International tile paints – why bother with retiling? (International Tile System)

Name: libertybell

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Product:	International Tile System
Date:	23/01/01 (1123 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great results for the reluctant DIYer, not expensive, easy to stencil

Disadvantages: Overcoat is smelly and sticky.

I must admit to being a reluctant DIYer – slapping paint on things or replacing the odd dimmer switch I am happy with – anything more I feel uncomfortable with. Don’t start anything which you can’t finish (or you will cock up) is my motto.

This motto applies to tiling. Never done – never will. My attempt would no doubt come out wonky and uneven with too much/too little grout. It always seemed more sensible to me to paint tiles – to remove that awful flowery pattern or passé colour scheme without having to replace them.

And then after Christmas my Wife twisted my arm sufficiently to persuade me to paint the downstairs loo. It had dreadful non-descript grey wallpaper and needed some decorating. It also had drab grey tiles with outdated flowery patterns on them. I needed to re-decorate but re-tiling was out of the question. Painting them was the only solution!

However, until 3 or 4 years ago – you weren’t advised to use normal emulsion on tiles. Presumably it wouldn’t stick or the finish was patchy.

That was until International created their range of tile paints. I’ve used them to paint the tiles of 2 bathrooms and for a non-tiler, am very impressed with the finish. There may be other paints on the market that do the same job – but I can only speak the about the International brand.

Like most paints, to do the job properly, you need a coat or two of primer followed by a coat or two of overcoat.

The primer comes in 750ml-sized tins and is water-based. Cost is about £8.50 per tin and I purchased mine from B&Q though I am sure any decent DIY store will stock the stuff. The overcoat comes in the same sized tins and costs about the same amount. One tin of each type will allow a 2-coat coverage of the tiles in a small to medium sized room.

As with any painting job – preparation is everything. The primer is runny and so ensure that the floor
is covered with newspaper or plastic sheeting. Sand down the tiles to be painted to remove some of the gloss. Although the tin says the paint gives off a low odour, I would strongly suggest that you open the window to ventilate the room – especially if it’s small.

Apply the primer with a roller to get a good finish with ridges and lumps. I tried applying the paint directly with a roller but found it as quick to use a brush and then a roller to get the desired finish. Don’t worry if the pattern still shows a second coat of primer will cover that.

The primer should be left for about 8 hours to let the paint fully dry. And leave the window open to let the smell out. Your brushes and rollers can easily be washed out in cold water. Repeat the process to create a really good base for the overcoat.

The overcoating is where the fun starts. For a start the paint is oil-based and is very smelly. Like its primer counterpart it’s runny, but there is the added difficulty that the paint is also sticky. You’ve seen the gags with the wallpaper sticking to the brush. Well you get it with this stuff. I gave up wearing anything on my feet – it just sticks to shoes/slippers/socks. You just have to put up with painted feet!

And off you go. The overcoat goes on well though you need to watch for drips etc. I covered all tiles in the bathroom with one coat, but didn’t bother to re-coat those areas which were too fiddly or out of harms way. I used the same principle for painting as with the overcoat. Put the paint on with the brush and us the roller to smooth it out and remove ridges.

A small bathroom took me an hour to paint and I was glad to escape the paint fumes. The odour is far stronger than the primer and will permeate other rooms in the house. Leave the paint to dry for about 8 hours and keep the window open for as long as you can.

I hate cleaning oil-based paints off brushes and rollers
– so I cheated. Wrap them in cling film to stop them going dry. Once you have finished the last overcoat – throw them away. I know this is wasteful but with the price of brushes and rollers being so cheap – its worth the expense and lack of hassle!

Once dry, the finish is gloss and if you have painted the tiles properly – you will not see the original flowers! The pong goes after about 2 days too!

The overcoat comes in many colours (16 in all) though we have only used white gloss. The tiles can be stencilled on very easily. We have blue/purple dolphins in the upstairs loo and yellow/orange suns in the downstairs one. The tiles can be wiped down with a damp cloth.

To conclude, it takes a bit of work to get the paint onto the tiles and it is smell; but the finished result is impressive.

International produce an interesting leaflet called ‘Tile Style creative tile effects’. Other than paint, they sell stamp kits, stipple bushes, stamp pads and bristle brushes for stencilling with.

They also have a web-site www.plascon.co.uk though I haven’t investigated it yet.

PS Just in case you wanted to know – The walls of our downstairs bathroom are a pale yellow, the tiles are white, there is an orange and yellow border just above the tiles and small stencils dotted around the room on tile and wall. Very nice indeed! The living room is next on the agenda. No tiles there though!

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