Painting kitchen tiles

Posted by Sanna Henderson, on Wed 29 Jan 2014 01:22pm

I've got some old-fashioned looking tiles in the kitchen that I'd like to get rid off. I don't want to re-tile so I've decided to paint them over. I'm planning to start with white 'Fortress multi surface primer' for ceramic tiles. Does this sound like a good plan? If so, what kind of paint should I use then? Does it have to be special paint for tiles or can I just use any oil or water based paint? I'm only painting the tiles with pictures leaving the plain ones as they are.

Paul Collins

Fri 31 Jan 2014 05:52pm

I agree with Chris that getting any paint to adhere 100% to a glazed tile is an impossibility, and I would dissuade any customer from doing so. Having said that, i was persuaded to do so once, on the outside of an old Art Deco style industrial unit. I used Zinniser 123 primer, with a Leyland oil based masonry paint over. The result was far longer lasting than I expected but I still would be reluctant to do it again. In a kitchen or bathroom you would need to thoroughly clean off any grease/ soap residue/limescale before proceeding.

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Chris Smitham

Fri 31 Jan 2014 12:04pm

As the glazed surface of a tile is non porous any paint applied to the surface would have difficulty keying (sticking) Limited success can be achieved using a proprietary tile paint. An etching primer would need to be used initially in order to give a sound base to apply subsequent coats of paint.

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