I'm about to fix ceramic tiles on a wall previously painted with Dulux kitchen emulsion. I've been advised to remove the emulsion before tiling. The top coat of tough emulsion peels off easily after heating it with a steam wallpaper stripper but the underlying coat of mat white emulsion diluted 50% with water is much more tenacious, Is it OK to tile over this or should I scrape it all off?
Tiling over emulsion paint
Feb 07, 2010
2 Replies
Best to suck it and see. Fix a single tile and see how easy it is to prise off after 24 hours. If there's some adhesive left on the wall, you should be ok
Mike Clarke wibbled on Sunday 07 February 2010 11:00
Belt and braces:
Run a wire brush over the emulsion to take of any flaky stuff and to scratch through to the plaster in a few places - easy tiger, you're not trying to de-rust the wall. Just a few stiff wipes...
Then 1:2 or 1:3 SBR:water and brush it on - this will soak through the base coat of white emulsion and set it solid. It's also water resistant.
Tile to that. If you're wondering, the SBR trick is recommended by BAL for polished new plaster but I've tried it on thin emulsion and it works.
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