This is just another example of how Jelight integrates multiple systems to provide the best solutions for customers.

The advantages of ultraviolet coatings over traditional methods are significant to both customers and contractors. The ability to cure instantly greatly reduces application and recoating time, resulting in a minimal interruption to the use of the treatment area. Modern UV coatings are extremely versatile, environmentally friendly, produce little or no odor, and contain no VOCs.

Jelight Company Inc., Established in 1978, has continually pioneered the design and production of ultraviolet products for printing, industrial, scientific, and research applications. Their innovative engineering and state-of-the-art manufacturing techniques have made Jelight company’s products the first choice of leading organizations around the world for UV process supply.

To find out more, please visit www.Jelight.com

Contact:
Rich Mandich, UV Products Account Manager
rmandich@jelight.com
(773)619-5258

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Jelight Company Inc. is a proud member of the Bathtub Refinishing Association of America

To discuss UV technology as it applies to countertop refinishing, tile refinishing or bathtub refinishing, please refer to our forum located at www.braoa.org/forum

If slippery tub and tile floors are an issue, then SKIDGUARD is your answer.  SKIDGUARD is a water base coating system that provides a non skid surface to bathtubs, tile, and other surfaces eliminating the need for a non slip bath mat or anti slip tape.  This product can be brushed or sprayed on and provides a glossy crystal clear finish that is practically invisible.  SKIDGUARD is an environmentally safe product that also contains additives that provide ultraviolet protection and prevent the growth of mold and mildew.

Key Benefits

• SKIDGUARD is non toxic and is environmentally friendly
• It is perfect for bathtubs and tile therefore eliminating the need for non slip bathtub mats and creating the perfect slippery tile fix
• Helps reduce slip and fall incidents by creating non slip bathroom flooring
• It can be applied to any surface without harming the aesthetics of the surface.
• Easily applied by brush or spray

Refinishers, if you want to provide a non skid bathtub surface for your clients, try SKIDGUARD.  Be sure to mention the Bathtub Refinishing Association of America for special offers.

SKIDGUARD is the preferred choice for the professional bathtub refinishers association the Bathtub Refinishing Association of America.

SKIDGUARD Product Data Sheet

MSDS

Liquiguard Technologies Inc.
2755 E. Oakland Park Blvd.
Suite 300
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33306
USA

Telephone: (954) 566-0996

The Bathtub Refinishing Association of America is proud to announce that it has expanded its network to include Canada.  Potential clients can now browse our newly included Canadian flash map to find a Refinisher in their area.  Bathtub refinishing professionals from Canada can now join the BRAOA and be included in our data base of professional bathtub Refinishers.

Our decision for this expansion was prompted by one of our newest members, Quality 1.

Quality 1

Quality 1 is located in Montreal Quebec, Canada and services the Montreal metropolitan and Ottawa areas.  Quality 1’s owner Phil Azran had this to say: “I’m so happy to find out that finally someone initiated the BRAOA and forum.  We are a huge industry that deserves a decent virtual world of itself and virtual community as well”.

What the BRAOA is All About

The Bathtub Refinishing Association of America is all about choices.  The choice of a consumer to learn about bathtub refinishing services and choose what is right for them.  The choice of Refinisher to offer their professional bathtub refinishing services to this consumer as well as the choice to help this consumer by answering any questions they may have by utilization of our forum system.  Also, the choice of making the bathtub refinishing industry stronger by offering new Refinishers a place to get the answers they need to succeed in this industry.

Our Offer to Consumers

Bathtub refinishing is uncertain to many; this uncertainty is caused by the lack of awareness.  With the BRAOA, you can easily become aware by visiting our site, reading our blog, and asking a professional Refinisher your questions in our forum.  There’s no fee, just signed up and ask.  When you are comfortable with the knowledge at hand, visit our main site to find a Refinisher in your area.  You can rest assured that you’re getting the best of the best.

