints" of plumbing, signaling the approach of trouble.

If an acrylic bathtub creaks, it means that the plumbing was initially installed incorrectly, or the walls and bottom of the equipment are very thin. But there are ways to eliminate this trouble.
In a situation where an acrylic bath sags, bricks or blocks can be placed under its base. This method is suitable for those whose bath is covered with a plastic screen. This solution will help to significantly reduce the load on the inner surface of the product and avoid the appearance of cracks.
Look at the purchased polymer product in sunlight, if the acrylic bath is translucent, this is a bad sign. But you should not be upset, in such a situation you can purchase latex paint, which is applied by pouring onto the plumbing coating. This will make the equipment stronger, which will reduce the risk of defects.

Many are interested in the question, can restored plumbing last a long time? In any case, the restoration of equipment will extend the life of polymer products for at least a couple of years. Given the relative cheapness of the procedure, this event is quite profitable.

Conclusion

Having figured out how to fix an acrylic bath, you can easily eliminate almost any defects in polymer plumbing, carry out restoration and repair on your own. restored in the same way.

If the acrylic bath is leaking, the damaged surface should be treated with a special adhesive. After that, plumbing can be used for its intended purpose.

A polymer bath can be saved from almost any type of damage, so take your time to get rid of old equipment, because it can last you for more than one year.