How to update the tiles in the bathroom with your own hands?

Tile is a universal material for decoration. Especially often it is used in the bathroom, as it is very durable, moisture resistant and easy to care for. But even such an unpretentious and durable material eventually loses its appearance and fades. In addition, over a long period of operation, defects, chips or cracks may appear on the tile. To carry out major repairs to replace the tiles is an expensive and lengthy undertaking. Therefore, often we think about how to update the tiles in the bathroom with our own hands.

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Why do this?

After some time after the repair, the appearance of the bathtub finish fades, wears out and becomes dirty, which is why you may need restoration of the tiles in the bathroom. Due to minor flaws, it is not at all necessary to shift the entire tile, as this is a rather long process and expensive.

What reasons can be for repairing a bathroom tile? The most common are:

• Damage to the tiles. It can be cracks, chips or scratches on individual tiles.
• Contamination of both the tile itself and the joints. Tiles can be coated with a hard-to-wash coating, various sagging or grease. Seams darken over time and also become dirty.
• If you think the tile is out of date. The colors and patterns could fade, go out of fashion or just get tired.
• Change of design. Suppose you decide to add bright colors to a more relaxed and cozy style of the bathroom. Or, on the contrary, change the contrasting scale to pastel colors.

Important! Partial repairs can save you decent money on your budget. Sometimes it’s enough just to clean the seams and fix minor defects so that the bathtub becomes like new.

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Update Start - Tips from Masters and Designers

If you decide to refresh the tile, then be sure to check out the advice of experienced craftsmen and designers on how to update the tiles in the bathroom with your own hands.

At the initial stage, it will be necessary to prepare the surface for restoration. This will guarantee high-quality repair and a long service life.

Surface preparation

We recommend that you follow a simple action plan:

1. Inspection Pay attention to the presence of defects, their type and quantity. Based on the assessment of the state of the tile, consider the appropriate solution.

Important! It is advisable to provide several ways.

2. Seam cleaning. Eliminate the accumulated dirt from the joints, try to bleach them. If any damage is present, it is recommended to remove the top layer of grout.
3. Elimination of dirt. Rinse the surface of the tile thoroughly so that all kinds of stains and dirt disappear: rust, limescale.
4. Fat elimination. An important step is the degreasing of the surface.

Important! To remove a greasy film from a tile the solvent or alcohol will help - just wipe the tile with them.

5. Grinding. This procedure is used as necessary, as it involves cleaning the top layer. In parallel, it helps to eliminate the roughness and roughness of the tile, petrified dirt.
6. Primer coating.This stage is also individual and most often necessary when painting.

After the preparatory work, you can proceed to specific actions.

Suture preparation

Be sure to deal with docking seams. This is one of the most problematic veneers. It is the seams that first lose their appearance, become untidy, darken, moldy. Against their background, the appearance of the tile itself spoils, even if it is completely intact.

The choice of restoration method

When repairing, one often wonders how to update the bathroom without removing the old tile?

• If only a few individual tiles are damaged, it is impractical to replace the entire tile in the bathroom. It will be enough to remove only defective elements.

Important! It will be great if you have preserved the remains of this tile or you can still buy the same in a hardware store.

• If this is not available, then you should choose a similar tile or come up with other options.

In these ways, you can easily realize the repair of a bathroom tile without large-scale construction work, and the result will be amazing. The bathroom will be like new!

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Cheap doesn't mean bad

Due to its purpose, there is always high humidity in the bathroom. It is this factor that primarily affects the appearance of its lining.

Stitch Update

The most affordable way to give the bath freshness is to renew the joining seams.

At first glance, it may seem that such a partial repair method will not be effective. However, this is a completely erroneous opinion. With a little effort, you can update the old tiles in the bathroom.

You can correct the situation by several methods:

1. Special tool for repair. Its action is to smooth out bumps, whitening.

Important! An essential factor is the antibacterial properties of such agents.

