For many homeowners seeking a smart way to remodel a tired bathroom, a bathtub liner is a wise choice. Bathtub liners are comparatively cheap, durable, and stylish, and can rejuvenate a bathroom in a little as one day. Originally found only in hotels and commercial establishments, liners are now widely popular in homes across the country. And their popularity is only growing. To help explain this phenomenon, Mark Smith, the owner of Bath Max, a bathroom remodeling contractor in Chicago who has remodeled thousands of bathrooms over the course of his career, goes behind the scenes to explain how this technology works.
The theory behind bathtub liners is pretty straightforward: Fashion a perfectly fit acrylic cover, and place it on top of an aging or distasteful tub, and voila – you have a tub that looks and feels new. Often, it’s better than new, since liners offer several unique benefits. Since they’re made from acrylic, liners don’t chip or rust, and are resistant to sun damage and chemicals (though you should still steer clear of using any corrosive or dangerous compounds on your tub). Since the liner is non-porous, if it is damaged, Smith says, it can be buffed back to shine as new. Finally, since it has a lifetime warranty, most unforeseen problems can be dealt with at no cost.
But why not just install a new acrylic tub? The main reason, says Smith, is that old tubs are heavy and often unwieldy. In some older homes , the tubs were installed before the walls went up and the framing was finished. Suffice it to say that it can be truly back-breaking to remove a weighty porcelain tub from a home. By saving an old tub and using it as the frame for a new liner, you can save up to 50% on a bathroom remodel.
The installation process for a bath liner is normally fast, says Smith. A trained professional will come to your home, examine your bathroom and tub to ensure that they’re amenable to a liner (only in very few cases is an old tub so deteriorated that it needs to be removed), take measurements, and quote an estimate for the job. Once the measurements are taken, a custom bath liner will be forged. A trained technician will cut it to spec and then return to your home to fit it to the tub. Once in place, you can rest assured that the liner will pay dividends for years to come.