Tile Painting

[WaldoMcFroog]

Advice needed please! We've been painting some rather yucky brown tiles in our fireplace with white tile paint. I also needed to remove a bag inserted up the fireplace to block falling soot/ grit from getting into the fireplace prior to re-blacking the fireplace itself. In so doing - as I predicted - a lot of soot did come down. I was sweeping this up and some of the white painted tiles weren't dry and so I mucked them up. They had had several days to dry, but apparently it wasn't long enough. I've painted over these spots again, but it looks rubbish. My wife is definitely not impressed! My question is, should I go back to bare tiles and start again? If so, what do I need to use to get it back to bare tiles? Alternatively, could I sand/ thin the paint in the patchy areas and re-do them?

[derekpara]

It

 think you will have to remove the  paint with a good quality paint stripper like Nitromors. It is a messy job so you will need to put down plenty of newspaper. Use a scraper, followed by medium wire wool to getat the tricky bits. Wash down with plenty of water, although they may recommend white spirit first to eliminate the effect of the stripper. Don't forget to use rubber gloves because the stripper is caustic. Good luck.