2. Whitewashing and painting. Apply paint to cleaned seams. After a few minutes, use a damp sponge to wipe the tile from traces of paint.

Important! This method is very simple, but short-lived. The effect will last no more than 6 months.

3. Applying a new grout over the previous one. To use this method, pay attention that the seams are deep enough, and there should be at least 2 mm free space for the new grout.
4. Complete replacement of the old grout. First of all, remove the old compound - you can remove it with a sharp object or a special joint extender. If a cement composition was used when laying the tiles, then an acid cleaner should be used. This tool will soften the composition and allow you to remove the grout. Rinse the seams and tiles with water and leave to dry for a day. The next day, coat the surface with a primer and apply a new composition.

Important! Be careful not to damage the tile. When working with the cleaner, be sure to wear protective rubber gloves and goggles over your eyes.

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Partial tile replacement

The need for a partial replacement arises in cases where, through negligence, you damaged individual tiles. As a result, chips, cracks and other flaws may appear on the tile. As we said, it is not necessary to completely repair the bathroom. It will be enough to learn how to update the tiles in the bathroom with your own hands.

Important! Before you remove a damaged item, think about what will happen in its place.

Check for excess material after repair. If not, you can search ceramic tile stores. But even if you do not find a similar one, you can always find a way out of this situation. Use the replacement as a decor element, remove a few more tiles to complete the design idea or decorate this place with a sticker. Having picked up new elements, you can proceed to the direct replacement of tiles.

Now let’s take a closer look at how to remove unnecessary elements without damaging the rest of the tile.

1. First, grout is removed between the joints.How to do this - we wrote in detail above.
2. Then drill a few holes in the middle of the tile. Set the chisel next to the resulting holes and crack the tile with strong blows, moving from the center to the edge. Movement should be strong, but accurate.

Important! There is another way that experienced masters advise. Put a rag on the tile and hit with a hammer, the tile will split into pieces and it will be convenient to remove it. In this case, the neighboring tiles will remain intact.

3. Remove the tiles as well as any glue.
4. Treat the surface with a deep penetration primer, and after it dries, you can start laying new elements.
5. Apply tile adhesive, lay tile.

Important! Do not forget to use the level!

6. Mounting crosses will help to create gaps between the tiles. When the tile dries, grout the seams.
7. These manipulations must be carried out with each element to be replaced.
8. So that new parts do not stand out against the general background, it is recommended to align the tile adhesive with a spatula over the entire surface. If the tile protrudes slightly, gently tap on it.
9. After the tile dries, close the seams.

At this, the partial restoration of the tiles in the bathroom is over. You can enjoy the result of your work.

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Interesting design solutions for the bathroom

To update the old tiles in the bathroom, do not forget about the creative approach.

Currently, there are many interesting design methods and materials for this. Thanks to the decor, you can give your bathroom a unique style and exclusivity.

Let's list the possible design solutions for the bath:

• Volumetric decorative compositions.
• Plastic panels that are installed on top of tiles.
• Mural. This is a kind of special mural for the bath.
• Drawing patterns and patterns on tiles using a stencil.
• Vinyl stickers.
• Partial or complete painting.

Let us dwell on each of the methods in more detail.

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Sticker Pictures

Try updating your tile yourself with a sticker.

Important! A huge plus in their application is simplicity and a wide selection.

Manufacturers are ready to offer you large paintings or small elements, classic patterns and cartoon characters. You will certainly find something to your liking. In this case, there is no need to remodel, build or break something.

What is important to know about stickers?

• Be sure to clean the tiles before sticking.

Important! It is necessary not only to remove dirt, but also to degrease the tile with alcohol or solvent.

• They are very easy to apply on tiles. Remove the protective layer and glue the pattern onto the tile, carefully smoothing it over the entire surface.

Important! It is not necessary to separate all the protective paper at once, as air bubbles and creases may occur when glued. This will spoil the appearance of the scenery. It is more correct to start gluing from the corner, gradually opening the adhesive base and smoothing it.

