# Paint Tile



## Betheweb (Jul 26, 2016)

I've got a customer with one of those "can't make it any worse" type of bathrooms. The wall tile is brown mustard. The floor is white with speckles. 
The tub has a brownish fake stone liner over it. The sink and toilet are beige. I've never painted tile, but this might be my chance. I've seen it done a few times and it looks okay to me. I like white because then the grout lines don't look funny. I dunno. A lot of people say painted tile looks horrible. 

I'm not sure which product I'll end up using, but I'm not too worried about that since it's not in the actual tub/shower. What about prep? How do I get that tile clean? Do I have to scuff it? Do I have to pull the toilet and spray it? Is this just a bad idea? I just want to bounce this off of some people.


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## lilpaintchic (Jul 9, 2014)

Some folks just don't have the budget to do things right. For everything else, there's Breakthrough. PPG. Scuffing wont hurt anything. Pulling the toilet and spraying is gonna be easiest with the best results. I wouldn't prime under BT and I wouldn't even try rolling it. Clean with whatever you want but RINSE thoroughly. If you're gonna roll em, you need a bonding primer. XIM or similar. Top coat with whatever. Sometimes ya just gotta do what ya gotta do cuz bills need to be paid and "ya can't see it from my house."


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## PACman (Oct 24, 2014)

clean with Dirtex, rinse well, one coat of California grip-coat, and topcoat with Cali Ultra Kitchen and Bath. Sorry, but other than using an epoxy this is the best system i know of. Ever. From 9 different paint companies over 30 years.


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## RH (Sep 7, 2010)

PACman said:


> clean with Dirtex, rinse well, one coat of California grip-coat, and topcoat with Cali Ultra Kitchen and Bath. Sorry, but other than using an epoxy this is the best system i know of. Ever. From 9 different paint companies over 30 years.


The only flaw in that system is the unavailability of California brand products in many areas. Wish we had them around here - I’d like to give some of them a shot.


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## PACman (Oct 24, 2014)

RH said:


> The only flaw in that system is the unavailability of California brand products in many areas. Wish we had them around here - I’d like to give some of them a shot.


You should move.


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## Betheweb (Jul 26, 2016)

At my local SW, they have samples of the various primers on display. One of the samples is a glazed ceramic tile, half painted with extreme bond primer. The stuff had an awesome look and feel to it. Hard as rock. Maybe there is something better out there, but not worth the hassle as that seemed more than good enough. So I bought a quart and tried it at home. It dried pretty quickly, but I gave it over night and tried it this morning. It easily scratches right off! Something doesn't compute. Does that extreme bond primer need weeks of additional cure time to form that tight bond? Maybe that sample in the store just intended as a visual and actually not even the same product?


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## RH (Sep 7, 2010)

PACman said:


> You should move.


LOL... guess that might be one solution.


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## PACman (Oct 24, 2014)

Betheweb said:


> At my local SW, they have samples of the various primers on display. One of the samples is a glazed ceramic tile, half painted with extreme bond primer. The stuff had an awesome look and feel to it. Hard as rock. Maybe there is something better out there, but not worth the hassle as that seemed more than good enough. So I bought a quart and tried it at home. It dried pretty quickly, but I gave it over night and tried it this morning. It easily scratches right off! Something doesn't compute. Does that extreme bond primer need weeks of additional cure time to form that tight bond? Maybe that sample in the store just intended as a visual and actually not even the same product?


Typically cheaper bonding primers need a few weeks to reach their maximum bonding strength. Unless they are urethane modified like Grip-coat then they will reach about 90% of their max bond strength overnight. AND yes. It is a visual sample that was applied to an etched tile. I know. I've seen it done. Kind of like the Minwax samples you see in all the stores that had a dye stain applied before the minwax to make people think it would really be that good of a stain.


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## PACman (Oct 24, 2014)

RH said:


> LOL... guess that might be one solution.


You could move here but you'd have to keep an eye out for the horse poop.


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## Wildbill7145 (Apr 30, 2014)

PACman said:


> You could move here but you'd have to keep an eye out for the horse poop.


It's really not that big of a deal. In the summer when the tourists all show up around here, they whine and complain that the Mennonites should stop and do the poop and scoop like they have to do for their dogs at the dog parks in the city. lol Gonna need the Husky contractor bags from big orange.

I wish they'd be here during the part of the year when the farmers spray their fields with manure! Hits the town like a wave. The smell can be overpowering, but some of the locals around here love it. "It's planting season!"


