We’ve got horrific tiles all round our bath, and parts of our bathroom. I’d like to paint them. What’s the best tile paint to use? Any top tips on how to do it?

I’d put the money that I would’ve spent on paint towards getting it retiled in the future, painted tiles look even worse than horrible tiles.

Does paint exist that adheres and is tough enough?

wot sobriety said.

just getting the cheapest white tiles you can and overtiling what’s already there would look better.

I guess painting is so cheap so you may as well give it a go as a quick fix. I’d get the old tiles squeaky clean using sugar soap before painting then follow the instructions on the can.

Accept that it is only a matter of time before you have chipped and scraped the paint off here and there so the wole lot will look very tatty. New tiles are the ultimate solution.

I painted over some horrific tiles in order to sell our last house. They looked fine at a glance (so good for house viewings), but didn’t look great close up.

We used some stuff we bought from b&q – can’t remember the brand, possibly crown. It was fine. Needed two coats, and you had to be careful painting it otherwise the brushmarks became obvious.

In conclusion, fine for a bodge job, but if you want it to look ‘good’ you’re better off overtiling, or stripping the tiles off and doing it properly.

Dave

edit: +1 for sugar soap before painting.

I would echo the above and say don’t waste your time and money. I tried it once and then spent a long time trying to pick the paint off.

Don’t do it!

Tiling is cheap, quick and easy. Rip off the old stuff and replace.
I’ve painted tiles once (with the right stuff) and wasn’t impressed with the result.

Another voice telling you that painted tiles will look utterly, utterly shit.

Tile over, or better still, rip off and redo. Not too tough to do if you take your time, hire a decent tile cutter etc. There are plenty of people on here who will tell you exactly what you need for the job.

Tile paint isn’t exactly cheap either.

I painted over a row of hideous tiles in our en suite as a stop gap, and every time I look at them I wonder how long it’d take to re-tile floor to ceiling (it was a border I painted over).

balls to all of the above 😀

A coat of tile primer and a coat or two of gloss, applied using a small gloss roller. Or, a coat of tile primer, whatever top coat you want, then a coat of gloss yacht varnish. Don’t go anywhere near them with a brush.
The future Mrs rogg has tried various matt(e?) paints on tiles, which have never been as successful.

I once painted a hideous fireplace gloss white in a rented house, and it wasn’t spotted when I came to move out, so must have looked fairly convincing.

OP where are you based. I know a guy who will do a great job for stupidly cheap. He re-tilled my entire bathroom and fitted the bath shower and toilet for £500. He also rehung the door because it looked better that way.

Oh and tile not paint. even cheap ones will look better and probably be less stressful.

Painted tiles are fine if you’re tarting up to sell a house but it ends up peeling badly and looks horrendous no matter how well you prepare it.

Dont, just argggh dont, you have to rough tile surface, prime then paint, horrible finish (im a prof decorator n i cnt make em look good) it peels after central heating and steam get to it, its expensive and hard to use, save a ballache and just go to a cheep tile place, and diy seriously, iv seen many and now refuse to do them as jobs.

check the date people… its a spam resurrected thread; the OP is unlikely to still need your advice 🙂

I’ve painted tiles using a tile primer before and it was ok, if you want a great silky smooth finish then don’t bother but it’s a lot easier than retiling. Looks ok IMO.