Tile paint …give me strength!

The last time I painted tiles was about six years ago because it’s not a job I’m called on to do very often. I recall the paint was extremely smelly but the finished job (a fully tiled bathroom) looked very nice. However when asked to paint some tiles yesterday in a kitchen nothing could be more different.
Before I started, the tiles were scrupulously cleaned because kitchens are naturally greasy places due to cooking. The tile paint was made by Dulux so I expected it would be okay but it, like so many paints these days, was water-based. Unsurprisingly, it would not coat the tiles and tried to bead. Even after three coats (with a 4 hour drying time between) the results were less than satisfactory in my opinion, certainly compared with the previous tile paint I had used which was not water-based.
I thought tiles were designed to resist water which is why we use them in showers and we line swimming pools with them, etc. Hence it seems fairly obvious to me that something designed to resist water [ie tiles] will resist a water-based paint.
I shall not be painting tiles for anyone ever again because I think this paint is unfit for purpose.

1 Comments.

  1. Dulux’s reply:

    The Dulux Tile paint is a water based formulation and designed to be applied to tiles without a primer. For the product to bead on the surface this suggests what ever the tiles were cleaned with is repelling the water based coating.

    The tiles do need to be scuffed with abrasive paper first which this should state on the can. Many products are now water based due to legislation changes.

    If you have any further queries please feel free to contact me and I will be happy to help.

    Yours sincerely

    Georgina Bennett