Remove old wall tiles on 45mm adhesive

[bickyz]

Hi my shower area has 15 years old tiles laid on 45mm thick cement based adhesive. These are 200mm x 250mm ceramic tiles.

I am looking to remove these tiles; Can someone please adivice me how to remove these or which tools to hire/use.

In the past I have used tile chisel/hammer to remove my kitchen old ceramic wall tiles which was laid on about 8/10mm adhesive But this shower ones are really thick.

Any help would be much appreciated, thank you.

 

[Karis]

45mm thick tile adhesive, you must be joking If that's true then it must be a sand cement render which is not ideal for fixing tiles as no modern tile adhesive I know of is suitable or would be used that thickness.

The tiling isn’t that old, how old is the property & how are the walls constructed? Are you sure your not removing the render/plaster base along with the wall tile adhesive? Even so, the whole lot should only be around 20mm thick at most!

 

[bickyz]

hi Karis,
Its a solid wall not plasterboard. Property seems to be 1930s. I had a plumber few months back and he reckons tiling could be 15yrs old.

Like you said it could be a sand cement render or thick plaster base.

Only half of the wall (3.5ft from tub) is 45mm thick with tiles; rest above has wallpaper which I have scraped it.

Is there anyway to know whether it is adhesive or sand/cement ?

 

[Karis]

Very difficult to advise this one without actually seeing it. You should be able to recognise a finish plaster over base render by two distinct layers, e.g. a thick base render which can be anything between 12-20mm but not usually much more; if it’s sand it will be sandy in colour & feel like, well, sand ; but it depends on what type of render it is, it could be a lime render. A finish plaster will be a lighter colour, grey pink or white & around 3-6mm thick. Tile cement will be over the top of that, much harder, usually no more than around 6mm thick & possibly grey or white in colour.

Assuming these are external walls, what type of wall is it brick or natural stone? Do you know how thick the walls are? If it is tiles over a render/plaster base, you could potentially do a lot of damage to the original building fabric by removing it all & if it’s a lime render, you’ll be creating a lot of unnecessary expense to reinstate if it’s in good condition. Lime render is common on old solid walls which are prone to damp & must be able to breath, cheaper sand/cement based renders are modern by comparison, not really suitable for solid external walls & positively hate damp conditions, as does tile cement.