If rust has come back around your drain more than once, there are 3 likely explanations, and only 1 of them is about the repair itself. Water sitting there, a seal that is letting it through, or corrosion that was coated over instead of treated. Working out which applies to your bath is what stops the cycle.
Otherwise you are treating the symptom every year.
Why is the drain the weak point?
Because it is the lowest part of the bath and the one place with a hole through it. Water finishes up there by design, fittings pass through the surface there, and anything that has been tightened or replaced over the years has put stress on the finish around the opening. That combination makes the area around the waste the most common place we see rust on a bath.
How do you tell if water is the cause?
Look at the bath an hour after it has drained. If there is still a ring of water sitting around the outlet rather than draining away and drying, the surface there is wet far more of the time than the rest of the tub. That is enough on its own to keep corrosion active. It is also something to mention when you send photos, because it changes what needs doing.
A bath that never fully dries will keep producing this.
How do you tell if it was covered rather than treated?
By how it comes back. Corrosion that was painted over tends to return as lifting or blistering around the edges of the old repair, often in exactly the same outline, because the rust underneath never stopped. Corrosion that was treated properly and returns is usually a new patch in a slightly different place, which points at the water or the seal instead.
What does treating it properly mean?
Cutting the affected material back and treating the corrosion so the new finish goes over sound material, rather than sealing the problem in behind a fresh surface. That is the difference between a repair that holds and one that reappears, and it is most of the work. What goes over the top is the last step. We set the approach out under rust repairs.
Is it worth repairing, or has the bath had it?
It depends whether the corrosion is on the surface or right through the material. Surface rust on a sound bath is very repairable. A bath that has corroded through is not, and we will tell you that from the photos rather than after starting. Where the rest of the surface is also tired, doing the repair as part of a full reglaze usually makes more sense than treating the drain alone. That comparison is on our refinish or replace page.
What can you do to stop it returning?
Keep the area around the waste dry where you can, and deal with chips near the outlet early rather than when they spread, which is the subject of chip repairs. If water is not clearing properly from the bath, that is worth sorting before any surface work, and it is not something we do.
Does the bath need to come out to fix it properly?
No. The work is done where the bath stands, with the room masked and ventilated, the same as a full reglaze. That is the point of the approach: the tiles, the plumbing and the position of the bath are all left alone.
What decides the outcome is the condition of the material, not access.
If the corrosion has gone right through, taking the bath out will not change that answer. If it has not, it can be treated where it is.
How do you tell the difference in a photograph?
Take one close up with good light across the surface rather than straight at it, because raking light shows texture that flat light hides. Surface corrosion looks like staining and roughness on material that is still solid. Rust that has gone through shows as pitting that has opened up, flaking that lifts away, or a patch that gives when pressed. Mention whether water sits around the waste after the bath drains, because that changes what needs doing as much as the state of the metal does.
How much of the bath has to be disturbed?
Only the affected area and enough around it to make a sound repair. The rest of the surface is left alone, and the tiles, taps and plumbing are not touched. That is the case whether the outcome is a local repair or a full reglaze.
What changes between the two is how much of the surface is rebuilt, not how much of the room is opened up.
What should you do next?
Photograph the drain area close up and the whole bath, and tell us whether water sits there after draining. Send it with a quote request and we will give you a straight answer. SimPro has worked on Bermuda baths since 2008, or call (441) 236-8827.
Include a note about whether water sits around the waste after the bath drains. It takes a moment to check and it changes the answer, because a bath that never fully dries will keep producing the same problem whatever we do to the surface.
Common questions
Why does rust keep coming back around a bath drain?
Water sitting there, a seal that is letting it through, or corrosion that was coated over instead of treated. Working out which applies to your bath is what stops the cycle.
How can you tell if rust was covered rather than treated?
Corrosion that was painted over tends to return as lifting or blistering around the edges of the old repair, often in exactly the same outline, because the rust underneath never stopped.
