Hotel bathtub refinishing is helping hotels reglaze their bathrooms that have been contaminated with methamphetamine. Meth ‘chemists’ have been secretly turning hundreds of hotel and motel rooms into undercover drug labs. Hotels have become an attractive place for meth “cooks” to come in, cook their meth, and leave behind a toxic trail lurking on countertops, carpets, appliances, walls, sinks, and bathtubs. Because hotels can be found in every city, that’s why meth labs can be set up in almost any hotel in a short amount of time. That’s why meth labs have spread in recent years from the West Coast and Southwest to Midwestern states like Indiana and Kentucky.
Many hotel rooms are turned into “meth labs” on the fly. They are increasingly found in hotel chains that cater to business people and vacationers. The reason hotels have become a location of choice for clandestine drug laboratories is convenience.
According to Dr. Sullivan Smith, director of emergency services at Cookeville Regional Medical Center in north-central Tennessee, “They can take over the trailer or take over your house, but they can’t take over a hotel room.” The DEA reported finding evidence of drug manufacturing in 1,789 motel and hotel rooms over the past five years.
What to look for if you are buying hotel property or renting a hotel room:
Many unsuspecting citizens rent or buy properties once used for clandestine methamphetamine production. Important things to know are:
* Carpets, walls, furniture, curtains, etc. they can harbor gases or residues that can be harmful if not toxic.
*People who have rented or bought these contaminated properties have reported a number of chronic ailments
* Be careful if you move into a contaminated hotel. Your personal belongings may become contaminated with toxic fumes.
* If you find any indication that the room was used to manufacture methamphetamine, please leave the room immediately and notify the hotel manager. Under no circumstances touch, move or pick up anything that looks suspicious!
What hotel guests should look for in rooms:
1. Acid burns on a hotel room floor.
2. Laboratories in a cabinet.
3. The smoke detector is in the cabinet and not on the ceiling.
4. Kitty litter in hotel room used to trap poisonous gases from methamphetamine manufacturing.
5. Check the mattress for signs of kitty litter, garbage bags, or anything else that shouldn’t be there. If you find anything, leave the room immediately!
6. Look for discoloration on surfaces.
7. The yellow discoloration is due to iodine staining and hydrochloric acid gas generated during the “firing” process.
8. Check for discoloration on the walls. Look behind the images for blemishes.
Symptoms of methamphetamine exposure
* Eye and skin irritation
* Vomiting
* Rashes
* Asthma problems and other respiratory problems.
Hotels bathtub replacement can cost up to $2000 on its own because the walls must be stripped before removing the bathtub. Then you have to bring in plumbers and tile installers. On the other hand, a bathtub can be repaired for about 20% of the replacement cost of the bathtub. The tub is prepped, primed and finally the top coat is applied, leaving a beautiful glossy finish. For hotels that need to restore hotels after a meth lab operation, bathtub refinishing is the best alternative to bathtub replacement. Re-glazing covers and protects the bathtub from toxic fumes, thus protecting hotel guests from toxic methamphetamine fumes.