Our Offer to Pro Members

Being a member of the BRAOA is exclusive.  We will dedicate a virtual web page for your region in which you will be the only one.  This page will include a banner as well as contact information that links to your website and drives traffic.  We do not “distribute” leads like some do, they will come to you direct.  You will become a part of the Professional Bathtub Refinishers Forum where like-minded pros share information that will help to ensure your success and we will also link your site there for even more exposure.  We will include your banner in this blog.  All these things we do, we do to help promote your business on the web.

In Conclusion

Being a member of the BRAOA is a win-win situation for all involved.  You will not find this type of offer anywhere on the web.  Sign up today and realize what we can do for you.

Membership Application

BRAOA Forum

Find A Refinisher In Your Area

At first, Midwest Chemicals limited the distribution of this coating system to loyal customers but have since opened up the availability to all who wish to use their product and offer free training to those who want it.

Curing Kinloch UV Clear Coat

These actions have prompted me to dig deeper and has given me a greater understanding to this process, and, in the midst of this venture, I have been able to test several different methods including Midwest’s system. The Midwest UV product line is as solid as told but, is not for the novice refinisher and will take practice to master. It is not the type of system that a solo refinisher can rush. In the beginning, you will be satisfied to get one done in a day and should be sold as such. Can the market bear a price increase to satisfy a refinishers living with one tub a day? this will remain to be seen.

With that being said, it only makes sense to figure out a way to expedite the process to enable a refinisher to do a little more. Early in the game, the BRAOA had been discussing the possibility of using a conventional epoxy primer system with a UV clear coat technology to eliminate the possibility of cure through issues using a tinted UV base coat.

Test On Sheet Glass Using Cardinals Wipe-On Silane and Acrylic Urethane

Since this discussion, I have had the opportunity to test this theory. My test results yielded excellent adhesion on both etched/silane and unetched/silane surface with poor results on no etch/no silane surface. This leads me to believe that the magic is in the silane technology. There are a couple of drawbacks with using the epoxy primer… 1.) yellowing will eventually occur, even if you introduce a UV blocker into the scenario, this may only delay the occurrence by weeks. 2.) My testing was done on a pink tub, I chose this as my test subject for coverage purposes and as such required a higher build using Napco’s epoxy primer resin which took in excess of 45 minutes to re-coat using the Kinloch USA UV Stone Cure clear coat. This time frame with the inclusion of curing using the Jelight JUVC-5A was in my book way too long even though the clear coat cured quickly.

Tub After Curing

So, in my quest, I stumbled upon Cardinal Industrial Finishes 6S00 series Acrylic Urethane. Bottom line, this coating comes in high hide white, and can be accelerated to dust free in 15 minutes (time enough to clean your gun and set up for  clear coat) and is LOW VOC (1.0 lbs/gal). You will get great performance at 1-3 mils thick and as my post in the forum said, the adhesion was incredible using Cardinal’s 2 part silane. Also, you will eliminate any possibility of yellowing from using an epoxy whether water based or solvent based.

Using Kinloch’s Stone Cure was pleasurable, slight odor but NO VOC. The clear coat can be reduced as much as 50% if needed so it is very user friendly and can be shot from any gun. You will get top performance from this UV clear coat at no more than 2-3 mils thick. Cure out was very quick and yielded a gloss that would make your eyes squint!

With that being said, could this be a potential LOW VOC combination worthy of a professional refinisher? or maybe just a thought to chew on.

If you have any questions about UV coatings as it applies to bathtub refinishing,  click here to log into our forum, or, you can contact the BATHTUB REFINISHING ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA.

**UPDATE**

LOW/NO VOC Base Coat, UV Clear Coat Countertop Project

Your Mission Statement

In article one, we talked about your mindset and as stated in the article your mindset is one of the most important factors of marketing your business. One of the things that this mindset should be thinking about is your mission statement.

Every service business and professional practice has a purpose and stating this purpose for being, your company mission, at the beginning of your marketing plan helps you focus your energy as you prepare and implement your plan.  It orients you to the primary purpose of your business, and it helps you make decisions directed towards accomplishing that purpose.

