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.
Is an old cast iron tub worth saving? In Upland, where a lot of the foothill homes still have theirs, the answer is almost always yes — and it’s worth understanding why before you let anyone talk you into a tear-out.
A cast iron tub is built to a standard you basically can’t buy anymore. The heavy iron body lasts generations; what wears out is the thin porcelain enamel on the surface, and that’s a surface problem you can fix. On top of that, cast iron holds heat the way nothing lighter does — fill one with hot water and it stays warm — and in an older home it suits the place in a way a modern unit never would. Restoring the surface lets you keep all of that. Replacing the tub throws away a better fixture to install a lesser one.
The tub on this job was original to an older Upland home and solid as ever, but the surface had aged the usual way: enamel worn thin in spots, a couple of chips, and rust starting to show through where the porcelain had given out. I stripped and deep-cleaned it to clear the soap film, scale, and grime, then treated the rust and filled the chips, bringing them flush with the surrounding surface — because spraying over a low spot or a corroded patch just leaves it showing through. Once the repairs were smooth, I sanded the whole tub to scuff the old enamel so the coating would bond, which on cast iron is slow, careful work and the part that determines whether the finish lasts. Then fresh caulk, the room masked, ventilation running, and bright white sprayed in even coats.
What came in stained, chipped, and rust-streaked went out looking brand new — but it was still that solid, heat-holding original underneath. The homeowner kept the better tub, skipped a replacement that’s a real hassle in an older bathroom, and paid a fraction of what a new install would have run.
The worth-saving question really comes down to what you’d be trading away. Pull an original cast iron tub and you’re swapping a fixture built to last generations for a lighter, thinner modern one that won’t — and in an older foothill home, you’re also losing a tub whose proportions and heft suit the house. Restore the surface instead and you keep all of that, with a finish that looks brand new sitting on a body that’s as solid as the day it was cast.
A word on what the day actually looks like, since people are often surprised by it. Most of the hours go into the parts nobody ever sees — the stripping, the filling, the sanding, the masking off — and the spraying itself is the short end of it. Once the finish is on, it needs a stretch to cure before the tub goes back into service, and I’ll give you the exact window rather than a vague wait-a-while. From there, clean it gently and keep the abrasive powders off it and the surface holds its shine for years. The work carries a four-year warranty, so you’re not taking my word for that on faith.
If you’re weighing whether to keep your cast iron tub or replace it, send me a few photos and I’ll give you an honest, no-obligation read on it. The work is backed by a four-year warranty, so when restoring is the right call, the result is covered to last. In an older Upland home, it’s rare that losing the original tub is the better move once you’ve seen what restoring it can do.
I bring cast iron tub reglazing to Upland and across the Inland Empire, along with Orange County, San Bernardino, and Riverside. If you’ve got an original cast iron tub with a worn, chipped, or rusted surface, it’s almost certainly worth restoring before you tear it out. I’ll give you an honest estimate — if refinishing isn’t right for your tub, I’ll tell you.
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