Painting bathroom tiles ?

[Deleted User]

I'm about to replace an old fashioned orange bathroom suite with a plain white one. Am having terrible problems finding a recommended plumber (they're all really busy) and even worse finding a tiler.

Also, the whole bathroom is tiled so it's going to be really expensive to re-tile it. So, I wondered about the possibility of, for now, painting the tiles that are currently on the bathroom walls white. I've done this in my kitchen in the past and they looked fine for about 5 years but I wondered if this would be the same in a bathroom (especially near the shower). Has anyone done this? How did it turn out? Would I need to put something-else on top of the tile paint to make them more waterproof ?

Hope someone can help. Thanks.

phoenix_w

Tile paint is a false economy, in my opinion. If you do decide to take the plunge, here are my tips:

Stir the paint stupidly well
Apply with a gloss roller (brush marks show up real good with tile paint)
Keep lots of it spare (especially of anyone dyes their hair in your bathroom, it'll ruin it)
If you have tiled surfaces you want to keep things on (e.g. Windowsill) you'll need to cover it up. Leaving items, particularly wet ones, on the surface will discolour or cause the paint to peel.

Count on repainting every 18-24 months. A retile well pay for itself in a few years.

DevCoder

In a few words, no no no no no...

Seriously, the results will be awful. Save up and strip the bathroom and do it properly.

Bathrooms are the one place you spend little time in, but spend most of the time relaxing or looking at specific detail. If you have a bath then youll forever be trying to relax and seeing what a bodge tile paint is.

pendragon_arther

I did this to my regret. The hot water from the shower will take off chunks of paint however well the prep was done and you'll have to completely strip the remainder off to repaint or else it will look awful. Then the cycle will repeat.

happylucky

With the right prep & application it can look fantastic and last for years without needing to be redone. I've done on 3 bathrooms inc inside a shower cubicle - checkerboard looks great (<-- lasted for 4 years with zero scratches!).

Key is to really clean the base tiles (potassium hydroxide solution) and sand down. Use a purpose-designed primer and up to 3 coats, using a gloss roller (as another poster already suggested). For best results, use LAMINATE paint, not tile paint. It's exactly the same as tile paint but matt finish so any minor imperfections are pretty invisible.

You can also use laminate paint to refresh floor tiles if you then apply a couple of decent epoxy top coats (which sets like a matt super-strong varnish). Only use dark colors as if the top coat is thick enough to withstand daily wear it is likely to yellow over time!

Try it and if you don't like it then you can always rip your tiles out and get a refit anyway. Good luck!

pendragon_arther

happylucky wrote: »

With the right prep & application it can look fantastic and last for years without needing to be redone. I've done on 3 bathrooms inc inside a shower cubicle - checkerboard looks great (<-- lasted for 4 years with zero scratches!).

Key is to really clean the base tiles (potassium hydroxide solution) and sand down. Use a purpose-designed primer and up to 3 coats, using a gloss roller (as another poster already suggested). For best results, use LAMINATE paint, not tile paint. It's exactly the same as tile paint but matt finish so any minor imperfections are pretty invisible.

You can also use laminate paint to refresh floor tiles if you then apply a couple of decent epoxy top coats (which sets like a matt super-strong varnish). Only use dark colors as if the top coat is thick enough to withstand daily wear it is likely to yellow over time!

Try it and if you don't like it then you can always rip your tiles out and get a refit anyway. Good luck!

Maybe it depends on how many people use the shower. We had four, two of which were teenagers hogging it for long durations.

happylucky

pendragon_arther wrote: »

Maybe it depends on how many people use the shower. We had four, two of which were teenagers hogging it for long durations.

Could be. I also have to dye my hair dark brown every couple of weeks. In fact, that's one of the reasons I did tile paint in the first place....no more grout to discolour!