re-painting tile question

[a]

Our bathroom tile, around the shower/tub, had previously been painted. We didn't even realize it, as it looked very good. But started peeling recently, so we decided to try to re-paint it. We sanded the peeling parts off, which was mainly off the edge of some of the tiles. I tested one of the tiles with primer and paint, one coat each. It covers fine in terms of the color, but you can tell where the ridge is between where the old paint was peeled/sanded off, and where it remained. I asked at HD, and the guy suggested using lightweight spackle to raise the lower part and then sand it. I tried that, but the spackle doesn't stick to the tile very well (if at all; it's drying now), and it mainly crumbled away. I've always used regular joint compound for drywall stuff, so this is probably the nature of lightweight spackle.

Anyway, any suggestions on my situation? I'll try a second coat of primer and paint and see if that helps, but not optimistic about that. Should I try getting ALL the old paint off? If so, should I use some solvent as opposed to sanding, as the sanding of the peeling part didn't seem to touch the stuff still adhered. Thanks.

[Todd H.]

Contact a tile refinisher in your area.

I had this process done, and have been very happy with the results:

There are similar competing processes. Look for tub and tile refinishers in your Yellow Pages.

Caveat: I no longer own the home where I had this done, but talked to several very happy repeat landlord customers who wer epleased with the longevity. The cost was very reasonable too.

Best Regards,

-- Todd H.

[m Ransley]

Deal with a paint store not HD for this, of course they would say use compound, bad advise, stripper will remove it, finish with quality oil.

[Al Bundy]

[e-mail] wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Painted? I never heard of anyone doing that. Maybe it was common once before but it sounds dumb second only to the HD guy saying to spackle it.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding. This is tile that actually gets wet?

[chili palmer]

right, spackle is cakey when done, not rock hard like a "Sandless Grout"

if the area you are touching up is not too large, you could try several coats of paint.

since your still working in the test area..

be sure to prep the unpainted edges .. you wants your base primer to stick real good that part is crucial to keeping anything to stay on.

sandless grout is pretty smooth after it's mixed

[chili palmer]

[e-mail] wrote: Thanks

wanted to add...

.. several layers of paint could bring you back up to height (and beyond) to feather back down to the original.. should conceal the old / new edges.

[chili palmer]

oh hell yes.. i've seen this alot.

it's not bad if the tile is prepped before you paint it

Iiiiii've never painted a tile, but I imagine a good soaking with muriatic acid would make a nice bonding surface

paint is nothing more than colored adhesive

[glenn P]

Just re-tile, when you factor the time used to paint it & prepare it, it's better spent on doing a proper job. Better resale value as well. Most punters don't like painted tiles.

[Todd H.]

$350 is all it cost to have this done. 3 sides around a tub/shower all the way to the ceiling.

Went from 70's aquamarine green with dirty grout to a gleaming uniform white in an afternoon. Best damned tip I ever got from a realtor I'll tell ya that!

-- Todd H.

[a]

[Todd H.]

It was less than a year ago I had this done is the good news. The bad news is that in my job, there was no paint to strip off. And estimate from a tile refinisher doesn't cost anything though.

-- Todd H.

[chili palmer]

you talking about re-tiling?

that's a job!

you'd have to remove the old cement board (possibly, probably)

figure about 5 - 6 sf, for paying someone to redo the job.

or.. if you're feeling froggy...

rip it all out, put new cement backer and tile down. will last a vewy long time and look really good.

if you don't wants to buy a tile saw, HD will cut the tiles for you.. (notch them too)

if you've never done it, its not that hard..

best to buy a bag of 1/16th" spacers.. (ya just can't mess it up like that)

[a]

Thanks again. Do you know if they spray painted yours? The test tile I did with a roller looked okay, but not as smooth as it had been, so I'm guessing it was sprayed before. Also, don't know how to do the soap dish and towel bar and have it look good without spraying (figure the brush strokes would show?; no experience with a brush). But also never done spraying, so hesitate to do that.

[a]

Nevermind... I just checked out the link you had sent which shows them spraying it. I've got calls in to a couple of places here. Thanks again.

[Todd H.]

They used a air sprayer and heavey duty ventilation. It wasn't just a paint, it was a coating that chemically and phyically bonded to the tile surface.

-- Todd H.

[a]

Thanks. I got a quote of $550 from one guy, though that was also based on me first stripping the old off; he wouldn't do that himself because it's too much work (probably just not his line of work, too, I'm guessing). I wonder if what's on there now is also that type of coating, as the sanding of the peeled part didn't do much to the rest. If so, then don't know how well our initial plan of painting it ourselves would work. Jeez... My wife just wants to get this done, so she went out and bought the paint already, but I'm trying to make sure it's the right way first. Guess I'll wait for other call-backs, and check on their procedures, too. Thanks again.

[Al Bundy]

"chili palmer" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Well I'll be..."It just goes to show ya. It's always sumthin'." :-)

The last tile prepping acid mix had the ratio if you actually want to etch tile...without paint on them I assume.

[glenn P]

Actually, cutiing tiles & grouting is the cake end of the job.

Removing the old ones, and preparing the surface are the hardest DIY jobs I have tackled, and I've tackled quite a few with success...

[a]

Really? Prepping the surface on my floor was a bit, but in this case it would just be putting up new drywall. And I've always been quite handy with a hammer :) Someone posted that HD will cut the tiles, but they won't, so I would have to deal with that. Grouting the floor was easy enough, and maybe the small lines on the walls would even be; don't know. Then there's also the small caulk lines. Anyway, I'm going to patch the part that initially came up at the bottom (just dremeling the old grout and thinset off; already replaced the bottom drywall) and try to repair it, then try to use some water/citrus-based stripper to get the old off, and paint it myself. Worse case, since we already have the paint, I wasted some time and start over. Still contemplating getting a spray gun to try the painting that way, though.