Fiberglass Bathtub refinishing keeps peeling

[Joe Thomas]

My fiberglass bathtub is peeling again, and needs to be refinished again for the third time. It generally happens when temperature wavers between hot and cold I noticed (70 degrees to 40 degrees Farenheit weather within a day). When I step on the bathtub during the cold night, thats when it cracks. Its happened twice before. We are doing fiber glass refinishing. Are there any options to ensure it doesn't happen again? We do sanding before refinishing. The bathroom has no crawl space vent, its in an older building. Also, when a shampoo bottle or soap drops on the bathtub, it will create light cracks which may start peeling.

Note: Everytime its refinished/painted, I do not use the shower for 2 days, 48 hours.

 

[Geofd]

You said you are doing the refinishing????I would leave it to the professionals, that just my opinion we had a contractor who sent some guys to learn how to do it but their patches also peeled, so a person who does it daily is who I'd hire

 

[Mitchell-DIY-Guy]

Replace it. The re-coatings on a fiberglass tub are mere band-aids on an inexpensive product. A professional refinish will cost more than it’s all worth.

 

[havasu]

Reminds me of when I did the DIY version of garage floor epoxy, purchased at the Orange Big Box store. Looked great for 2 years, then ended up worst than bare concrete. I hired a professional and now I have a lifetime guarantee on an absolutely fantastic epoxy job.

 

[pakle]

I wanted to have the floor of my acrylic tub professionally refinished as well but the high cost as well as horror stories like yours kept me from doing it. So I ended up buying this permanent adhesive bath mat, which had the added benefit of texture for anti-slip. They sell many different sizes, I cut mine to fit.
https://www.amazon.com/Safe-Way-Traction-Adhesive-Safety/dp/B006OB5TK0/It's in a guest bathroom and hasn't lifted yet. I don't mind the look and don't have to worry if someone drops a shampoo bottle cracking a refinished floor.

 

[RickFlorida]

Just replace it. If you already had a fiberglass shower kit installed then replacing it is easy has hell. It's only hard to replace a shower/tub kit if you have tile walls first and you have to remove the tile and the straight from hello "mud walls" concrete and wire mesh. It took me 4 straight days to just remove the tile and mud wall from my bathroom. Just replace the whole acrlic kit with a Sterling/Kholer. It's like a 4 or 5 hour job.