Gather 'round children, and you'll hear the woeful tale of the Three Bad Caulking Jobs. I contacted Jon, the owner of Seattle Bathtub Guy after reading everyone else's great reviews on Yelp. I emailed Jon and sent pictures of how our tub looked so he could see how bad it was. One of Jon's employees came out to refinish our tub. The guy was prompt, polite, had a great personality, and even took off his shoes every time he went in and out of our home without having to be asked (we have a no-shoes policy). He estimated the job would take about 4 hours. It ended up taking about six hours. I felt bad for the guy.
When he was finished, the tub looked great; the finish was absolutely gleaming. Later, as I'm brushing my teeth, I notice the caulking....he hadn't removed the old caulking (which was mildewed in places), but had instead just put new caulking over the old. I could still see the old caulking under the new (much brighter white caulking) and it looked gross. It was even cracking and peeling from the tub already, and I could even see the original (pink) finish underneath. Plus, we knew it was probably bad to have old moldy caulking hidden underneath. I contacted Jon via email and explained the situation. While inspecting the tub again with all the lights on and taking more pictures (I had emailed Jon some up-close pics of the caulking coverup) I realized the tub was now VERY white compared to the other bathroom fixtures and the surrounding tile. Like, glow-in-the-dark Supah Bright White. We had been warned the whites wouldn't be an exact match, but this actually made the white subway tile surround and other fixtures look downright dingy and OFF-white (which they are not) in comparison. So I emailed Jon again (this was within hours of the first email, so he hadn't had time to respond yet) and asked if they offered more than one shade of white, and if so, could we get a different white? I said I would be willing to pay extra for them to come back out and refinish it in a "softer" white while they were doing something about the caulking. Jon called me the next day and we discussed the situation. Jon acknowledged that his man should have removed the caulking before refinishing the tub. He also acknowledged that he (Jon) should have asked me at the time we set up the appointment what brand of fixtures we have, as he *does* like to match the other fixtures in the room, and most brands have their own specific shade of white. He can order other shades of white that are a closer match to a certain brand's fixtures than the Supah Bright White they generally use. Jon offers to have the guy come back out and redo the caulking, and spray on a more subdued shade of white, to boot (for free!). Awesome. So we schedule another time, two weeks out (giving time for the Kohler-esque shade of white to come in), for the guy to come back out and redo the tub.
The guy comes back out, does his job, and the tub looks great. He even shows me (on the top of the toilet) how much different the Kohler-esque white is compared to the Supah Bright White, which I appreciate. He explains how he uses a softer, water-based caulking than what we originally had, and therefore shouldn't take the finish off should we have to remove the caulking again. After my shower (30+ hours later) I dry down the tub with a towel (as directed in Jon's Care Instructions) and the caulking comes up onto the towel as if it were merely soggy white bread. What's more, the finish underneath the caulking comes up, too, exposing the fleshy pink original finish again. WiggityWhat?! This time, my husband emails Jon and explains the situation. We schedule a time for *another* guy to come out and fix it (Jon's "right hand man," he says).
The other guy comes out to fix it. He removes the caulking around the areas where the finish has come up, sprays the finish on, and re-caulks. He brings me in to show me, and asks what I think. The caulking has bits of debris in it, and I voice my concerns that when I go to clean it, I'm afraid it will not come out, or that the finish will come back up again. Also, the patch areas of finish are a different color (darker and a bit more yellow). After speaking with Jon on the phone, I realize nothing can be done to really make it look as nice as it first did, short of entirely refinishing it AGAIN. We are both reluctant to drag out the situation further. In the end, Jon offers to repair the first TWO chips free, AND he'll personally refinish the entire tub when the time comes for us to replace the caulking. Good enough. The next time I go to dry the tub down, the caulking comes up again like soggy bread! Grrr! This time, we just wait for it to dry and recaulk it ourselves with a different kind of caulking. Maybe they just had bad caulking. At any rate, I would probably still recommend them for the original finish job, but beware the caulking! What a headache! read more