Painted tile floor - something to paint on for a durable finish?

July 20, 2013 9:51 AM

My wife and I are redoing a powder room that had some hideous tiles on the floor. We have neither the time nor the money to redo the tiles, so we've decided to paint over them in a semi-gloss white.

It looks fantastic, but we realize now that it could be easily dirtied or scuffed and we're wondering if there's some kind of finish or lacquer that we can put on it to make sure that it's more durable - easily cleaned, more scratch resistant.

Help?

posted by fso to Home & Garden (9 answers total)

You've painted a porcelain tile floor with latex paint? Honestly, I don't think there's anything that's going to save this mistake.
posted by humboldt32 at 9:58 AM on July 20, 2013 [10 favorites]

If you've used latex, it will probably cause problems (wrinkling, ripping, etc.), even if you coat it. If you've used enamel, you might be OK with just a few layers of a sealer. It really depends on the paint.

Either way, your floor will absolutely get dirty and scuffed, and you need to be ready to clean it frequently.
posted by yellowcandy at 10:01 AM on July 20, 2013

My wood bathroom floor that is painted with Kilz and then many layers of black latex paint is a tragic disaster of scratches, scuffs and weird filth that is somehow stuck in the paint.
posted by artychoke at 12:52 PM on July 20, 2013

The only thing I can think of that might save this is the epoxy coating sold for garage floors. Otherwise, yes, you're going to have a mess on your hands in short time, no matter what.
posted by jferg at 1:27 PM on July 20, 2013 [1 favorite]

Um, eep?

I would suggest that you quickly purchase some wall-to-wall bathroom carpet and then cut it to fit your bathroom floor.

Armed with just a pair of scissors, a sharpie, and a ruler, I have carpeted quite a few bathrooms (having ugly, warped/scratched hardwood floors, crappy tile jobs, etc.). It's a cheap and easy solution that that will leave your bathroom looking quite nice afterwards until you can afford to re-tile.
posted by skye.dancer at 2:02 PM on July 20, 2013 [1 favorite]

I can't tell if you've already done this or not. If you haven't, I've heard of paint that's made especially for painting over ceramic tiles. However, it's meant for walls, not floors, so I'm not sure how well it will hold up.
posted by MexicanYenta at 2:42 PM on July 20, 2013

Maybe top with porch & floor paint? This blogger used it to paint her vinyl floor.
posted by xsquared-1 at 10:29 AM on July 21, 2013

I have had good results covering painted floors with plain old standard polyurethane floor finish. The water based stuff takes a while to fully cure, so as long as you are gentle on it for the first couple weeks, it should last pretty well.
posted by gjc at 6:45 AM on July 22, 2013

If you decide you need a different kind of solution, I think floating self-adhesive vinyl tiles can go over existing floors, and are DIY. E.g., check out the Traffic Master Allure line at Home Depot. (I am in the midst of installing the Livorno Onyx one in our bathroom, but not over existing tiles.)
posted by daisyace at 5:10 AM on July 23, 2013