WHAT IS A MISSION STATEMENT, ANYWAY?

Your mission statement simply defined it is 25 words that summarize your urbanization to purpose for being.

SHORT AND SWEET, CLEAR PURPOSE EXAMPLE:

OUR MISSION STATEMENT

“To provide quality, personalized kitchen and bath restoration services so that I enhance my clients’ quality of life by saving them money”

When a service provider operates independently and without a clear sense of what services are to be provided to whom, he has a greater challenge: self examination, followed by focusing.  Choosing the services to be provided and the clients to be served implies choosing the services and clients to be eliminated – which you may find alarming.  Yet everyone who buys a service responds best when the purpose is clear.

HOW DO YOU DEVELOP THE MISSION STATEMENT?

Any self respecting mission statement should include the following:

• That needs your company fulfills
• Clients you serve now or want to serve
• How do you go about serving these clients?
• The service business your firm is in

Your statement should be broad rather it’s than specific.  In addition, your mission statement should be positive and forceful.  The mission statement should also be free of jargon and not wrapped in language only a few understand.  Also, a great tactic is to personalize this statement as an “individual” (especially in the bathtub refinishing business), most customers that I have worked for do not care about the franchise image and are looking for a direct relationship, not a third party.

For some, writing a mission statement can be frustrating and trying to think of the words to say can be difficult.  So, a great way to begin is to write down a list of ideas and scratch off the ideas that don’t seem important.  Read through your revised list of important ideas and turn that paper over.  Now, very quickly, write three or four sentences explaining the purpose of your business.

When you are finished and have written your mission statement, read it over and ask yourself, would I hire that business?

Until next time…

Marketing your bathtub refinishing business has been brought to you by the Bathtub Refinishing Association of America.

Click Here To Find A Bathtub Reglazing Specialist In Your Area.

Jelight Company Inc. JUVC-5

In a continuing effort to research UV coatings for bathtub refinishing, I had the distinct pleasure to be invited on a grand tour of whom now I feel is a top manufacturer of UV curing systems for bathtub refinishing; Jelight Company Incorporated.

Project Manager Andrew Mackinnon was my guide and walked me through all the aspects in the manufacturing of the UV units from the making of the bulbs to the assembly of the unit and ended with a hands-on training course using the Jelight JUVC- 5 which is the most popular unit for curing UV bathtub refinishing coatings.

About the JUVC-5

Although it may look intimidating in a picture, the unit itself stands 26″x14″x8″, weighs 75lbs. but rolls on casters and has an extending handle for easy transportation. The unit is very forgiving in regards to transportation so daily loading and unloading will not be an issue. The 5″ irradiator itself is very light weight and comfortable, contains an emergency shut-off switch which will power down the whole unit, and a high-low switch for pre-curing techniques. Overall, this 1500 watt unit ROCKS and will do the job for which it was designed.

Company Presence

I was truly impressed by the fact that every aspect of the manufacturing process is done “in-house”, it was like walking into glass blowing heaven watching technicians fuse quartz together and strolling into a machinist dream with their machine shop.

Another thing that I was impressed with is the active stance that Jelight is taking to accommodate the bathtub refinishing industry by continuing its efforts to design units specifically tailored for the curing of UV coatings for bathtub refinishing.

In Conclusion

The success of bathtub refinishing using UV coatings is compounded by the use of quality equipment and I feel that Jelight Company Incorporated definitely meets this quality standard.

Special Thanks

I would like to give a special thanks to Charlie Foster for making this happen, Rich Mandich for having faith in the cause, Andrew Mackinnon for the “GRAND TOUR”, and Jelight Company Inc. for allowing me to take and use your system for my research.

