Lay Tiles on Floor or Paint Walls First?

[osmar]

Do you lay tiles on floor first then paint walls or the other way round (new house). As you will realise I am new to all of this?

Thanks for any advice!

[Gsxrnz]

If I was doing it myself it wouldn't matter because I'd be bloody careful either way. However, painting the walls first would be the better option and less likely to end up in a mess.

Just make sure your tillers are careful with the cement and grout etc. around the edges. If they make the odd flick of stuff on the walls it's easy enough to touch up the paint here and there.

Edited July 16, 2013 by Gsxrnz

[meatboy]

if you can do it yourself i wouldnt have a thai within a mile of the house if its inside.we just done our kitchen[large room],we used duluxeasy care no smell easy to go on and left a great finnish.but any deco.that you want doing go and see their work first.

[citi]

Definitely, lay the tiles first and then paint the wall, as all the contractors do the same procedure for my houses. In case marble or valuable wood is used for floor material, the floor is covered with plank for protection.

[citi]

Definitely, lay the tiles first and then paint the wall, as all the contractors do the same procedure for my houses. In case marble or valuable wood is used for floor material, the floor is covered with plank for protection.

[StefanBBK]

If I was doing it myself it wouldn't matter because I'd be bloody careful either way.  However, painting the walls first would be the better option and less likely to end up in a mess.

 

Just make sure your tillers are careful with the cement and grout etc. around the edges. If they make the odd flick of stuff on the walls it's easy enough to touch up the paint here and there.

agree with that, just make sure you have a little paint left for touch up.

Dulux easy care is my first choice too.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Pib]

Lay the tiles first otherwise workmen fingerprints, tile work dust/waste/grout, etc., could easily end-up on the new paint. Generally, painting is always the last thing you do...drop some paint on tile and it's easily wiped off...and even dried paint on tile comes off easy with a mere putty knife unless the tile is really porous/rough that is generally used in outside/wet areas...then a little more work scraping/rubbing to get the paint drops off is required but not much more. Been there, done that, got the tee shirt. Painting first would be like a woman putting on her makeup and then taking a shower; definitely better to shower before you paint your face.

[petermik]

Walls first-floor last

[Gsxrnz]

Maybe the OP should have made this a poll.

Unless you're doing the work yourself there is no doubt you will have grief whichever way you do it. The least potential for grief is doing the walls first. The only disadvantage is that yes, a worker may put his hands on the wall and leave a print - easily washed off or retouched.

The worst outcome doing it the other way is that you'll have paint all over the floor that is much harder to deal with. And some dolt will tip a bucket over or put a roller down etc - yes, you can lay drop sheets and everything else, but believe me, tiles and carpet are the last thing to logically go down, even after all the electrical work is done, lights fitted, a/c installed etc.

[Pib]

My goodness some of you are implying there would be LOTS of paint dropped on the tile and it would be hard to get off. Get some water based paint or enamel paint and drop some on your tiles. Wait 5-15 minutes if you desire---then just wipe it off. Also, sometimes doing touch-up paint the touch-up paint match is not exact...better to paint everything at once to avoid slight color mismatchs.

[IMHO]

My goodness some of you are implying there would be LOTS of paint dropped on the tile and it would be hard to get off. Get some water based paint or enamel paint and drop some on your tiles. Wait 5-15 minutes if you desire---then just wipe it off. Also, sometimes doing touch-up paint the touch-up paint match is not exact...better to paint everything at once to avoid slight color mismatchs.

Depends on the type of floor tiles the paint drips on I guess... If you're using those somewhat porous non-slip textured tiles for the floor, I imagine it'd be next to impossible to clean of a paint drip unless you got started with the thinners within seconds...

[Pib]

My goodness some of you are implying there would be LOTS of paint dropped on the tile and it would be hard to get off. Get some water based paint or enamel paint and drop some on your tiles. Wait 5-15 minutes if you desire---then just wipe it off. Also, sometimes doing touch-up paint the touch-up paint match is not exact...better to paint everything at once to avoid slight color mismatchs.

Depends on the type of floor tiles the paint drips on I guess... If you're using those somewhat porous non-slip textured tiles for the floor, I imagine it'd be next to impossible to clean of a paint drip unless you got started with the thinners within seconds...

