painting or tiling over tile

[Joel Goodman]

I have a bathroom with slightly off white 4X4 tiles on the walls that's driving me crazy. Would love to get them cool white like the tub and sink. Anyone tried the epoxy paint for tiles? The other alternative is to tile over the tiles -- they appear to be totally solid. Or of course then there's the right way -- remove the sheetrock and durock and do it right.

[Mike Cutler]

Yes they can be painted.
We have a few companies near us that can recolor porcelain sinks and repaint tile, at least floor tile. I have to imagine it's fairly expensive. I imagine that all of the grout has to be removed first. Ughh!!!!!

There has to be a way to do it, if someone has it as a surviving business.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Ceramic tile can be painted w/out too much of a problem.
The key, like anything else, is surface prep.
The tile and grout have to be 100% clean and dry and free of any contaminates.
The grout will need to be 100% free of any silicone sealer that may have been used. This generally means raking the grout lines to remove it.
- Sorry- I feel for you there, that's a nasty job - there isn't any other way I know of to get around that part.

A good honest two part solvent based epoxy can be used to paint the tile and grout after a good cleaning. Tens of, if not hundereds of thousands of sq ft of tile are painted each year in schools, hospitals and a whole arrray of other commercial jobs.

An alternative to epoxy is to use any one of the several available primers - Zinsser and XIM both make primers which will work on tile.
BTW - Zinsser BIN shouldn't be used. BIN doesn't adhere to tile as well as other primers do. Tile is about the only surface BIN does not excell at adhering to.

In days of yesteryear, prior to the current VOC regulations, glazed tile could be cleaned, scuff sanded and painted with a good quality oil based enamel.

I suggest stopping into a local paint store and asking what they have for painting ceramic tile.
Once they give you a suggestion, ask about the grout and the possibility of silicone sealer being used on it.
That's pretty much a dead giveaway that you're dealing with someone that's just read lables, or, has actually had the experience of a job gone bad because that little piece was overlooked if they fail to bring that up before you ask about it.

FWIW - before you get too involved in the whole thing....
Painted tile usually looks terrible. It usually ends up looking like painted tile no matter what you do to it.
Sometimes though, like when a whole bathroom is done w/some hideous tile (Rose pink anyone or lavender anyone?), it's the lesser of two evils.

Commercial/professional refinishing is also a possibility. The better ones will use an acid etching primer followed by spraying on an epoxy.
It's expensive, it works well and is also looks like - painted tile. Tha process is bestter left for fixtures such as tubs and/or sinks.


Tiling over tile is never a good idea. There's too many downsides to doing it, not the least of which is the added thickness &/or weight of another layer of tile.

One really good tip I can give you is to hit the real estate open houses and check out the kitchens and baths.
Painting tile is pretty popular with a lot of "Flippers" ( @ least it is in my area - where a good 25% of the old tile is/was Rose Pink).

[Kevin Bourque]

I just finished a bathroom job where we went over existing tiles with new tile.
You have to mechanically sand the tile to remove the glaze, then use a specially designed thinset adhesive to set the new tiles.
It's actually pretty simple to do as long as the original tile is in good condition to provide a solid base.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Sorry to break this into two posts - but -it's probably easier this way.

I/we make it a practice to never paint ceramic tile.
I/we only deal with ceramic tile on the renovations we do that was installed in the '40's and 50's.

We do a tear off of old tile.

The "standard method" of tile installaion in my are in houses of that era seems to be:
- Drywall/sheet rock.
- Skim coat of plaster.
- Tile installed with silver dollar sized dabs of mastic and pressed onto the skim coat.
Mastic/adhesive wasn't spread & the tiles weren't buttered - except for the bull nose trim.

Once a tile is broken and removed, the remaining tile are easy to "pop" off with a stiff 3" scraper.
A 4" razor blade wallpaper stripper is used to remove whatever adhesive is left on the wall.
For stubborn spots, a Harbor Freight wood chisle is used.
95% of the old adhesive comes off easy. The other 5% doesn't.
We then either paint or retile after patching any damaged areas.

I/we have found this to be about equal in time and effort as raking the grout out of the old tile.

It's an all or nothing approach - since you won't know what you're into until you get some of the old tile off.

Obviously, trying this method should only be done if you've already made a decision to do a tear down.
Once you bust out that first tile, there's pretty much no going back.
If you find a layer of adhesive with grooves that indicate a mastic was spread w/a notched trowel when you bust out the first tile, you're looking at a real project.

Also be aware - a lot of the mastics and adhesives used prior to the mid 1970's may contain asbestos - you'll need to deal with that issue if it comes up.

[Joel Goodman]

In one bath the tile is mastic from early 80s on sheetrock except on the back wall of the shower/bath where the tiles got loose and I replaced that wall with duroc (fiberglass cement board) and then put tiles in thinset mortar. What they usually do here is to pull off the sheetrock with the tiles and replace -- theory being that if it's not compromised already then by the time the tiles are removed it will be. Not sure if I can pull them off the duroc or would just cut it out too. It's a vacation house so that's why painting the tile appeals to me -- if it's a quickish fix for a few years. The only caulk is in a few areas in the tub enclosure so I think I could clean that out. The other bath is from the seventies but only has tile around the tub -- much smaller job -- maybe my test area.