This article has been brought to you by:  Bathtub Refinishing Association of America (aka: the armchair activists)

For more information about the JUVC-5 UV curing unit contact:

Rich Mandich
Jelight Company Inc.
Phone: 1-949-380-8774 x 46
Direct phone 1-773-202-8058
Email: rmandich@jelight.com

Mention Bathtub Refinishing Assocation of America for Refinishers Quotes

Marketing Is Your Key To Success

So, you’ve invested hundreds or maybe even thousands of dollars on this great niche business called Bathtub Refinishing.  You’ve gone through one of the many great Bathtub Refinishing Training Programs like the one that Topkote Bathtub Refinishing Products offers and have all of your equipment and supplies necessary to start refinishing tubs so you can make those great dollars. Now, all you need to do is bring in the work. As simple as this may seem, it goes much deeper than that.  One thing is certain with the Bathtub Refinishing business, it is much more than delivering a cost-effective service because nothing will happen until you “sell the job” so, one of the things that you must do is market your business,  develop and implement a  plan of attack.

What I am going to do in the forthcoming months ahead is help you realize and act upon one of the most important steps in any business,  marketing.

Three of the biggest influences in my life have been Jay Levinson, Sun Tzu, and a former employer of mine from whom I learned that you could sell a penny to a street corner bum.  Jay Levinson is one of the greatest marketing experts of all time, he wrote the #1 best-selling series “Guerrilla Marketing”  and it is a series that I recommend you read.

Sun Tzu was a consultant to a variety of Chinese warlords and emperors around 500 B.C.  He had a great understanding of the Art of War.  His writings are about core values, creative ideas, and sound strategies.  Corporate giants use his strategies to this day to wage war and win with many of their competitors.  It is another must read.

What I am going to do is combine the strategies of Guerrilla Marketing with the concepts of Sun Tzu and apply them to the bathtub refinishing business.

Sun Tzu’s idea of laying plans is based on five factors:

• Moral Influence
• Weather
• Terrain
• Commander
• Doctrine

In battle, he who master’s these factors wins the war.  For you, master these factors and make money.

In business, the moral influence is your mindset, being market ready and telling this to the world, the weather is your abilities, knowing what you can or can’t do, the terrain is your service area, the commander is your customer and the doctrine is your tactics, plan of attack and implementation of this plan.

In this first article, I’m going to start with your mindset.

Wikipedia defines mindset as:

A mindset, in decision theory and general systems theory, refers to a set of assumptions, methods or notations held by one or more people or groups of people which is so established that it creates a powerful incentive within these people or groups to continue to adopt or accept prior behaviors, choices, or tools. This phenomenon of cognitive bias is also sometimes described as mental inertia, “groupthink“, or a “paradigm“, and it is often difficult to counteract its effects upon analysis and decision making processes.

On the positive sides a mindset can also be seen as incident of a persons Weltanschauung or philosophy of life. For example there has been quite some interest in the typical mindset of an entrepreneur.

Your mindset is the most important of all the factors.  This mindset translates into the enthusiasm and passion with everything you do, every one you meet, every contact you make and every customer you work for.

For the Bathtub Refinishing business your mindset should be thinking about your mission statement, understanding your target market and who is going to use your services. You should be creating and measuring your plan and how you are going to build relationships with customers and prospects. The bottom line is this, if people don’t know who you are, they can’t use your services.

Here it is a great exercise.

Take a good look around you as you are driving through town.  Pay close attention to which billboards capture your eye.  Listen to which commercials stick in your mind (my personal favorite is the Geico commercials “so simple even a caveman can do it”) what a great hook! By doing this you are developing a keen sense of your surroundings therefore sharpening your marketing mindset.

Here are four things that I want you to do before the next article.

• Continue to learn about marketing by reading the books I mentioned earlier
• Pick the top two Bathtub Refinishing competitors and analyze what they’re doing to market and what is working for them.  Call them up and get a free written quote to see how they present themselves and to get a general idea of how much they charge.
• Define your bathtub refinishing business. Write down what you are willing to do.  Ask yourself  are you selling a basic service with no ups and no extras or are you selling a top of the line refinishing job that will last many years.
• Keep a journal of these things

This is how I want you to think for the rest of your career

• I am committed
• I will think creatively
• I will strive to improve
• I will treat every customer as #1
• I will strive for new business opportunities, alliances, joint ventures and partnerships
• I will think about marketing all the time

I urge you to follow these steps, I am sure they will help you as they have helped me.

