How to paint tile floor

This guide provides a step-by-step process on how to paint floor tiles, a cost-effective and straightforward solution to updating your floor.

Whether you're looking to refresh your home or commercial space, painting your floor tiles can give your space a new look without the need for a full renovation.

With the right tools and materials, this guide will help you achieve a durable and long-lasting finish on your floor tiles. This guide can help you paint floor tiles in your bathroom, kitchen, or anywhere else you may have them in your house.

What you’ll need

Before you begin painting your tile floor, here are some tools that you’ll need to get the job done.

• A sanding tool- This can either be a hand sander such as this one from Ox Tools or an electric sander.
• Protective eyewear- This is to stop debris from getting in your eyes.
• A respirator- using a respirator will help protect from sanding dust and debris.
• Tile cleaner- You’ll need a good tile cleaner as the tiles will need to be free from dust and debris.
• Scrub brush- To aid with cleaning.
• Ceramic primer- This will allow you to prime the tiles before they’re painted. Acrylic Primer will adhere to ceramic tiles.
• Paint roller- To apply the paint.
• Paint- You’ll need good floor or patio paint as they’re the types of paint that can stand up to a lot of foot traffic. The paint can be any colour you’d like.
• (Optional) Grout- This is only needed if you have any grouting which needs to be repaired.

Steps for painting your tile floor

Once you’ve gathered your equipment, you can start working on painting your tiled floor.

Step 1- Sanding the tile floor

The first step is to sand the tiles on the floor either using your hand sander or electric sander. Sanding the tiles cleans the surface of them, and gets them ready to be primed. You shouldn’t aim to remove the glaze on the tile but to just scuff the surface up.

Ensure you’ve got your protective eyewear and respirator on whilst you’re doing this step. Contain the dust so it doesn’t leave the room you’re working in.

Step 2- Clean the floor

Once you’ve finished sanding the floor, vacuum up any dust or loose debris on the floor. Once that’s gone, you can use a tile cleaner or stripper and cleaner with a scrub brush in order to get the surfaces as clean as possible.

If your tile cleaner has any special instructions, follow them! The tile surfaces need to be as clean as possible in order for the paint to adhere.

Optional Step- Repair the grouting

If you’ve noticed any grout for your tiles which needs to be repaired, do so before you start priming and painting.

Step 3- Prime your surface

Now that your tiles have been sanded and cleaned, a primer will stick to their surfaces a lot better. You can use an acrylic primer on your tiles, ensuring that you’re following the application instructions on the box.

A small paintbrush or roller will be able to apply the primer. It’s good practice to start at the far end of whichever room you decide to paint and work your way to the door. Once your first coat of primer has been applied and dried, you should recoat using the same methods.

Step 4- Paint the tiles

Once the second coat of primer has dried, you can begin painting the tiles. Floor or patio paint will work for painting tiles.

At BC Profiles, we’d recommend three coats of paint for the tiles in total but ensure that you’re reading the instructions for the paint because more or less may suffice.

Using a roller for the paint will get the job done faster, but you can use a brush to paint the edges and grout.

Step 5- Let the floor dry

Allow the tiled floor a couple of days to dry and ensure that you don’t step on the floor with any shoes for a week or two until the paint fully cures. But now you’ve finished, and have a tiled floor which is a new, ideal colour.