New here with a question about tile paint

[mcgee]

Hello all

I've been looking through the forums trying to find myself an answer but have come up short (it is probably a case of "looking with my eyes shut").

The kitchen in my house has a slapsh back that runs round all four walls. The tiles are simple white tiles, however they have been painted in bright blue and yellow (alternating pattern) apart from the odd one that has been missed, i presume due to the previous owner running out of paint. The walls match the yellow that has ben painted on the tiles.

We are selling up and I need to freshen up the kitchen so I was wondering how best to remove the paint from the tiles without marking the surfaces. The window sill is tiled and due to the sunlight and the fact that the washing up liquid etc sits up there the paint has peeled in patches. The rest of the tiles are fully covered. I have no idea what the paint used was though.

What product/technique would be best to remove the rest of the paint so as not to cause any damage to the tiles themselves?

I apologies if this should tiling section, Mods feel free to move it as you see fit.

Thanks for looking and for you input.

James

 

[billyo]

try cellulose tinner or gunner wash it will lift most house-hold paints but make sure all the windows are open or you will be high as a kite, you can get old stuff from car body shops works just as well and cost nowt

 

[spice]

As it happens, I have just had the pleasure of removing paint from tiles.

Two methods worked for me, one was boiling hot soapy water on the tiles, as it loosened the paint, but it did take time to soak in.
The upside of this was that the actual paint came off in strips, but I found quite slow going.

The best method and the fastest was using nitomores, my god, did the paint come off.
The downside was as it bubbled us straight away and even though it came off very fast, you are left with bits all over the place.

I found by putting newspaper down was a great help as you just scoop the paper up, dont use a dustsheet as the bits gets stuck in it.

The problem you will have is getting the actual paint out of the grouting, I soaked that with nitomores,and even scrubbed the grouting with a solution of bleach and even used a shavehook, I got some of the paint out, but you can still see the colour.

The way round this is after you have got all the paint off, washed and dried the tiles etc, go to a diy store, and pick up a couple of grouting pens.
These are quite expensive, approx £6.00, and you will need more than one.

 

[philomahony]

hey i too had this problem with an old property, why not do as i did and just paint the tiles white eggshell, will be cheaper and a lot quicker especially if you are selling up
phil

 

[mcgee]

Thanks guys

Painting over may be one idea but i think that the nitromors is probably the best way forward. I'm lucky here though cos there isn't any paint on the grout.

I'll give it a go and let you know how i get on.

Thanks
James