The Wonders of White Nail Polish

This post doesn't really relate to building our addition, but it is germane to any old house owner whose white bath tub isn't quite up to snuff.  Ours is about 35 years old and wasn't used much until we moved in two years ago.  But somewhere along the way it got a 3/8" chip right by the drain.  A 3/8" chip doesn't warrant an entire bathtub resurfacing in my opinion when the rest of the tub looks good.

The first time I tried to fix the chip I went to the hardware store and bought the porcelain-repair epoxy stuff.  I mixed it up per directions, put it on in two coats, let it dry thoroughly between coats, and admired my handiwork a few hours later.  The fix only lasted about 2 weeks...I started seeing rust stains under the white coating and then the whole patch fell off.  Well, I thought maybe I hadn't sanded and cleaned the area thoroughly enough, so I went back, spent another $6 and tried it again.  Looked good again.  Two weeks later, same deal.  So, I got to thinking what else could I use?  Then it occurred to me that white nail polish just might be the answer.  And if it didn't work, I could remove it easily with nail polish remover.  I'm a big fan of easily-reversible fixes.

So, I went to CVS, bought one that was about the same slightly-off-white shade as our 35-year old tub and tried two coats.  Four weeks later, it still looks great.  The plastic bumper on my white Prius has a few dings that need some cosmetics, so I'm going use it there next.

The patch is located at about 1 o'clock.