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## PACman (Oct 24, 2014)

Wildbill7145 said:


> It's really not that big of a deal. In the summer when the tourists all show up around here, they whine and complain that the Mennonites should stop and do the poop and scoop like they have to do for their dogs at the dog parks in the city. lol Gonna need the Husky contractor bags from big orange.
> 
> I wish they'd be here during the part of the year when the farmers spray their fields with manure! Hits the town like a wave. The smell can be overpowering, but some of the locals around here love it. "It's planting season!"


That's what my grandfather called "fine country air!" Doesn't bother me at all.And what do all those damn hippies think is "organic" farming anyway? They got to fertilize with something! (hint-if you ever buy strawberries from the amish, make sure to rinse them before you eat them! Unless you like the taste of pig crap!)

And i flipped a manure spreader once. Never heard the end of it either. (aka the honey wagon)


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## CApainter (Jun 29, 2007)

I'd suggest you use whatever your favorite difficult surface primer is, preferably waterborne, and top coat it with your favorite enamel finish. Because at the end of the day, tile isn't meant to be coated with a film build coating. It's against all best practices. So have a party!


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## journeymanPainter (Feb 26, 2014)

PACman said:


> You should move.


To Canada 

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## Pete Martin the Painter (Nov 8, 2012)

RH said:


> The only flaw in that system is the unavailability of California brand products in many areas. Wish we had them around here - I’d like to give some of them a shot.


It was recently bought and the new owner is really pushing to expand the company...has bought a couple smaller companies already. So, maybe in the near future it will be in your area. 

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## PACman (Oct 24, 2014)

CApainter said:


> I'd suggest you use whatever your favorite difficult surface primer is, preferably waterborne, and top coat it with your favorite enamel finish. Because at the end of the day, tile isn't meant to be coated with a film build coating. It's against all best practices. So have a party!


Nothing really will hold up on glazed tile for long. Might as well just do the best with what is readily available.


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## PACman (Oct 24, 2014)

Pete Martin the Painter said:


> It was recently bought and the new owner is really pushing to expand the company...has bought a couple smaller companies already. So, maybe in the near future it will be in your area.
> 
> Sent from my VS987 using Tapatalk


ICP Construction is the owner.


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## kerryman71 (Oct 9, 2017)

Never painted tile myself, but I know of one place that did. They used Insl-x Stix bonding primer and painted over that. It appears to have held up well, but it wasn't in a bathroom. I've used the Stix in other applications and can say it's a really good bonding primer.

Also, are you looking to paint the toilet? If so, I'd just try to convince them to buy a new one. Good luck.

John


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## slinger58 (Feb 11, 2013)

kerryman71 said:


> Never painted tile myself, but I know of one place that did. They used Insl-x Stix bonding primer and painted over that. It appears to have held up well, but it wasn't in a bathroom. I've used the Stix in other applications and can say it's a really good bonding primer.
> 
> Also, are you looking to paint the toilet? If so, I'd just try to convince them to buy a new one. Good luck.
> 
> John




Paint the toilet?!! Please tell me no one here has ever done that.

I've never even thought or heard of that


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## CApainter (Jun 29, 2007)

Short of a few cave drawings, I've never actually painted a toilet.


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## kerryman71 (Oct 9, 2017)

slinger58 said:


> Paint the toilet?!! Please tell me no one here has ever done that.
> 
> I've never even thought or heard of that
> 
> ...


Hoping not. The part where he asks "Do I have to pull the toilet and spray it?" had me wondering if he's actually contemplating spraying the toilet, or does he mean pull it to spray behind it. 

John


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## Betheweb (Jul 26, 2016)

Ha! No. My mistake. Painting a toilet is nuts. I meant pull the toilet out so I can spray the tile.


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## kerryman71 (Oct 9, 2017)

You never know. Thought maybe the customer had an emotional bond with the toilet or something, ha ha.

In reality, I have had customers ask me to do something, in which I've pointed out that it will cost more for me to do what they want rather than just replace it, but they still insist.

John


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## CK_68847 (Apr 17, 2010)

I have painted wall tile multiple times with success. Use XIM primer. It will bond to anything. I would use a pre cat epoxy over it.


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## Betheweb (Jul 26, 2016)

My test patch with the extreme bond does seem to be hardening up over time. I don't know if the adhesion is improving or it is just getting so hard that I can't even really dig into it. I can still scrape it off with a thumbnail, but it takes some considerable work now.


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