How to fix a botched DIY bathtub finish?
Using a cheap DIY kit often leaves the surface lumpy, yellowing, and prone to mold in crevices. This makes it difficult to smooth out without facing high repair or replacement costs from a landlord.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Using a fiber stripper pad on an angle grinder to take it down to the metal, sanding it to blend, and reapplying a whole tub kit while ensuring proper curing time.
- 2Hiring someone through TaskRabbit.
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
r/HomeImprovement2 people · September 2026
“As you can imagine the diy smoothing and sanding did not go great. Now it’s all lumpy, turning yellow and I think it’s getting moldy in all the little crevices. What do I do??”source ↗
idk5678123 · r/HomeImprovement · 1 upvotes
“recently had a new bathtub installed and the new caulk is already coming off in places..”source ↗
ReallyMaccin · r/HomeImprovement · 1 upvotes
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
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