• Vinyl stickers are short-lived and can peel off. On the other hand, you can often update the design of your bathtub.

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Tile design changes

You can change the design when restoring tiles in the bathroom in different ways.

Decor Elements

It is possible to hide defects on the lined surface using small parts. From them you can create a volumetric composition. For this purpose, you can use beads, rhinestones, buttons, glass, etc. Elements can be of different sizes, colors and differ in texture. By including your imagination and sense of style, you can create a unique decoration.

Important! Superglue, hot melt adhesive or acrylic varnish will help to attach all parts.

Tile Pattern

Another creative method of decorating tiles can be drawing or patterning. When deciding to use this method, consider the following recommendations:

1. As always, the first priority is to thoroughly clean the surface.
2. Sand the tile with abrasive paper or other abrasive. Having scratched the top layer of tile, you will achieve excellent adhesion of the paint to the tile.

Important! This step can be skipped if the drawing is applied with paint for glass and ceramics. However, such material is quite expensive.

3. Apply a primer coat to the areas to be painted.
4. Tape adjacent tiles with masking tape so as not to stain them with paint.

Important! The drawing can be applied in different ways: by spray, brush, roller, through a stencil or by hand.

How to make a geometric pattern using masking tape?

Draw a drawing on the tile with a pencil, glue the adhesive tape along the contour. Finish the surface of the future drawing with a primer. After it has completely dried, you can start drawing.

The final stage will come no earlier than a day, only when the paint is completely dry, you just have to remove the tape from the tile.

Your masterpiece is ready!

Decorative plastic panels

Renewing old tiles in a bathroom with a lot of damage is best done with plastic panels. They are installed directly on top of the tiles.

Decorative panels have several advantages:

1. High moisture resistance of the material.
2. The panels are resistant to temperature changes in the range from -10 to +60.
3. Convenient and easy installation.
4. Easy to clean and care.
5. Heat and sound insulation.

Important! To install such panels, you need scissors and a hacksaw for metal, a screwdriver and a perforator. Fasten the elements to the SD and UD profiles with 25 mm screws.

Having prepared everything you need, you can proceed to the work itself:

1. Treat the lining with a primer antiseptic.
2. Mark up to install profiles to which decorative panels will be attached.

Important! If the walls are even and smooth, you can use silicone adhesive sealant.

Mural

Mural is a large size wall mural on plastic panels. Since the image is obtained on the entire wall, such a bathtub looks very bright and stylish. You can choose any picture you want.

Qualitative characteristics are the same as for the panels. Accordingly - mural and is established in a similar way.

Design methods will easily help update the old tiles in the bathroom, while creating a special style and adding exclusivity.

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Continuous Tile Painting

An alternative way to update the bathroom without removing the old tile can be its continuous painting. In addition, it is considered a budget repair option.

To achieve an excellent result, pay attention to two important aspects:

1. Surface preparation.
2. The choice of quality paint.

Important! When choosing paint, not only the desired shade and price is important, but also its properties. Water resistant acrylic or epoxy are ideal.

For all procedures you will need a primer, sandpaper, roller and paint. The direct painting process can be divided into the following stages:

1. Tile cleaning.
2. Degreasing. To do this, wipe the lined area with acetone, alcohol or vinegar.
3. Remove the top glossy layer with sandpaper.
4. Primer surface. At this stage, you will have to wait about a day until the mixture is completely dry.
5. Re-sanding with sandpaper.
6. Only after all the preparatory work, you can finally apply the paint on the tile.
7. One layer is indispensable, so after 12 hours, check if the paint has dried and repeat the application.

Important! Think about your health. Use a face mask to avoid inhaling the smell of paint.

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Stock footage

As you can see, there are many ways how to update the tiles in the bathroom with your own hands. In order to choose the right one, evaluate your financial capabilities, the scale of the required work and creative potential. Then you can easily cope with the task, be satisfied with the end result.