Ask The Trades - Print Page

Ask The Trades
https://www.askthetrades.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl DIY Forum >> Painting, Decorating & Tiling Questions >> Getting paint off tiles... https://www.askthetrades.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1231935380 Message started by Zambezi on Jan 14^th, 2009, 12:16pm

Title: Getting paint off tiles...
Post by Zambezi on Jan 14^th, 2009, 12:16pm

Hi there,
I have to replace a bath in a bathroom which has had all the tiles painted with what looks like about 4 coats of gloss. It is an absolute mess because gloss is not meant for tiles and the quality of work is less than acceptable for DIY. They have painted the whole bathroom, including all the silicone and taps etc. The bath that is coming out is a corner bath and I am going to fit a standard bath in it's place. This will mean that the lovely paintwork will be disturbed and there will be sections which will be exposed that have never been painted.

I would love to rip the lot out and start again but the customer is not willing to pay for a re-tile (rental property). This leaves me with a dilemma, I need to try and make it look acceptable, so I somehow have to try and match the paintwork (I could call Mr Bean to do it with his stick of...) or do something else? I was thinking of stripping the paint off the tiles about 2 tiles up from the bath (Nitromors or similar) and then painting them properly with tile paint (I hate painting tiles!). I would strip all the paint off all the tiles but the bathroom is tiled floor to ceiling on 3 sides and budget does not permit.

Any ideas? Will Nitromors be ok on tiles and grout? ROLL ON THE DAY WHEN PEOPLE ARE WILLING TO PAY TO HAVE THINGS DONE PROPERLY....

Title: Re: Getting paint off tiles...
Post by woodsmith on Jan 14^th, 2009, 6:04pm

You could change the bath and leave the tiles for him to sort.

Nitromors will shift it but is the job going to look even half decent when you have finished?

To many people want half a job done; stuff them I say ;D

Title: Re: Getting paint off tiles...
Post by Zambezi on Jan 14^th, 2009, 9:03pm

There is a catch with leaving it for the landlord to do because he lives abroad somewhere and I am doing the work through the lettings agent.

If I did not have rent to pay, I would tell them to find some cowboy to do it. I don't like bodging jobs and I have walked away from a lot of jobs where the customer or builder wants to bodge/cut corners. For now I have to bite my tongue and do what they want :'( :'(

Title: Re: Getting paint off tiles...
Post by CWatters on Jan 15^th, 2009, 8:48am

I would tell them the paint will come off and look unacceptable. Let them decide.

Title: Re: Getting paint off tiles...
Post by Joiner on Jan 15^th, 2009, 10:30am

I don't think any of us envies you the task!

Until I saw that the bathroom is tiled on THREE walls my choice would have been to just use cheap tiles and tile over what's there, but that's not an option here. As it's a rented property I'd just sand it all down and paint the tiles with a colour I like because I can only imagine the mess you're going to have if you try stripping it down. You're gonna have a situation that will probably look even worse unless you're prepared for the hassle of chasing out all the grouting and stripping out the silicone.

Title: Re: Getting paint off tiles...
Post by sparxxxx on Jan 16^th, 2009, 7:06am

Take out old bath as carefully as possible. Then make a framework to contain new bath, say 50mm to 100mm lip on the sides adjoining painted tiles. Fit bath and tile over the lip, silicone seal gap between your new tiles and the painted tiles.

This way you do not interfere with the paint work, and your good work can be easily recognised.