This week's Q&A deals with small garden sculpture and resurfacing the bath.

Small garden sculpture

Do you have any ideas how I can go about getting a small sculpture made for the garden? I know the type of thing I want, but don't know how to go about getting it.

Finding a sculptor you can work with is your first task. Around 800 of them are members of the Sculptors Society of Ireland (telephone: 01-8722296) and it maintains a database of slides of work by members which you could look through, by appointment, to see if there's an artist in there who suits your preferred style.

Once you have found your artist, then the same process applies as when any one-off piece of work is commissioned. You should communicate clearly with the sculptor what your idea is and, at that stage, he or she should be able to give you an idea of price and the time scale involved. Depending on the scale of the work involved or the way your chosen sculptor works, you could be shown drawings or a 3D model before the piece is actually made.

All that said, commissioning a one-off piece of art is an expensive process so be prepared for a high price tag. If it proves to be out of your price range, then you could keep an eye out for sculpture exhibitions in galleries which often have pieces large enough and durable enough for outdoor use.

Even more accessible, pricewise, are off-the-shelf pieces mass produced for sale through garden centres.

These have been improving in quality and style in recent years so, if you wait until early spring when the larger garden centres put out their latest stock, you might find something you want.

Resurfacing the bath

The bath in our 1930s house was resurfaced by previous owners and it is pitted in places. From a distance it doesn't look so bad but it is very difficult to clean and it is chipped around the taps. Can it be resurfaced again? Or is it worth it?

Part of your problem might be your enthusiastic cleaning. Old baths that have been resurfaced usually have a new synthetic enamel surface which should only be cleaned with a very, very mild abrasive or, better still, a mild detergent. Anything stronger can damage the surface. The whole resurface can be taken off and the bath can be resurfaced again (Renubath, a company specialising in this service estimates that it will cost around €230).

That said, baths used to be very expensive and the choice used to be limited. However, there is now a huge range of retailers selling baths, ranging from high-end specialists shops to DIY warehouses so, if you look around, you might find something you prefer. As for asking whether it's worth it or not - that's something only you can decide.

Installing a new bath is not a particularly big job in itself but it does have potentially expensive knock-on effects in that it could lead to you needing retiling, re-flooring, repainting, etc.

Send your queries to Property Questions, The Irish Times, 10-16 D'Olier Street, Dublin 2 or e-mail propertyquestions@irish-times.ie.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to respond to all questions. The above is a representative sample of queries received. This column is a readers' service and is not intended to replace professional advice. No individual correspondence will be entered into.