Agree, it could depend on the type of tile. Approx 3 months ago we had concrete pads and non-slip tile placed around certain outside areas of our house. The tile layers got a fair amount of hand/fingerprints, grout, and mortar on the walls in several places low on the wall...mostly down around the bottom foot of the wall...but in some place when they were standing up and just touched the wall for some reason sometimes with mortor/red grount on their groves which caused wall marks at chest level. While they did their best to clean it off, the hand/finger prints and mortar "mostly" came off but the coloring in the red grout wouldn't come off. So, after they were done laying the non-slip/porous tile I painted the outside walls...fortunately the walls are almost a white color which is easy to match...white much easier to match that colors....plus I still had a one liter bucket of the paint originally used to paint the walls less than a year ago.

Anyway I had some paint drops hit the tile or the paint brush would actually touch the tile slightly right where the wall and tile meet...and as long as I wiped the paint off within a few minutes it completely came off easily...super easy if I immediately wiped it off. And for those little paint drops I didn't initially notice until about an hour or so later they came up pretty easy either with with a putty knife..and no, the putty knife don't scratch the tile...or just rubbing with a wet rag. Heck, I even spotted some paint spots the next day and just used the putty knife to get them up topped off with a little rubbing with a wet rag.

Also, less than a month ago I repainted about 10 meters of white baseboard on the inside of my house...non-porous tile in this area. I used enamel/oil base paint which as you know takes several hours to reach the touch dry state...about 8 hours to be much more dried. Anyway, once again I get some of this oil based/enamel paint on the tile and it comes up super easy simply because the tile is non-porous/glass smooth. Getting paint off smooth tile is real easy even days later because it just can stick to a really smooth, almost glass like surface such as non-porous tile.

Now, if I was laying "carpet" I would paint first to avoid paint dropping on carpet which definitely don't allow paint to be easily wiped off. Even if I had PLENTY of drop clothes to cover the carpet I would still prefer to paint first and then lay carpet since laying carpet is not a messy job with mortar, grout, dust, etc. But if laying tile, I would paint last to avoid having to do touchup painting. And if paining on the inside where a person is more likely to use colors that may be hard to color match perfectly especially if there was significant time between first painting, then laying tile and smudging up some of the paint, then doing a little bit of touchup work. "If" a person still has some of the paint he used for the initial paint job and the time period hasn't been too long from the initial painting, then the touch-up should match real good after it's hard at least a few days to completely dry. Getting a good paint match can be a pain sometimes...a lot depends on the color and how long the paint has been on the wall and in the bucket.

Lay tile, then paint.....or paint first, then lay tile. Either way will work but I think their would be less cleanup/retouch rework and the total job get done faster if laying tile first and then painting.

[Gsxrnz]

Paint first. If you're worried about the tillers finger marks, grout etc getting on the walls, run shrinkwrap around the walls up to waist height. If you do have to touch up paint, use the paint from the same original can. There is a method of touching up walls using a brush that makes it invisible, assuming the walls are not aged. This method was taught to me by my Welsh brother-in-law, a professional painter for all of his working life.

That method is:

1. Use a 1" or 2" brush. An older brush is preferable - one that's been well used and well worn.

2. Get a very small amount of paint on the tips of the bristles.

3. Paint an old piece of wood, newspaper, any material. The object is to strip as much paint off the brush as possible, leaving the brush nearly empty of paint and almost "dry". Do this several times so the paint is distributed throughout the bristles, but still semi dry.

4. Paint the damaged area of the wall using a quick whisking type motion up/down/left/right/diagonal, with as light a touch as possible. Almost no paint will be applied, leaving no track marks or obvious signs of repair, but the damage will be hidden. Do this several times if necessary to mask the damage.

EDIT: I missed a point. Don't try and make the repair a regular shape, or conform to the damage you're repairing. "Feather" it randomly into the surrounding undamaged area so it looks like a half arsed paint job. Go away for a beer. come back in 10 minutes and you won't be able to find the repair.

If you do it correctly, the repair will be invisible. You can even do this on walls that have had a plaster repair. The trick is to apply the paint from a 99% dry brush - the colour is applied, the damage is covered, but the evidence of the repair is invisible. You can do large areas or small areas using this method - works like a dream even in deep/dark colours.

Otherwise If you dip a brush in the paint (or worse, use a roller) and apply it as though you would when normally painting a wall, it will be obvious to a blind man at 20 paces.

Renovated 4 houses in my lifetime, top to bottom, and only ever had professionals come in to check certifiable works (and issue certs) such as plumbing and electrical. Whoops - I laid carpet in one house but decided the cost of a carpetlayer was cheaper than the cockups I made, so always used them after that.

