Painting over ceramic tile

[tarbellb]

Looking to paint over my existing ceramic tiles, I have already scuffed them up with a flooring belt sander.

Is there a particular type of paint to use, avoid? Im looking at the patio and garage 1 part epoxy. Behr I think.

Usage for the garage is:

_ foot traffic only, no vehicles or tools


Am I crazy thinking this will hold up?

 

[Shiftless]

If you want it to REALLY last, you can lay race deck or even new porcelain tiles over the old tiles as long as they are solid and there are no cracks.
Paint? I guess it would work OK. If you need it to stay perfect…NO. If you can tolerate a scratch or scuff here or there...YES, at least for a few years depending of course on how careful you are and how much foot traffic that area gets.
If the coating fails, it will look worse than your old tiles and the paint will be VERY hard to remove.

 

[Shea]

How well it holds up is going to depend on how well the paint adheres. Getting anything to bond well to ceramic is not easy. 1-part epoxy paint is more durable than standard concrete paint. It tends to last a while under just foot traffic. However, keep in mind that it will not have a glossy or even semi-gloss look and it's not intended to have clear coats applied. It is easy to touch up though.

 

[Shiftless]

Shea is right…it all about adhesion.
I have used STIX primer which is quite effective but im sure there are epoxy primers that are even better. STIX is acrylic latex so water clean up and almost no fumes at all. I’ve used it over (roughed up) plastic but never on a floor.

 

[tarbellb]

After hitting with the belt sander you can feel a grit to it now.

I have a primer, do you think its worth the extra step?

 

[Armorpoxy]

Our best experience with painting tile is to use our Hard Surface Epoxy Primer which bonds tenaciously to tile. Then coat with either our SPGX one part Polyurea or Armorclad 100 solids epoxy.

If you are looking to do something inexpensive, then a home center product may work for a short while, but they are a pain to remove when they fail. There really is no true 1-part epoxy and there is no comparison between a one part and a true 2 part epoxy. One parts are really enamels or acrylics with very small amounts of epoxy resin in them.