Tub Walls

[Carol Brownelle]

The tub walls in the 1985 Homette that we just bought look like plastic or fiberglass. However, they can't be, because they are pitted where the water from the shower hits them, and the surface is peeling at the pits.I'm pretty sure these are the original walls. I can't believe that a tub with a shower would be manufactured with a non-waterproof surround! What is this material? How can it be repaired, for instance, can we find a paint to make it waterproof? Should we use the shower before it is repaired?
This is our first experience as mobile home owners.

[Mark Bower]

I suppose it could be just vinyl over sheetrock. What I would do is simply pick-up a plastic tub surround and glue it over. You can buy those tub surrounds as cheap as $39 from the home improvement stores. Then add a few tubes of tub-surround glue.

Mark

[B. B. Rich]

An '85 is pretty old. If this is the original surround you may be experiencing a breaking down of the (ABS?) plastic. If it is fiberglass, it had a gelcoat top layer to help release it from the mold and give it a smooth finish. That may be seperating from the substrate. Neither will last forever and depending, your water that may be part of the problem, but a better guess would be age.