Kevin Allen uses a sprayer to paint kitchen cabinets in a central Illinois home.

CARROLLTON — If it’s a hard surface, Kevin Allen can refinish it.

“I’ve resurfaced just about everything that has a hard surface in a home at some point,” said the 61-year-old Allen, the owner of Midstate Resurfacing. “It takes some skill, but in the end you have a great result.”

The Carrollton man specializes in resurfacing bathtubs, counter tops, cabinets and tile, but will work with any hard surface. He got into the business several years ago after he had become “burned out” with his 30-year career as a construction superintendent. 

“I wanted to do something on my own, so I looked around for different things to try and stumbled across bathtub refinishing,” Allen said. “The market wasn’t flooded with people doing it, the work was indoors so it could be done year-round, and it just looked like something I could do that would be fun to learn.”

Allen discovered that the techniques used to resurface bathtubs could be applied to other hard surfaces, so he does a lot of work on kitchen and bathroom cabinets, tile surfaces, and counter tops as well.

“I can replicate stone finishes on counter tops to make formica look like granite,” Allen said. “There is some artistry to it, you have to have a some skill and take your time. It took a little training and practice up front for me to reach this point.”

Bathtub refinishing requires a lot of preparation work before the final finish is applied.

“I go in and clean it, take all of the caulking and chrome off, make repairs if there are any chips, and then spray it with an epoxy primer and let that dry,” Allen said. “Then I spray it with a catalyzed urethane that’s made for a bathtub. It takes four to five hours to do a regular bathtub and when I get done it looks like a new tub.”

Allen uses a respirator mask and always makes sure his work area has plenty of ventilation, because the specialized products he applies by spray are dangerous if inhaled. 

“With spraying you get more of a factory finish, it lays down smooth and even, more than you can do with a brush or roller,” Allen said. “I use solvent-based materials on everything with a catalyzer that gives it more of a hard, factory finish. It lasts a lot longer than any of your water-based stuff.”

Allen mixes the finish and catalyzer on site and must use the resulting product within a certain amount of time or it will no longer be viable.

The preparation work for refinishing cabinets usually takes much more time than the actual finish spray work.

“Taping off all of the perimeter that you don’t want the spray on, that’s the biggest part of it,” Allen said. “If the cabinets have been finished before, you need to use the right product so they don’t have a chemical reaction to it.”

“I clean the cabinets, make any necessary repairs, prime them, sand them, and then spray coat them,” Allen said. “It takes a little skill and there’s more work to it, but in the end it’s a better result.”

Allen approaches each job as a unique challenge.

“Porcelain bathtubs are all pretty much the same, just different shapes and colors,” Allen said. “But cabinets, counter tops and tile are all unique because they are all in different sizes and shapes and made of different materials.”

Allen has worked with customers who watch his every move as well as those who don’t.  “Whether customers look over my shoulder the whole time or leave me alone to work, I don’t mind either type,” Allen said. “It doesn’t bother me if they want to watch me work.”

Supply-chain issues are affecting Allen’s business just like they are impacting other sectors of the home construction and repair industry. 

“The company I used to buy my bathtub material from, last year at one point they were completely shut down and I couldn’t get material because their entire company had COVID,” Allen said. “So I switched to a different product which I actually like better. The stuff I’m progressing into comes from Italy.” 

“Costs are up because shipping charges have pretty much doubled,” Allen said. “I pay hazardous material charges for the stuff I have shipped so it’s expensive anyway.”

Allen’s most unique refinishing job to date involved resurfacing two baptismal tubs in separate churches.

“I did one a few years back and thought that would be the one and only, then about two years ago I got a call from another church wanting the same thing,” Allen said. “Those are kid of unique.” 

Allen grew up in the Sangamon County community of Buffalo and his wife Tina grew up in nearby Auburn, where they lived for a while. The couple relocated to Athens and then moved to Carrollton to be closer to Tina’s family. The Allens are now building a new home just outside of Carrollton on property where Tina’s 79-year-old mother resides. 

Allen has no regrets about his chosen line of work and only wishes he had started doing it at a younger age.

“I will keep doing it as long as I am able to,” Allen said.