Until next time…

Marketing your bathtub refinishing business has brought to you by the Bathtub Refinishing Association of America.

Click Here To Find A Bathtub Reglazing Specialist In Your Area.

Curing A Bathtub With A UV Lamp

In 2009, Orlando Florida based Midwest Chemicals announced the availability of a “totally green” no VOC bathtub refinishing solution, a UV cured tinted base coat and clear coat process that is said to cure in 2 seconds, and can be spot repaired immediately if needed. This process has the claim to forever change the bathtub refinishing industry.

A very heated debate about whether or not UV curable coatings work for bathtub refinishing has sparked an interest to us here at the BATHTUB REFINISHING ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA. The aspect of going green using a low VOC coating that cures instantly in the bathtub refinishing industry is one that raises the eyebrows of specialists nationwide. The question is; does it work?

In a recent discussion with a well known chemist and coatings developer who has been developing UV curable coatings for 15 years explained the technicalities and addressed a few issues with the process.

This is what was said:

“The proper curing of UV coatings requires a specific amount of UV exposure, typically in the 250 to 365 nanometer spectral range usually at 300 watts per inch for a defined amount of time to meet the dosage requirements. Once the UV light excites the free radicals in the photo initiator, the coating polymerizes instantly.

When dyes or pigments are used in a UV coating, if applied to thick, (spraying on a little too much to cover a shady or dark area), they can obscure or block the UV from reacting with the photo initiator leaving lower layers of the coating uncured. If this occurs the coating properties are greatly diminished in two primary ways, loss of adhesion and moisture, chemical resistance. Additionally, yellowing can occur over time and in this state blocking cannot be overcome with additional exposure time which will eventually damage the finish if overdone. So no matter how much energy you throw at it the light simply can’t get through.

The problem with this scenario is that it is very difficult to determine cure through without damaging the finish by performing a cross hatch adhesion test. Visually and to the touch the coating will appear to be cured, it will be hard and scratch resistant but in reality it is not fully cured in the lower regions which will eventually cause failure.

The uncured material, is exactly that and if some of the coating were to flake off, say when a mother is bathing her baby, skin burns could occur from the acrylic acid, which is commonly used and a necessary component in UV coatings.

One can make claims that UV is easily spot repaired, simply sand a little and put a little more on, cure it and you are done. In the above scenario a simple repair would not be realistic, because when the coating is applied it is usually applied in a uniform thickness which means the majority of the surface would have lower regions that were under cured. The only solution to this problem would be to chemically strip the failed coating off. Strippers usually contain methylene chloride which we all know is nasty stuff but it usually gets the job done. Not so with most quality UV coatings, they are typically very resistant to methylene chloride and every other solvent you can name. This means the only choice you have is to sand it off and it is hard to sand.”

With these issues in mind, it seems that this process still needs to be refined and perfected in terms of usability and before final application on someone’s bathtub. I would only hope that upon release to the public these issues would be worked out. I do agree that the potentials for this breakthrough are quite remarkable and if time proved to be a success will forever change the bathtub refinishing industry.

In conclusion:

The bathtub refinishing industry is an industry that is suffering at the hands of inexperienced refinishers and failed processes. If this failure rate continues, the bathtub refinishing industry will soon become a pariah in the remodeling community. We as refinishers owe it to the public to be the very best we can by understanding what works and what does not. Before running out and trying something new on someone’s bathtub test it first on an old junkyard bathtub. Cross hatch tests are easy to perform and by doing this you ensure your success and the success of the bathtub refinishing industry. This should be done with all materials you use whether it is UV or solvent. If you have any questions about UV coatings as it applies to bathtub refinishing,  click here to log into our forum, or, you can contact the BATHTUB REFINISHING ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA.

There are several ways to learn the business, you can work with a professional who already specializes in the trade or you can get specialized training like the training TOPKOTE Bathtub Reglazing Products offers.

