Painted the kitchen backsplash ceramic tile (smooth surface) and it appears to release or peal off in areas very easily like rubber. Prepped surface by cleaning thoroughly. Tried to sand by hand but tile surface was like cryptonite so stopped. Used 2 coats of Zissner Bulls Eye 1-2-3 Deep Tint primer. Then 2 coats plus touch up of Behr Latex paint in semi-gloss finish. The Zissner product claims no sanding needed. I understand it may take 2 weeks for these products to fully cure. Can I be hopeful that if I scratch the surface with a fingernail in two weeks that I wont pull paint off? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Hindsight would have had me use Glidden Gripper primer or at least Benjamin Moore finish paint. Thx

 

from everything i know & have heard about painting tile, it's just too slick of a surface for paint to adhere REALLY well to, no matter if you prime first or not. that's why it's easy to peel off. it's got nothing to grip onto.

the only "real" way to paint tile is to use the special paints made specifically for painting tile, which i believe they sell at Lowe's and such.

however, my sisterinlaw painted & sponged her tiled kitchen backsplash with just regular latex paint (no primer) and it looked wonderful. but i'm sure if i'd taken my fingernail to it, it would've scratched off. i think painting tile is a good temporary solution to ugly tile, especially if it's vertical tile, such as a backsplash or wall tile, because these areas shouldn't get much wear. treat your backsplash very gently, don't scrub it with anything, just wipe with soft cloths, and it'll look good for quite a while.

or strip it all & do it again with the tile paints. then i believe the paint job will adhere better & will withstand harsher treatment.

 

Best way to tell if its cured or not is to wait at least 2 weeks, and try the scratch test again. My bet is it will still peel off.

 

Thank you very much for the responses. Hoping that the Primer was appropriate for this application, I will wait the two weeks and try the scratch test again. I will post response if needed. Thanks again for your help.