Comparison of the various alternatives for renovating tiles

Anyone who has to put up with a bathroom full of dreadful tiles, but does not want deafening noise and huge amounts of dust, looks for other ways to make the tiles look better, usually without complete success.

Here are the most common methods with all their advantages and disadvantages. Duration, material consumption and labour costs are based on 30 square metres of tiled surface (a large bathroom).

The prices are only a rough guide, because every tradesperson charges a different hourly rate for tile renovation and estimates of the work involved vary.

As at: 04/2025

Topic \ Product	Knocking off tiles	Tile on tile	Latex paint	Tile stickers	Fliesana
No repair work for cracked tiles?	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes
Does it look good?	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes
Avoids knocking off tiles	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
No grout needed	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Can the bathroom fixtures stay in place?	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Frequent change of design possible?	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Minimal risk of injury	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Avoids disposal of rubble	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Avoids dust and noise	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Joints protected from water and mould	No	No	Yes	No	Yes
No priming needed	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Can the bathroom be used the same day?	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Can be installed without special tools?	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Removable	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
No maintenance needed	No	No	No	No	Yes
Can be installed without special skills	No	No	No	No	Yes
Easy to clean	No	No	No	No	Yes
Protects the tiles from cracking	No	No	No	No	Yes
Is there an installation kit?	No	No	No	No	Yes
Service life	30 to 40 years	30 to 40 years	5 to 8 years	2 to 3 years	15 to 20 years
Time required	15 days	10 days	2 to 3 days	1 day	3.5 days
In case of a burst pipe or electrical work under the plaster	In such an emergency the tiles have to be knocked off, disposed of and replaced with new ones.	Here too the tiles have to be knocked off, disposed of and replaced with new ones.	After the tiles have been knocked off, the substrate has to be rebuilt and painted again in the same colour.	Here too the substrate has to be rebuilt after the tiles have been knocked off, and covered again with the same stickers.	In case of a burst pipe the Fliesana tile is simply cut out at the watertight connecting joints with a cutter knife. Once the substrate has been rebuilt, it can be reused with new connecting strips and glued back in the same place.
Other	Lasts a very long time, for some people even too long. Who wants to live with the tile design of 30 years ago…	Now and then one or more tiles may fall off, for example because the substrate was faulty or not properly prepared.	Looks monotonous and dull.	Every tile has to be covered individually and precisely. This takes a lot of time and experience.	The joints are protected against penetrating moisture by watertight connecting strips.
	Doing it yourself requires special skills and a lot of special tools and machines.	Mould can still form in the joints, because water can get into them.	Scratches easily and has to be repainted.	Does not last long, because water gets under the curved edges of the stickers and the resulting mould soon makes them come off.	Installation is finished in next to no time.
	Risk of injury is very high	Only possible once. If it is repeated, the room keeps getting smaller and at some point the tiles have to be knocked off anyway.	Tiles and joints have the same colour.	Looks monotonous, because tile stickers can only be produced in a single colour.	No craft skills are required.
	Protective equipment required.		On difficult substrates the paint can flake off again and again.	As the stickers get older the adhesive holds less well at the edges, so they have to be pressed down again more and more often.	Fliesana can of course also be installed by any parquet, laminate or tile layer, or by a carpenter.
	Mould can still form in the joints, because water can get into them.
Example quotes for material and installation by tradespeople, including VAT	15,000.00 EUR	10,000.00 EUR	725.00 EUR	610.00 EUR	4,500.00 EUR
of which material share (material and tools) approx.	1,000.00 EUR	1,000.00 EUR	160.00 EUR	80.00 EUR	1,200.00 EUR
of which labour, travel and accommodation approx.	14,000.00 EUR	9,000.00 EUR	565.00 EUR	530.00 EUR	3,300.00 EUR