Repair Chipped Porcelain

If the chipped area of your porcelain sink or tub isn’t continually exposed to water, such as on the bottom, you can fix it so that it will withstand wear for several years.

Get some medium-grit emery cloth and lightly sand the damaged area. Keep working until you’ve removed the rust and exposed fresh metal and porcelain. Take care not to scratch the areas around it or you’ll end up with permanent scratches.

With the area exposed, you can paint over it and make it match the rest of the porcelain. This step requires a mixture of resin repair product and paint.

The resin repair product helps bond the paint to the porcelain. A good resin filler is White Plastic for Porcelain Repair by Duro. You can pick up a tube of it at your hardware or home center for several dollars.

The resin filler will come with instructions about how to tint it. An oil-base paint should work fine. Just add the right color of paint until it matches the porcelain.

With a small paint brush, cover the bottom of the hole with resin to avoid trapped bubbles. Then add more resin till it’s filled to the top. Don’t worry if you slightly over-fill the hole or get the paint on nearby enamel. After the resin dries, you can smooth and blend the edges with a cotton swab and strong solvent, such as nail polish remover. Other solvents available at your hardware store or home center are xylol and acetone. Keep the room well ventilated while you use them.

Although there’s no way to permanently fix chipped porcelain, this repair method should make your sink or tub last for several years.