TOPKOTE Products - Click Banner To Enter Site

You can charge anywhere between $250 and $500 for reglazing a bathtub, and because of the high cost to replace a bathtub, reglazing remains high on the list for beautification especially in tough economic times. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says that the industry is expected to grow 10% through 2016; this means a steady flow of work for those who can provide workmanship and strategic marketing.

What are the benefits of a Bathtub Reglazing Business?

• Startup capital is just a few thousand dollars.
• Supplies can be purchased from specialized suppliers such as TOPKOTE Bathtub Refinishing Products.
• More than one bathtub reglazing project can be done in a day.
• Bathtub Reglazing is a high profit business with low overhead.

What You Need to Get Started

• Any necessary state licenses and insurance
• Safety equipment such as a respirator, latex gloves, spray suit, spray sock, goggles, fume extractor.
• HVLP spray system, cleaner, wet or dry sand paper, adhesive primer, polyurethane, caulking, miscellaneous supplies such as razor scraper, tape, paper, rags, acetone.
• Business cards, website.
• Computer, Quickbooks Pro for keeping records, drafting estimates and invoices.

If you are a motivated person who is interested in becoming a Bathtub Reglazing Specialist, contact the BATHTUB REFINISHING ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA or TOPKOTE Products for more details.

What we can offer

In a joint effort between BRAOA and TOPKOTE Products, we can offer this to you

• Specialized training at a very low cost.
• A complete Bathtub Reglazing start-up kit that will include all equipment and supplies at the lowest price
• Membership to the BRAOA.ORG website which includes ads on the main site, blog site and resource site that is GUARANTEED to drive traffic.
• A website that will rank high in the search engines GUARANTEED.
• Membership to an exclusive members only support forum where members share valuable trade secrets to ensure your success.

You will not find an offer like this from any other source. This is not a franchise opportunity and upon completion of training you are not bound like most franchises. This is an opportunity to get started in a successful business at a low cost with guaranteed results. Contact us today for an initial consultation!

TOPKOTE Products

1106 Edgewater Ave, Ridgefield, NJ 07657
Toll Free: 1-888-TOPKOTE (888-867-5683)
Phone: (201) 840-0666
Fax: (201) 840-9066
www.topkote.com

BATHTUB REFINISHING ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA

10236 Old River School Road, Suite 32, Downey, CA 90241
Toll Free: 1-866-722-3301
Phone: (562) 776-0843
Fax: (562) 927-5814
www.braoa.org

Got a yucky bathtub? Visit a home improvement store and you note that a new bathtub is inexpensive–less than $200. How hard can this be to replace? But add in the cost of a contractor, demolition, removal, landfill fees, tilers, and a plumber, and the total cost of the job has ballooned.

The excerpt above was clipped from about.com, and in every aspect is one of the best Bathtub Reglazing articles on the net with the ecception of one comment on page 3 of the article, “Competition is Good. There are so many companies competing for your bathtub refinishing business, you can most likely swing a good deal”.

“Swinging a Deal” in this business sometimes means cutting corners and this is the last thing you want when hiring a professional. The article is right when stating “there are so many companies” but many of these companies are new and inexperienced in process and technique. There are so many horror stories about Bathtub Reglazing and 99.9% of these mishaps are caused by in-experienced so called Bathtub Reglazing Specialists. You really can’t blame these guys for trying because the economy has been so bad that people are forced into trying new things to earn a dollar. There are a few companies out there who offer training but some of them charge fees in the $$hundreds and $$$thousands. There is only one company that I know of  that offers free training via online video, they are TOPKOTE Products.

TOPKOTE Products - Click Banner To Enter Site

You can save yourself a major headache by following a couple of simple things, when hiring a professional one of the most important things to check is references, one that is at least a year old and two recent ones. You can print a copy of our Bathtub Reglazing Procedure Sheet to use as a reference when soliciting prospective refinishers. With these tools in hand your Bathtub Reglazing experience will be one that IS A GOOD DEAL!

CLICK HERE TO FIND A PROFESSIONAL IN YOUR AREA