salvaging victorian tiles?

[cjard]

I've a large expanse of red Victorian tiles with Ruabon Adamantine Tile written on them, about 6"x3"in size laid in a pattern like:

ll=ll=
=ll=ll

if that makes sense.

they're incredibly well bedded on some kind of white mortar type substance. Building age is 1926

at present the technique I'm using to lift them is:

place a bolster along the long edge at more vertical than 45 degrees and pound it 2 or 3 times with a lump hammer until i see the dust on the tile surface jump
Pull at the tile with fingers, if it wiggles wiggle it while pulling away from the others
If it doesn't budge, use a rubber mallet to drive the bolster under the tile and lever up. Try removing the bolster and wiggle again

some come up easy, some break in half or chip a corner. I'm probably breaking 15% of them at the moment

is there a better technique i can use? Is there some kind of acid i can pour that will dissolve whatever the mortar is? The brickwork uses lime mortar, might the tiles be bedded on the same?

 

[Nige F]

1926 a bit late for Victorian But you`re probably going to struggle - often tiles were bedded on strong cement /sand mix . even back in Viccy times - cement was used on the London Sewers

 

[cjard]

Yeah..it was built by the council - they probably took a while to come up to speed..

Brick acid then?

 

[simonjay]

I've a large expanse of red Victorian tiles with Ruabon Adamantine Tile written on them, about 6"x3"in size laid in a pattern like:

ll=ll=
=ll=ll

if that makes sense.

they're incredibly well bedded on some kind of white mortar type substance. Building age is 1926

at present the technique I'm using to lift them is:

place a bolster along the long edge at more vertical than 45 degrees and pound it 2 or 3 times with a lump hammer until i see the dust on the tile surface jump
Pull at the tile with fingers, if it wiggles wiggle it while pulling away from the others
If it doesn't budge, use a rubber mallet to drive the bolster under the tile and lever up. Try removing the bolster and wiggle again

some come up easy, some break in half or chip a corner. I'm probably breaking 15% of them at the moment

is there a better technique i can use? Is there some kind of acid i can pour that will dissolve whatever the mortar is? The brickwork uses lime mortar, might the tiles be bedded on the same?

Try vibrating the substrate near the tiles with a blunt SDS chisel - this might help to shake them loose if they are still partly attached. But only try this if you don't mind damaging the floor under the tiles.