Painting the unglazed edge of wall tiles

[GMM]

For various reasons I can't use an edge strip on some tiling I need to do, so will finish the edge with a small fillet of grout (or maybe silicone). The tiles are white but the glaze doesn't (as usual) cover the whole of the edge. They're also thicker than usual. To stop any of the brown unglazed edge showing through, I thought I might paint the edge before sticking them up.

Question is, what's the best way to paint it? Clearly, 'tile paint' is only designed to cover the glazed surface. Would a regular primer, undercoat, gloss approach work (which might give the best outcome) or would it be better to use emulsion? Maybe seal with some PVA first? I have a vision of the tile sucking most of the water from any paint pretty quickly...

Cheers

[Tim Watts]

IME emulsion works fine. I had already applied grout sealer to teh edges so that may have helped.

I just ran the wall paint half over the exposed edge - enough to cover the brown biscuit.

[NT]

No need to prepaint them, just let the wall emulsion paint cover the tile edges too.

NT

[sm_jamieson]

I painted some tile edges around a tiled "door" in the bath panel with grout reviver paint which did a good job and soaked in just the right amount. It ended up looking like the biscuit was white.

You could also use tile paint which may match the tiles, although I'm sure a seam would still be visible.

Simon.

[Andy Bartlett]

For a really neat finish I have used Hammerite white enamel in the past.