Edited July 17, 2013 by Gsxrnz

[ETatBKK]

agree - paint job last !

first, the flooring materials are usually more tough and more clean to clean than the wall finishing. ( unless you use epoxy paint )

second, depends on flooring materials, there may be some fitting along the edge of the wall, that easier damage the wall finishing.

third, cover the floor with news print is much easier than protect the wall finishing. if you have very delicate flooring, tape the edge with Nitto tape ( the non stain masking tape ).

( same concept on floor first then wall paper last, also paint ceiling first then paint the wall )

[GavinK]

Tile first, paint last. Tilers may make dust if they start cutting tiles inside. You'll also have a nice smooth surface to stand your ladder on as you paint the higher parts of the wall/ceiling.

[fredob43]

As an ex tiler I would have said paint first tile second but seeing how they perform here tile first then paint. Just put a sheet down to protect the floor. It's not the tiles that you would have a problem with cleaning wise it's the grout, but by all means paint the ceiling.

[bankruatsteve]

As a DIY painter, my recommendation would be to do that last. I know how to put drip sheets, tape, etc. and would rather have everyone else make their mess before I paint. EXCEPT the ceiling. I don't like painting ceilings and would rather have that done first.

[jbrain]

Normally they should paint to a height of about half a meter to a meter above the screed, lay the tiles, clean and paint the lower part of the walls.

[osmar]

A big thank you to all of you for taking the time to reply to my question. It is much appreciated. Which advice I will take and enact ....................? But thank you one and all!!

[sotsira]

The ceiling should be painted first, then the floor tiles are laid.

The walls should be the last part of a renovation,mainly due to all the dust that will

stick to the wall while the tiling is done.

Remember to wipe the walls down with a damp cloth before painting them.

[bbradsby]

Paint first. If you're worried about the tillers finger marks, grout etc getting on the walls, run shrinkwrap around the walls up to waist height. If you do have to touch up paint, use the paint from the same original can. There is a method of touching up walls using a brush that makes it invisible, assuming the walls are not aged. This method was taught to me by my Welsh brother-in-law, a professional painter for all of his working life.

That method is:

1. Use a 1" or 2" brush. An older brush is preferable - one that's been well used and well worn.

2. Get a very small amount of paint on the tips of the bristles.

3. Paint an old piece of wood, newspaper, any material. The object is to strip as much paint off the brush as possible, leaving the brush nearly empty of paint and almost "dry". Do this several times so the paint is distributed throughout the bristles, but still semi dry.

4. Paint the damaged area of the wall using a quick whisking type motion up/down/left/right/diagonal, with as light a touch as possible. Almost no paint will be applied, leaving no track marks or obvious signs of repair, but the damage will be hidden. Do this several times if necessary to mask the damage.

EDIT: I missed a point. Don't try and make the repair a regular shape, or conform to the damage you're repairing. "Feather" it randomly into the surrounding undamaged area so it looks like a half arsed paint job. Go away for a beer. come back in 10 minutes and you won't be able to find the repair.

If you do it correctly, the repair will be invisible. You can even do this on walls that have had a plaster repair. The trick is to apply the paint from a 99% dry brush - the colour is applied, the damage is covered, but the evidence of the repair is invisible. You can do large areas or small areas using this method - works like a dream even in deep/dark colours.

Otherwise If you dip a brush in the paint (or worse, use a roller) and apply it as though you would when normally painting a wall, it will be obvious to a blind man at 20 paces.

Renovated 4 houses in my lifetime, top to bottom, and only ever had professionals come in to check certifiable works (and issue certs) such as plumbing and electrical. Whoops - I laid carpet in one house but decided the cost of a carpetlayer was cheaper than the cockups I made, so always used them after that.

+1 this gentleman is the voice of experience. paint ceilings & walls before tiling floors. the tilers WILL mess up low sections of walls unless u mask it off. but no worries, just keep spare paint from the paint job, use 'dry' brush technique, and touch-ups will be invisible. MUCH better than scraping paint off tiles.

[Khun Jean]

I always do ceiling first then walls then floor (tiles). Cutting tiles and mixing glue/mortar you do outside!

Gravity is the main reason. And because i do it myself the walls stay clean.

Paint on grout is very difficult to remove.

If you need to tile first make sure you tape over the grout and put cardboard over it to prevent the tape being moved.

Paint on a non porous tile is no problem.