Can ceramic tile be painted?

QUESTION

Can ceramic tile be painted? - We had a 45 foot long stucco (over cinderblock) wall (7 foot high) built last summer in our garden to replace an ugly fence.The contractor capped it with semi circular clay tiles (each about 2' long). We were surprised by the orange color and asked him to paint them. He did and it looked beautiful but the paint peeled badly over the winter. Can such tiles be successfully painted? Thank you so much

ANSWER

ANSWER - Tile isn't really meant to be painted. You can try to paint it with an epoxy based paint that will provide a better bond, that will probably last longer.

The problem with painting is that you are trapping in the moisture and not allowing the tile to breath. Assuming the clay tile is porous, you would probably be better off trying to stain the tile. There are various sealer stains so you can stain and seal the tile at once. The breathable sealers allow the tile to continue to breath and there is no coating on the surface that will peal. You will have to redo it every year or so to maintain the same appearance. There are stain sealers made by Scofield such as their LITHOCHROME products and some of the other sealer companies make them too.

For more information and to get links to the various company websites go to our website at www.CTaSC.com to Expert Answers to find Resources and click on Cleaners and Sealers for a list of companies. Good luck.

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