Welcome to Adamov Reglazing, your trusted partner for bathtub reglazing and cabinet refinishing services in Southern California. We proudly serve residential and commercial clients across multiple locations, helping you revitalize your bathrooms and kitchens with cost-effective, professional solutions.
There’s a reason the old lake houses up in Lake Arrowhead still have their original cast iron tubs: nothing made since holds heat the way they do. Fill one with hot water and it stays warm, which up in a cold mountain home is no small comfort. Those heavy tubs are part of the character of a place too, and they’re built better than just about anything you’d replace them with. So when the surface wears out, the answer almost always isn’t a new tub — it’s reglazing the one you’ve got.
The tub on this job was original to a lake home and full of that vintage charm, but the surface had aged the way cast iron does. The enamel had worn thin in spots, there were a couple of chips, and the finish had dulled and stained over the decades. The iron underneath, though, was rock solid — because that’s the nature of these tubs. The body lasts generations; it’s the porcelain enamel on the surface that eventually gives.
I began by stripping and deep-cleaning the surface to clear out the soap film, scale, and grime. Then the repairs: the chips and worn spots got filled and brought flush with the surrounding surface, since spraying over a low spot just leaves the flaw showing through the new finish. Once those were smooth, I sanded the whole tub to scuff the old enamel so the coating would bond — slow work on cast iron, and the part of the job that determines whether the finish lasts. After that came fresh caulk, the room fully masked, ventilation set up to keep the air clear in a closed mountain bathroom, and the bright white sprayed in even coats.
The result was the best of both worlds. The tub kept every bit of its character and its heat-holding heft, but the surface looked brand new again — bright and clean instead of worn and stained. The homeowner kept the better tub, avoided a replacement that’s a genuine hassle up the mountain, and paid a fraction of what a new install would have run.
The heat-holding thing is worth dwelling on, because up at this elevation it genuinely matters. A modern acrylic or thin steel tub sheds warmth fast, so a hot soak goes lukewarm before you’ve settled in. Cast iron is dense enough to hold that heat, and on a cold mountain evening that’s a real comfort, not a small detail. Restoring the surface lets a lake home keep that — and the look of a tub that suits an older mountain house — without trading down to something lighter and lesser.
The work fits a single day, even up the mountain, and after a short cure the tub is ready again; I’ll tell you exactly how long to wait so the finish sets up hard. Looking after it is easy — gentle cleaning, no abrasive powders — and the bright, glassy surface holds for years. For an Arrowhead homeowner, restoring the original beats a replacement that’s both a hassle to haul up here and a downgrade in quality once it’s installed. You keep the better tub, and it looks brand new.
If you’re weighing whether to restore your tub or replace it, send me some photos and I’ll give you a straight, no-obligation read on it. The finish dries in around seven hours, so even up the mountain the tub is usually back in use the same day, and the work is backed by a four-year warranty. There’s rarely a good reason to lose a classic cast iron tub when restoring it is this straightforward.
I bring cast iron tub reglazing up to Lake Arrowhead and the other mountain communities, and I cover Orange County, San Bernardino, and Riverside as well. If you’ve got an original cast iron tub with a worn or stained surface, it’s worth restoring before you even think about tearing it out. My estimates are honest — if refinishing isn’t right for your tub, I’ll tell you.
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