Removing tiles

[craigj10]

Going to be involved in some tile removal DIY soon. (if our house purchase goes through!)

Does anyone have any tips for removing wall tiles with minimal effort. The obvious choice is to attack it with a hammer and chisel and hope for the best! Does anyone have any tips that make the remoaval process more efficient and less destructive to the wall underneath!

Cheers

 

[Richard C]

Depends on how well they are stuck on there; I’ve used a flat bladed spade before now but, usually, a club hammer & bolster chisel though. If your tempted to use an SDS breaker be very careful, the vibration they make can do a lot of damage to both plaster & the mortar joints in the brick/blockwork underneath.

There are many things that can catch you out particularly if you intend tiling a suspended timber floor. I would advise you read the Tiling Sticky & Forum Archive posts before doing any more work or buying materials, it could prevent you making disastrous & potentially expensive mistakes.

It’s also important to use only quality trade tilling materials of the correct type for your tiles & tile base; cheapo own brand & DIY stuff is mostly crap.

 

[iwaters]

I've had good experience of using a utility bar (about a fiver from B and Q) and club hamer. The bar is like a small crow bar with sharp edges. It has a curved end to it which can extert a good deal of pressure on tiles that are stuck fast.

 

[cantaloup63]

It's rare for tile removal to leave the surface underneath intact. With this in mind, it's not really worth pussyfooting about too much - just accept that more likely than not the wall will need a minimum of a re-skim anyway.

 

[Richard C]

It's rare for tile removal to leave the surface underneath intact. With this in mind, it's not really worth pussyfooting about too much - just accept that more likely than not the wall will need a minimum of a re-skim anyway.

A man after my own heart but I don’t necessarily agree with the re-skim & I’m also plasterer . Plaster will seriously restrict tile weight & with the modern trend to hang paving slabs on the wall, re-plastering is generally not a good idea.

 

[tictic]

Going to be involved in some tile removal DIY soon. (if our house purchase goes through!)

Does anyone have any tips for removing wall tiles with minimal effort. The obvious choice is to attack it with a hammer and chisel and hope for the best! Does anyone have any tips that make the remoaval process more efficient and less destructive to the wall underneath!

Cheers

do you know what type off wall they are...??

brick/block work/solid/sand cement render/plasterboard..etc?

 

[cantaloup63]

It's rare for tile removal to leave the surface underneath intact. With this in mind, it's not really worth pussyfooting about too much - just accept that more likely than not the wall will need a minimum of a re-skim anyway.

A man after my own heart but I don’t necessarily agree with the re-skim & I’m also plasterer . Plaster will seriously restrict tile weight & with the modern trend to hang paving slabs on the wall, re-plastering is generally not a good idea.

For some obscure reason (lord knows why ) I was imaging that the op might be going for an alternative wall covering such as paper or paint Heaven knows why I'd discounted the concept of a re-tile

 

[opps]

I use one of these.

http://www.axminster.co.uk/ice-bear-japanese-restorers-cats-paw-prod19817/

I even use it for digging out holes for electrical back boxes (in softish bricks )and chopping through nails.

At about 2mm, it is much sharper and accurate than a standard bolster, albeit higher priced. I have had mine for about 5 years and it is (almost) pristine.

The claw end is hard/sharp enough to go through marble if you need to remove one just tile without damaging the substrate.

 

[geraint]

It's rare for tile removal to leave the surface underneath intact. With this in mind, it's not really worth pussyfooting about too much - just accept that more likely than not the wall will need a minimum of a re-skim anyway.

A man after my own heart but I don’t necessarily agree with the re-skim & I’m also plasterer . Plaster will seriously restrict tile weight & with the modern trend to hang paving slabs on the wall, re-plastering is generally not a good idea.

For some obscure reason (lord knows why ) I was imaging that the op might be going for an alternative wall covering such as paper or paint Heaven knows why I'd discounted the concept of a re-tile

Heaven... Have you asked jesus for that comment....

 

[opps]

After-thought

Don't buy your adhesives fom the likes of Topps Tiles, they charge £40 for their own brand adhesives (20kg). A decent independant tile shop will charge £20 for a branded version of the same stuff...