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Original poster

Tile Paint - yes or no??

40 replies

ChippingIn · 07/05/2011 14:12

OK - I have always hated tile paint, never seen any that has looked good or lasted.

However, I'm doing up the kitchen as cheaply as possible because it actually needs ripping out and replacing, but that's not going to happen for at least a year, if not more.

I have tiles in there that are very, very dated and I was going to take them all off, make the walls good and continue the paint down to the bench top... however, it's going to be a huge job as they are very, very well cemented to the wall so it will take an age to get them off and then to make the wall anything like 'OK' to paint. I don't want to spend any money getting it tiled at this stage.

So - tile paint? Has anyone had any luck with any?? If so what brand etc did you use and how long has it been done for?

Thank you!!!

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OP posts:

chocolatespiders · 09/05/2011 08:29

It was one of the small foam rollers with the small tray sort of size of half an A4 sheet- if that helps any? cost couple of pound.

Buy a tin open very carefully try on one tile and see what you think, if you hate it take it back. Its not worth settling on cheap tiles you dont really want to only do it again in years time

noddyholder · 09/05/2011 09:32

Absolutely no! Always looks awful as the grout lines aren't sharp and the paint surface can never look like a glaze. Always tile over if possible and only remove if you can afford to re plaster.

OsbegaEthelwulf · 10/05/2011 09:16

I'm in the same position as you OP; kitchen in our new house has horrid tiles. They look like someone has smoked over them for fifty years and then stuck on mushrooms, apples and haywains. My plan is to apply tongue and groove over them and then paint with kitchen paint so quite cheap.

callow · 10/05/2011 09:22

I used International Tile paint a matt white to cover dark tiles in my small fully tiled bathroom.

I would recommend it for a temporary cover up. I did need about 4 coats but it is still in good condition in most of the bathroom after 5 years. I have had to redo the paint in the area directly above the bath and shower area as this get the most water damage. The areas were there is not water still look perfect.You must get the tiles very clean before starting.

Original poster

ChippingIn · 10/05/2011 10:24

Thanks for all your comments :)

Callow - that's inspiring!

OP posts:

mathanxiety · 10/05/2011 16:52

I did this in a bathroom. I got the proper base paint, which was expensive, as the bathroom used to get steamed up a lot, and a properly formulated topcoat too. The result was very nice (a sort of Provencal blue instead of indeterminate 80's brownish mauve tiles). I only needed one base coat and two topcoats. I was able to wipe splashes of toothpaste off the wall behind the sink and as long as the sponge didn't have any bleach there was never any discolouration.

Original poster

ChippingIn · 10/05/2011 17:03

Thanks math :)

Still undecided what to do - but I've been sanding walls today and have other problems so haven't had time to think about the tiles.

[There are patches of paint on the wall which I had hoped would sand off, but they haven't. I can't paint over them as they look like a bloody world map!! One wall I can probably persevere and scrape it off but the other wall is an entire wall of flaking paint... another trip to Homebase I guess!]

OP posts:

larakitten · 10/05/2011 17:09

Please don't underestimate the damage that chipping off old tiles can do........

I asked DH to retile the kitchen as I hated the tiles that were up. Cue one whole weekend spent chipping each tile off, millimetre by millimetre....and that was only one half of the job. We gave up and took an angle grinder to the other wall and cut out the tiles AND the plaster - much quicker!

We had to cut out all the wrecked plaster from the tile chipping too - was a massive, miserable and dirty job. Looks great now, but only because we put in all new plaster and spent ages smoothing and sealing it all before we tiled.

As for tile paint, we used a spray tile paint from B&Q in our bathroom to spray the tiles silver. Worked well, still looks great 4 years on. Just remember to mask off your grout lines or it will look very odd indeed....

Original poster

ChippingIn · 10/05/2011 17:46

Lara :) I am currently trying to remove old enamal paint from the bedroom wall - I had hoped that an electric sander and a rough grade sandpaper would do the job - no such luck. I have to get it off. Another trip to Homebase I think

I have had to take a couple of the old tiles off - so I'm under NO illusion what is underneath and what a mess it will be. I think that's why they're still there right now

Angle grinder... hmmm - could hire one of those I guess.

I have 20 litres of plaster - fixing up the wall isn't too much of an issue (but if I go ahead, please feel free to remind me I said that!!).

Spray tile paint.... hmmm... that's an option too. I think masking the grouting would be akward though - it's very narrow...

I have a euro lottery ticket for tonights new draw

OP posts:

JennyPiccolo · 10/05/2011 20:25

i made a splashback for my kitchen to cover disgusting tiles by buying lengths of MDF from B&Q, getting them cut to size with plugholes (thats the difficult bit) and spraying them with car lacquer (a Le Crueset style burnt orange colour). It looks like a brand new kitchen and was really cheap but quite labour intensive.

mathanxiety · 11/05/2011 18:16

Could you mask the grouting with a bead of silicone caulk and then peel it off after the paint is dry? Or even some children's craft glue, the kind that doesn't really stick.. You would need to experiment before committing to the idea obv.

jo112 · 10/04/2013 19:36

Tile paint can often be a bit hit or miss in my experience. Some brands seem better than others, the really cheap stuff tends to look slightly transparent and you end up with streaks or if the tiles underneath were patterned you can see through them, even with several coats.

This site has a bit of useful info.. tilepaint.net/

plm1 · 23/03/2014 18:12

Getting paint off is hard - have you tried using a hairdryer on a small area at a time? I did this on an old sash window that was awash with years of old paint. The last few layers wouldn't scrape off even with paint remover so bought an electric paint remover thing that basically focused heat on small area. It was heavy and took ages so used a hairdryer and it made the old paint bubble - so could be scraped off. Also paint remnants on very big high wall - which I painted over looked very non smooth so put kettle which doesn't switch off onto it and it all came off.

Travburt · 07/06/2015 11:58

Hi, I've just watched this YouTube tutorial on tile paint, found it very informative and the results look great.

Rose178 · 16/03/2018 09:20

We have recently closed in a patio area behind garage that is block paved what can we do to make paving more attractive husband worried about rising damp

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