Remodeling prob #5687

[eileen from OH]

Well, okay, mebbe not that many. But you guys are such a great resource. . .

Kitchen remodeling is going okay. Mr. eileen has purchased (after much nag.. . .er. ..urging from moi) a ladder that will enable him to patch/paint down the stairs.

New problemmo: we have this ceramic tile backsplash, which I hate but it would be a major pain to rip out and it's not offensive. . .except for these random tiles with disgustingly cutesy flowers (soooo not me.) And I want to paint those tiles red (every room should have some red, I'm thinkin')

So I use Zinsser 1-2-3 water base primer which is supposed to stick to anything. I sand, though it doesn't seem to do anything. Follow directions religiously, prep as directed, blah-blah-blah. Put approximately 5 coats of red over 2 coats of Uber-primer. Take off tape. ALL the paint comes with the tape.

Many swear words, none of which is "bitch" (Hi, mods!)

Any help gratefully appreciated.

eileen from OH

[librechik]

1. ceramic tile is essentially glass

you need a paint that will stick to glass. They have this sort of thing at fine craft stores in various colors, or ask a paint specialist at an "real" paint store if there's anything like the glass crafting paint only for larger applications. I really doubt that a water base is going to work. (I guess you already know that.)

[Rabrrrrrr]

2. Remove the tape before the paint dries

and/or just pull the tile out, rebuild the backing, and enplace new, decent, non-sickening tiles.

When the paint dries, it likely becomes a solid sheet; hence, you end up pulling it all off with the tape, since it's all one large construct.

And also, since it's ceramic, don't use waterbase (unless for some reason the water-base actually says it's okay for ceramic). More than likely, the waterbase paint can't adhere to the ceramic anyway, or at least not very solidly.